First Look or Wait until you walk down the aisle?

We are not doing a first look I want him to see me for the first time coming down the aisle. I think that would be very exciting,can’t wait

We will be doing a first touch before the ceremony but the first time he seems me will be when I walk down the aisle!

It is very important to us that we do it this way since that is what we both want.

In order to compensate for some time we will be doing a bunch of photos before the ceremony (ie: me with bridesmaids, me with groomsmen, me with my family, him with groomsmen, him with bridesmaids, him with his family, etc.). After the ceremony we will then only need to do a handful of family photos and we can focus on getting photos of just us! Our photographer is confident that she can do it this way. We will miss a majority of cocktail hour, but I do not mind that.

We’re not doing one. My photographer said the cocktail hour was more than enough time to get all the photos done.

We are waiting for the first look down the isle! Of course we will be nervous but we both feel like that moment is so special and we want everyone to be there for that also.

View Quoted Comment All of this!
1) calms nerves before ceremony
2) tons of amazing, relaxed photos!!!
3) time to enjoy cocktail hour with guests

My FH and i are waiting till i walk down the aisle. We are saving all emotions and excitement for then.

We're waiting. Fiance does NOT want to see me before I walk down the aisle. He feels really strongly about it so a first look wasn't really even a conversation.

We are doing a first look because I’m a crier so I wanted to get some of the emotions out of the way before everyone was watching me lol I know it will still be emotional walking down the aisle but I think seeing him before will help a little bit. We also both aren’t private and don’t like being the center of attention so I want him and only him to see me before anyone else and have that time together before everything starts. Plus it will give us more time for pictures!

DO A FIRST LOOK!

I just got married this past October 12th and we opted for a first look. This is something I really wanted to do, but my husband was super against (at first), because he didn't want first look photos to take away his moment of seeing me in my dress for the first time while walking down the aisle. Well....

Because of our 4:30pm ceremony and our 10:30pm venue noise curfew, the timing is what ultimately swayed him to agree to a first look... and guess what, he LOVED IT. We did our first look, followed by couple portraits, family shots, and wedding party shots from 2:00pm - 4:00pm (we then had 30 minutes before the ceremony to be in separate areas with our bridesmaids/groomsmen). The first look was such a special moment where we both cried and beamed with excitement, we then had a ridiculous amount of fun taking the remaining photos before the ceremony which just vamped up our overall excitement even more. My husband still cried when I walked down the aisle and during our vows to each other, he's since told me that the first look photos did not take away any of those emotions and he's glad we did it.

Doing a first look was great because it got us even more excited, we had time to take way more photos without the pressure of rushing to get everything done in an hour, our photographer was just able to take more gorgeous photos of us in general due to this extra time, we looked great because our hair/makeup/attire was fresh, I had time to touch up my makeup from crying during first look before the rest of the photos and ceremony, AND because we got 90% of our formal photos done before the ceremony we were actually able to enjoy most of cocktail hour with our guests, allowing us to relax, mingle with relatives/friends we don't see often, eat & drink, and just let loose and start having some fun!

I will forever be a hardcore advocate for first look photos lol I've never had a friend regret doing a first look, but I've honestly had friends who regret NOT doing a first look...

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Thank you for your answer! I saw some other brides on my post say they were october brides too! Your date is close to mine so that's another thing i was wondering about timing during that time of year! I think he's just confused on like what time he should be at the venue too. We were so set on not doing one. I think we just need to talk about it. I know he's not against it. I always said I was haha just for the traditional aspect. I'm going to show him this and see what he says.

We wanted to wait to see each other for the first time that day till the end of the aisle we ended up doing "first touch" photos instead and it was great (and I love the photos!)

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I'm so glad you found my post to be insightful and helpful For us, having 2 hours of photos before the ceremony was great. Although those 2 hours flew by (it honestly felt like 20 minutes), we were so relaxed and really felt like we got our money's worth because our photographer snapped soooooo many amazing photos during those extra 2 hours (we received about 1,200 photos from her lol). If your groom doesn't want to get there that early, I honestly think having at least an extra hour of photos before the ceremony would be just as beneficial

Thought I'd include some visuals....

This was our first look, we were both smile-crying haha

Another first look photo of us, we felt so relaxed, happy, and in total bliss at this point

Here you can see that he was still excited & emotional watching me walk down the aisle, despite having already seen me for first looks

And he still shed those happy tears during the ceremony & vows

So again, I totally vote yes on the first look! :-D

We didn't do one and I liked it that way. Of course I understand the logic for doing one it just wasn't for us.

I can only tell you what my experience was like. We did not do a first look. We had the photographer take pics of my husband and his groomsmen prior to my arrival at the venue, then we switched out and took pics of myself with my bridesmaids. We also had separate family portraits done at this time.

Seeing each other for the first time walking down the aisle was definitely emotional, but I wouldn't change it for a second. We were both crying but I was okay with that. We had an hour for pictures after the ceremony and we had everything at one site, so it was more than enough time to get all of our necessary pictures done, especially having gotten some out of the way prior to the ceremony.

Timeline was as follows:

2-2:30: groom, groomsmen and family

2:30-3: bride, bridesmaids and family

3:30: ceremony

4-5: cocktail hour and additional pictures

5-10: party!

My FH and I decided against it (we're old school like that). We're getting married next December so the sun is basically set at 4pm anyways and we don't mind. Our photographer is going to take what she can outside on our venue's golf course with bride/bridesmaids, groom/groomsmen, family, etc. Then during cocktail hour we'll take more pictures while the banquet hall is being flipped. The room has a gorgeous fireplace with bookshelves and the Christmas tree will be up so equally beautiful backdrops will be available to us.

Not a fan. I don't understand taking that moment of him seeing me walk down the aisle and seeing me in my dress away from him. Part of the weddings I go to I like are seeing the groom see the bride for the first time coming up the aisle. I hate the whole idea of a first look

View Quoted Comment This is kinda what I’m thinking too.

Were getting married the end of March on a Friday so our ceremony won’t start until 6:30pm. Gonna do as many pics without seeing each other as we can before that ceremony and hopefully that saves on time too

View Quoted Comment Beautiful pics!

No first look for us. I just love that moment when a groom sees his wife coming down the aisle. I couldn't trade that in for all the photos in the world

I was in the same boat as you! I didnt want to do a first look, but also, likt you, wouldnt have time for photos after the ceremony before the reception. I hemmed and hawed for months and we finally decided to do a first look the DAY BEFORE the wedding, and I am SO glad we did! It gave us time to really appreciate one another in private (aside from the videograhpers and photographer) and let us relish in the moments before the ceremony. We got some AMAZING photos, we otherwise wouldnt have gotten, and believe me....that moment you see eachother at the ceremony? That isnt lessened by having a first look (I didnt wear my veil during our 1st look, so him seeing me "complete" with my mom walking me down the isle, and me seeing him up at the altar.....we both cried...trust me, you wont regret doing one. Here are a few of our moments as well as the first time seeing one another during the ceremony.

Seeing him cry made me cryRight before the 1st lookAbout to turn AroundThe FIRST look1st hugsTelling me how beautiful I lookedrelishing the momenthim cryingthere were tears in his eyes here, right after they started falling.