First look or traditional walk down the aisle?

Is the walk down the aisle important to either or both of you?




Does timing allow to do a first look? (is this a 5 am wake up because you have a 8 am wedding with 3 hours of hair, make up, most complicated dress, etc and then we try to work in a first look)


Is the timing after you walk down the aisle allow for good pictures? (is this night photos with no lighting)


Is either or both of you have social anxiety / fear of crowds / a big introvert?


Does the lack of of ring in the picture bother you in the pictures?

I did first look just cause time wise it was better for me to do photos before hand

It depends on what you and your fiancé want, what’s most important to you and your timeline/schedule will be affected by it. I’ve seen both first looks and the walk down the aisle and both are really special!

I plan on traditional. I am old school that I do not want him seeing me until the ceremony. I know first looks are the trend now but I want to see his face when I am walking down the aisle to say our I do's.

My fiance and I are planning to do a first look, since we wanted the first look to be a more private moment for us. We both also want to attend cocktail hour with our guests, so we're also doing a first look to be able to get almost all the pictures out of the way before the ceremony.


Is attending cocktail hour important to you, or are you OK with skipping it to do pictures? Do you envision the first time your fiance sees you in your dress as a more private moment, or in front of everyone as you're walking down the aisle? There's no right/wrong answer, it totally depends on what you and your fiance want. If you don't want to do a first look, but still want a special moment with your fiance prior to the ceremony, you could always write letters to each other and read them on opposite sides of a door, or both be blindfolded as you meet before the ceremony so you technically don't see each other.

For me, it's all about practicality and timing. The sun sets at about 5PM and we want our ceremony to start around the same time (evening reception and we do not want a gap between ceremony and reception). So if we waited until after the ceremony for photos, they would all be in the dark. Hence...we are having a first look before the ceremony and taking couple portraits. Hoping to take as many other photos (family, wedding party) as possible in sunlight as well.

I contemplated doing a 1st look for practicality/timeline purposes, but FH really wants the 1st time we see eachother to be when I walk down the aisle to marry him. The fact that he wants that emotional moment made me throw the idea of 1st look out the window

I want the wow factor when I see him at the aisle, but I know that first looks can really help with the timeline for photos after the wedding. We are not doing a first look, but I am doing one with my father.

I’m doing a tradition walk down the aisle. My fiancé and I were definitely against the first look because he said he wanted to get that experience of first seeing me coming down the aisle

I'm planning on doing a first look so that our photographer can concentrate on getting his reaction at that moment and then can concentrate on me during my walk down the aisle. I'm only having one photographer and I have read that sometimes it can be hard to focus on both aspects during the ceremony. Also I want a semi private sweet moment with him before the ceremony. ❤

We did a first look and I’m so glad we did. It didn’t take anything away from the walk and we both bawled as I walked down. But helped with nerves and logistics!

We did a first look. For us, we wanted that special moment to be shared between us both. I didnt want our first look to be shared with other people as I'm walking down the aisle. But to each their own!

Planning on doing traditional walk down the aisle for our minimony this year. It was important to me that he see me for the first time walking down the aisle. However, I am considering doing a first look for our big wedding next year, as we will already be married, and for timeline purposes I greatly see the benefits. I think big factors to take into account are what time does cocktail hour/reception start after ceremony and what kind of pictures do you want. From what I have heard, a first look doesn't take away from the wow factor.

View Quoted Comment These are great questions to consider.


I really wanted to do a first look, but our ceremony is at sunrise so lighting and timing-wise it just doesn’t make sense. I’m already getting up at 4am to get ready, I’d rather not push that back to 3-3:30am!!

View Quoted Comment Yea this is why we decided against the first look. It made us wake up at 4 am and we liked sleep. Sleep and 6 am wake up was very preferably.


The pictures after had the disadvantage of feeling like a disruption but sleep... Sleep is important.

Truthfully I loved the first look because then it was a private moment that the two of us got to share and to mee it made it more special than if we had waited for me to walk down the aisle since then we wouldn't be able to talk since the ceremony would be going on. We both got emotional during the first look and ceremony so it didn't take away from the whole walking down the aisle part. I will add a couple pics from our first look.

Truthfully I loved the first look because then it was a private moment that the two of us got to share and to mee it made it more special than if we had waited for me to walk down the aisle since then we wouldn't be able to talk since the ceremony would be going on. We both got emotional during the first look and ceremony so it didn't take away from the whole walking down the aisle part. I will add a couple pics from our first look.

We did a first look and I'll tell you why. Yes, the photos are cute and that's a nice added bonus BUT I wanted the first look bc I knew once the wedding started my husband and I wouldn't have a moment to ourselves the entire night. I wanted that time for us to share a moment together, just us 2 before all the craziness of the wedding started. That's why I advocate for first looks. Once everything starts your family, photographers, wedding coordinators are all pulling you in different directions to do photos, or get ready for special dances or cake cutting. It's just nice to have that time together.
I will also say, it didn't take away from the walking down the aisle moment at all. It's still a big moment with out without the first look.

View Quoted Comment You and I are on the same page! We are having a rehearsal luncheon, then dressing for pictures at sunset. First look can be just as dramatic as walk down the aisle!

We did a first look and it was one of my favorite parts of our day! It was so special to spend that time, just the 2 of us. We had the entire moment photographed and filmed by our videographers and we love looking at those photos and watching the video. I still tear up every time!

Walking down the aisle was still very special. We were both emotional and excited. I wouldn’t change the way we did it for anything!