First Look

I was dead set against a first look, but my fiancé wanted to do one because he thought he’d be too emotional when I came down the aisle. However, after talking to the photographer I learned it’s a great way to get more photos taken and gets all of the bridal party photos out of the way. This way we’ll only have to worry about family photos after the ceremony, which will probably only take 30 minutes. I still want that “wow” reaction from my fiancé, so I’ll probably save the veil for when I walk down the aisle to really complete the “bridal” look.

We are planning on doing one just to get as many photos out of the way as possible so that we can enjoy the cocktail hour! We are doing yard games and apps at the cocktail hour and I really want some pictures of me playing cornhole in my wedding dress lol!

We aren't doing a first look. My fiance wants the first time he sees me to be when I walk down the aisle. It's sweet, and it keeps it traditional.

We did a first look. It allowed us an hour before our guests arrive to take photos and just spend some time together before hosting/entertaining everyone. I'm really happy we did it that way.

We're doing one! Our biggest reason being that we can then get the majority of our pictures done ahead of time and then we can enjoy our cocktail hour after the ceremony. Also, as a wedding videographer, I love filming first looks! It's such an intimate moment between the couple and for a lot of couples, it may be your only "down time" to just be with each other for the day.

There are many practical reasons to have one, as others have said (related to the day's schedule). But there are no wrong answers; it's completely personal preference.

I look at it this way: the first time you see each other all dressed up on your wedding day will be special, no matter where or when that is. So, each couple needs to ask themselves if they want that special moment to be intimate and couple-focused or in front of a crowd and family/guest-focused.

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We also did a "first touch" where we exchanged notes but didn't see each other. for me it was the best of both worlds because we didn't want to see each other before I walked down the aisle, but being able to talk and hold hands before the ceremony calmed my nerves!

We are doing one because i want to be able to have a quiet moment between just us before the busy day, and because we both struggle with anxiety and it will really calm our nerves to be able to relax before I come down the aisle! It will also ensure that we get some great photos of just the two of us!

We are both very anti-first look people haha! But for my friends that had one, they said it helped a lot with nerves and calmed them down. They also said it was nice to have a quiet moment together before everything started.

The only reason we might end up having one, is timing issues. Our photographer wants to make sure we have all of our pictures done before the sun sets, and a first look would allow us to get the majority of fam pics out of the way before the ceremony. That way we have less pics to take afterwards and can start the party earlier. BUT we are working on a timeline that will allow us to not have one, because we really prefer to not do it.

I was originally against a first look because that was not traditional. My photohrapher HIGHLY recommended it to get bridal party/family portraits done before the ceremony so we could focus on cool couples shots after and everyone else could go enjoy the cocktail hour. We were still a bit hesitant and my only real concern was if it would take away from me walking down the aisle.

We did do a first look and my husband was emotional when he saw me then but did not actually cry. We got all family/wedding photos out of the way then, which was really nice. When I walked down the aisle for the ceremony, my husband STILL CRIED even though he had already seen me! The first look did not take away from the emotions of walking down the aisle and resulted in us having more cool/unique pictures of the two of us since we were the only focus after the ceremony.