First Look or no First Look?!

This is our very favorite question that brides ask! We LOVE a first look.

The Benefits of a First Look

A real moment alone with your love

Your wedding day is going to be so much busier than you think. All day long you will have something to do or somewhere to be, and when you don’t everyone will be wanting to congratulate, hug and get pictures with you.

What you won’t have time for, is a quiet moment with your love.

With a First Look you will get to take in how good your Love looks, and they get to really take a look at you. Think about how much time and effort you put into your wedding dress, shoes, jewelry?

You control your day

Without a first look, your whole day is controlled by what time the ceremony is, and what time dinner happens. Why? Because you will only have the time between those two events to

• Sign your paperwork
• Take ALL your formal family pictures
• Take pictures with your whole bridal party
• Take pictures with your new love
• Do your grand entrance
• Cut the cake
• Listen to all the speeches

How much time do you get for all that? Depending on your schedule an hour to an hour and a half. Your family pictures will take at LEAST 30 minutes, so now you are down to 30 minutes for the rest. And remember, they style of these photos generally what made you hire your photographer in the first place.

When you add a First Look into your timeline, you will be able to control the flow of your day so much better. You can set aside an hour or two (or more, depending on what you are doing for your Romantics pictures) to take your photos in a more relaxed setting, so you get to have more fun. And you get to remember more of your day because you aren’t rushing from event to event.

You get to enjoy more of your party

And when you do a First Look you get to enjoy your party!!!! After your family formals, you get to head to your cocktail hour and mingle with your guests, and eat your appetizers, and have fun.

“But I want to have a real reaction when she walks down the aisle”

I get it. But here’s the thing. When you start walking down the aisle, Shiz Just Got Real. You will walk down that aisle ONCE, right? If they are going to get emotional, a first look isn’t going to change that. That I can promise.

The Bonus of a First Look

I am ALL about backups for my backups. And having a first look is no different. If everything goes sideways with your day, and you weren’t able to spend the time earlier taking pictures for whatever reason, you still have that time between family formals and the grand entrance to get pictures.

It’s so much less stressful because you have cushion in your day.

Are you considering a first look? Why or why not?