Opinions on first look photos???

Beautiful images Kir1112

We aren't doing a first look. We both appreciate how nice it would be to have that time to join cocktail hour and see each other beforehand, but we want that special moment of seeing each other from opposite sides of the aisle. That's more important for us. You just have to decide what's more important to you.

@Kathleen--thank you so much

If my FH and I decide not to do first look, do any of you (photographers) think it is possible to do very quick bride/groom pictures?

I would ask for at least 15 minutes to get the minimum quality images.

May I ask why you are not making the images of you and your FH a priority? Not being snarky I am just curious.

ETA : not saying that you need to do s first look for it to be considered a priority. But the wording you used... "very quick b/g pictures."

I want to do a first look but FH doesn't want to. I have 3 years to talk him into it though! I just don't like being apart from him

@Kathleen Well I am just not sure I like the idea of a first look and my FH did not seem too keen on the idea. I am trying to think of alternatives.

Got it. That needs to be respected. Not doing a 1st Look doesn't mean you'll have any less pictures/time, the coordinating will need to be more detailed (IMO) and tabs kept by your photographer of your b/g pics.

Chat with photographer in detail about your wishes and work with him/her on carving out time for just the 2 of you. 5 minutes here , 10 minutes there, this can add up to a beautiful collection of images.

About 1/2 my couples don't do a First Look and everything works out fine.

I'm not doing a first look. My photographer told me he does most of the family formal pictures before the ceremony, so he can focus mainly on bride and groom during that cocktail hour. That seems like a great compromise to me.

We aren't planning to do 1st look either, although all the ones I've seen pics of are very sweet. Our photographer has a plan to do just bride/groom photos on the beautiful grounds of the reception location during the first half of the cocktail hour. If you talk to your photographer, I don't think there will be any shortage of pictures with just the two of you!

We're not doing a first look, I'm toying with the idea of doing pictures with the family before the ceremony, and then we'll take pictures just the two of us after the ceremony while we're still riding the wave of just getting married, and that way our families can just hang out for cocktail hour. Not sure how the logistics of that will work yet, but that might be something to think about too! Also, we don't have a formal bridal party though so that will make it easier for us

Do it. My DH didn't want to do it and I'm not happy with the rushed pics we got of just us after the ceremony because we were trying not to keep our guests waiting.

Do it.

We are also on the "not doing 1st look" side. Mostly because we just want that traditional moment of seeing each other first when I walk down the aisle. When speaking with my photographer about this she said that we would do all the BP/ me with my family, and my individual photos before the ceremony (same with him and his GM/family) and then after we can do the whole family shots fairly quickly since we do not have large immediate families, and also don't want a ton of family formals, then we can use part or our cocktail hour for photos of the two of us and the BP. but we will get to spend at least part of our cocktail hour with our guests since we plan on doing our last bit of photos at the carousel where our cocktail hour will be held. (getting married at the zoo)

We wont be doing a first look. But i love seeing first look photos its super sweet

I was thinking about not doing one and staying traditional when we first got engaged. Between lurking on this sight and my photographers recommendation I've since decided to do a first look. There are just so many benefits to doing one!

My FH and I are doing traditional. Right now I think we are going to do individual pictures and our own family pictures before hand. After the ceremony we will do immediate family pictures with the both of us. After that we will go do group bridal party photos for 30 minutes while people make their way to the reception. After group photos are done we will send the bridal party to the reception so we can get couple photos with just us and the photographer.

We did a first look because it worked best with our timeline

We are a doing a 1st look so we can also get all family photos out of the way before the ceremony. We want to actually enjoy our reception & not make people wait for us to arrive

We did a first look and I highly recommend it for two reasons: (1) We got to spend our cocktail hour chatting with guests, drinking champagne, and eating our delicious hor d'oeuvres; and (2) the cocktail hour did not run too long while people waited for us to finish with pictures. If really don't want to do a first look, at least have your photog take as many of the posed pictures as possible (bride with bridesmaids, groom with groomsmen, family etc) before the wedding. I went to one wedding where they took no pictures before the ceremony and the cocktail hour ran almost two hours to get through all the posed pictures. People were getting pretty annoyed/hangry.

We are not doing a first look. We are doing the bridal party and groom's party photos before the ceremony, then during cocktail hour FH and I will do our photos together, plus any others we may have missed.