First look... cocktail hour?

Yes! We took about ten or fifteen minutes to take family pictures after the ceremony then joined our own cocktail hour so we could greet guests and stay seated during dinner.

Yes, we had a first look and a cocktail hour. We took additional photos during cocktail hour and then joined our guests.

I had a short social hour. mostly because my mother in law really wanted it and organized it herself aha.

a lot of people do that so they can have time to take more photos

Pretty much the main reason we're doing a first look is so that we can enjoy our own cocktail hour, Lol.

I am not sure if we are doing a first look or not but if we do I would say yes to doing the cocktail hour so then you have time to do really wonderful pictures with the BP as well as parents and others. Then you can join the cocktail hour if you do a first look too!

Couples have a first look so they can attend their cocktail hour and greet guests.

Yes we did first look and a few photos after our ceremony so we could spend time with our guests and really enjoy our Cocktail Hour.

Yup! We had first look then escorted our guests to the reception. We grabbed a drink, made a quick round with guests, then sneaked out to change into our reception attire.

I haven't gotten married yet, but I was the MOH and my friend choose to do a first look. She did have a cocktail hour. She actually allowed the bridal party to attend the cocktail hour which was super nice. But she instead choose to visit her reception area and share an intimate moment with husband and take more candid photos. They later stopped by the cocktail hour for later half before they made their grand entrance into the reception ballroom.

We are planning to do both! We'll do our first look at 2 with formal portraits for 2 hours with the families and wedding party, rest/touch up at 4:00, ceremony at 4:30, cocktail hour 5:00-6:00, reception 6:00-10:00, followed by an after party. Our venue does a 2 cocktail hours - one for the guests and one for the couple and wedding party in a smaller room to give you a private moment to celebrate alone (and make sure you get to try the hor d'ourves!). We really want to take advantage of that and not have to rush our portraits, so we're definitely doing a first look.

We did a first look and all of our photos with the bridal party and family prior to the ceremony. This way everyone was able to enjoy cocktail hour together

Most weddings I’ve attended with first looks still have a cocktail hour, for guests and for getting photos. Even if you have a first look, typically there are still some photos to be done after the ceremony. I would talk with your photographer about this and the timing.

However you may even be able to enjoy your cocktail hour too!

We did our first look and bridal party photos (including parents) before the ceremony. Our entire bridal party was able to attend cocktail hour and have a good time. My husband and I took cocktail hour to do some fun, more editorial photos at our venue. The staff at out venue did bring hors d'oeuvres to us so we were able to enjoy them.

View Quoted Comment I like this idea!

We did a first look and took all bridal party and family photos before the ceremony. Our bridal party attended cocktail hour with our guests while my husband and I took some more artistic photos around our venue.

Yup! We wanted to enjoy cocktail hour with our guests (we also used that time to sneak out and change outfits).