First looks who is doing them We are not

We're doing it because:
* We don't care about traditions that state it's bad luck if you spend the night before together and on the day of , you see each orher before the ceremony and it's bad luck if the groom sees the bride's dress ahead of time. In fact I'm planning to show him my dress when I bring it home but he won't see me in it.
* We will be able to take most (if not all) formal photos before the ceremony, so we can spend most of the cocktail hour greeting our guests, mingling instead of doing the receiving line or visite tables, 2 things we both dislike.*

And may be we could set 10-15 mins aside to take more couple photos.

* We are planning to walk down the aisle together. I love my parents but neither of them is going to escort me/give me away. So seeing each other makes sense.

* And because during our planning, we are looking for ways to spend as much one-on-one time as possible. The 1 st look is one of them.
My cousin and fiancé's sister got married 2 and 3 years ago, they both got a beautiful wedding but when we asked them about potential regrets, they both said they wish they spent more time with their husband during the reception.

View Quoted Comment Hi Ashley thank you for sharing your plans with us. And hey if that's what you want everyone wedding day will be same or different I'm here for it all. As I mentioned in the intro. My sons are walking me down the aisle that's different and we just want to be surprised so keeping just a little bit of tradition

View Quoted Comment No worries. I'm not judging anyone because they are planning to have traditional stuff. I love most wedding traditions and couples do them because they love them , so it's definitely fine unless they're only doing it to please their parents and/or grandparents.
Walking down with your sons is so sweet! My fiancé's mom has a long time partner, they discussed wedding. She wants him to escort her and give her away, should they decide to tie the knot, he said he will do it because this is what she wants and the same with our future daughter(s), should we have 1 or more, if they ask him (or us) to escort them.

We're doing it so we can get most of the photos over with, and be able to spend more of cocktail hour with our guests.

I wanted to be traditional and have the first time he sees me be when I walk down the aisle so that it’s more of a “surprise” but we are getting married in a Catholic church that has strict photography rules, so our photographers won’t be able to get high quality, up close shots of him looking at me. With the first look, our photographers can be close and really capture the moment and both of our facial expressions.

View Quoted Comment Oh ok thank you Erin for sharing but if the photographer was able to get up close shots then it would have been then. I understand that reasoning

View Quoted Comment So once you do that then no more photos after your ceremony

View Quoted Comment It's ok Ashley no harm done and thank you yes it would have been my oldest son too we have some issues and plus he is deployed right now. I hope that once he comes back in time and still want to be apart of it. And that would be awesome for him to walk his mom.

We did a first look because I'm a crier and seeing his reaction to me in my dress would (and did) set me off. And yes, most of our couples photos were done before the ceremony, and we were able to get some more between the ceremony and dinner. I understand why people choose either a 1st look or no 1st look, but I'm so happy we went with it

View Quoted Comment Congratulations ok that is a choice but if it worked for you both that's what matters. Thank you for sharing your story with us

We are not doing a first look. I had asked him and he said absolutely not lol He wants to see me walking down the aisle and our reception is 5 hours long so I dont see a need for us to spend an extra hour with the guests. We will have 5 hours to talk to and thank for sharing in our special day.

View Quoted Comment Ok great I hear you on that we will doing the same cocktail hour has been scratched because ceremony is late in the evening about 5pm. So going right into reception gives us enough of time to mingle abit. And then we are leaving.

Yeah we're not gonna do it. We'll spend lots of time together earlier than day though, I think. The ceremony isn't until 6pm and I am NOT going to be the one starting to my hair and makeup at like 10am 😂 We've worked together and lived together for 7 years already! I'd love to wow him like you said!

We contemplated doing a first look just for scheduling reasons, but ultimately decided against it. My FH really wants the first time he sees me in my dress to be when I’m walking down the aisle. Plus, we both felt it would feel awkward for us to do a first look. There’s just too much pressure to give a “big reaction” for photos; we felt the experience would be inauthentic.

We're not doing it. My FH thought it was weird when I explained it to him. It makes sense but he wants to be traditional and see me for the first time that day walking down the aisle. I'm not going to get my hopes up for a reaction, because he's not an emotional person.

We’re definitely doing a first look. Like many have said, we can then take almost all of our bridal party and family photos before the ceremony and have cocktail hour together (and get to eat our appetizers), but it also gives us a private moment to appreciate each other’s attire. I haven’t seen my fiancé’s custom suit yet, just like he hasn’t seen my dress, and my photographer pointed out that sometimes guys get embarrassed having that big reaction in front of everyone. And even if you do a first look it’s still a totally different context to then seeing your partner walk down the aisle. So we really enjoyed the idea of some time to ourselves to appreciate the secret work we’ve both been doing to put together our outfits.

We’re not doing a first look. My FH wants when I walk down the aisle to be the first time he sees me that day. I want that wow moment as well. We’re not really that big into all the photos so whatever photos we can get during cocktail hour we will. Otherwise our photographer will just be snapping as the night goes on!

We did not do one. I didn't like the idea particularly and H was vehemently against it. Honestly, the pictures of H when he first saw me are some of my favorites and I don't think the reaction would have been the same if it had been during a first look.

View Quoted Comment Same! We want to maximize our time with our loved ones

We're doing a first look because we want to be able to have almost all of our formal pictures done before so that we can enjoy the cocktail hour and reception with our guests! The only pics we'll have to take after the ceremony are the big family ones (with aunts/uncles/cousins, etc) for all four sides (my dad/my mom/his dad/his mom). And then we'll do sunset couples ones that we sneak away for