Real weddings · September 6, 2026
Golden hour at Larkspur Cove Gardens
A late September wedding in a walled garden above the cove, and the twenty minutes before sunset that gave the couple their favorite photographs.
Larkspur Cove Gardens sits on the slope above the water, with a stone wall on the harbor side and a long lawn that catches the evening. When Claire and Theo chose it for September, I hoped for a clear evening. We got one.
The garden at its best
The ceremony was on the upper lawn at four. By six the light had dropped low enough to come through the hedge in long bars, and the whole garden turned gold. I always plan a short break in the schedule here, because the best twenty minutes are right before sunset.
Three things I do in a garden
Shoot into the light. With the sun low, I put the couple between me and the sun and let the edges glow. A little haze in the air helps.
Use the walls and hedges. The stone wall at Larkspur Cove Gardens makes a quiet backdrop when the lawn gets busy.
Look down as well as up. The bouquet, the shoes, the petals on the path: small pictures that tell the day.
Booking tip
Garden weddings live and die by the sun. Ask your photographer where it will be at your ceremony time, and build a short, flexible break around golden hour. If you would like to see more of the garden through the seasons, the Larkspur Cove Gardens page gathers every wedding here.
Photographed at Larkspur Cove Gardens, 55 Cove Road, Port Alder, Maine.
Planning a wedding on the harbor?
Tell me your date and the place you love, and I will tell you if I am free.
More posts
An elopement on the Gull Point lighthouse lawnTwo people, eight guests and a lot of wind: how a short ceremony on the headland turned into one of my favorite days of the year.
Rain at The Salt Barn, and why it turned out perfectA forecast that said rain all day, a barn with big doors and a father who could not stop hugging his daughter: a wet wedding that photographed beautifully.
A small-town ceremony at Fenwick HallSixty guests, a creaky wooden floor and a hall that has hosted every kind of celebration in Port Alder: a ceremony that felt like coming home.