Pros and cons of a first look

View Quoted Comment Ry- thanks!!! We decided to do our legal/ Christian ceremony in Vegas!!! Will be at a high end hotel with a nice dinner afterwards in a private room at a restaurant. I wanted simple and uncomplicated and fun! No wedding party. Walking down the aisle together will just suit us : )

FH is Indian/Sikh so there will be more ceremonies and another big reception later in our home state of CA.

DO A FIRST LOOK! I'll share what I posted on a previous discussion about this very topic this morning...

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...

I'll share some visuals from my wedding... here is our first look; we started out emotional by smile-crying haha then we felt relaxed, happy, and in total and complete bliss!

My husband was still emotional & elated as I walked down the aisle as you can see on his sweet face. He also still cried during the ceremony & vows which was such a tender moment...

There were seriously zero cons to doing a first look... well except maybe one... us ladies had to be to the venue by 9:00 am for us all to have hair/makeup done by first look photos at 2:00pm. Since I'm not a morning person, I guess this is a con, although I was too excited to have slept in anyway lol

I haven’t decided if we are going to do a first look yet or not. Our wedding is in November and the sun obviously sets earlier, so we could do an early first look and then a later ceremony, but I’m not sure

We're not doing the first look. We're both looking forward to him seeing me the first time walking down the isle and me seeing him standing there waiting!
I think that is a special time to share with everyone!
Pretty much it's a personal choice. Things have changed so much with weddings since I was a young women.

I am not doing a first look, but some benefits are that you can actually relax at your cocktail hour and be there since you aren't taking photos. It is also a personal moment between you and SO instead of in front of everyone.

View Quoted Comment Hi Ry,
I think it really depends on if there's anyone attending the wedding who is not a person who would be in the official wedding photos. If so, then doing the first look allows you to get all the photos out of the way before the ceremony before they get there, otherwise the people not in the photos will be bored while you're busy with the photographer in between the ceremony and the reception. But if literally everyone attending the wedding at all would be in the official wedding photos, then no one is left out while you do them in between the ceremony and the reception.

My late husband and I did this. My sis-in-law played the wedding march and his back was to me as I walked down the aisle. When she hit a certain chord they agreed on, he turned around. We had fantastic photos from that and it gave us the opportunity to take pictures before the ceremony.

Fiance didn't do it with his late wife, but we plan to do it.

At first I was totally against, but now I have decided that I am going to do it. When I really sat down and thought of it, I'll be saving my FH and I A LOT of time which will be used to enjoy our actual wedding. Our venue is providing us two hours prior to the ceremony to take pictures. We will shoot majority of the photos then. This will allow us to enjoy cocktail hour and welcome all our guests (which takes forever when you have to go around to each table). Yes, it takes away from him seeing you walk down the aisle, but you will now be able to have an intimate moment at your first look which will still be caught of camera. We are writing our own vows, so I'm pretty sure that will be a tearjerker. Lastly, all that time that you spent taking pictures in the beginning will be used to party! No matter how large or intimate your wedding may be, we are spending a lot of money and it's only right to enjoy every moment of it rather than running around like crazy trying to rush all those items within the 5 hours. Granted, you'll still have to take some pictures during the reception, but I rather 20 minutes than an hour or more. That's just my take on it and it took me a lot of time and rationalizing to come to that decision.