Seeing Groom before walking down aisle?

Thanks for all the a

Thanks for all the a

Thanks for all the a

I was against seeing my FH on before I walked down the aisle.. but since we are now getting married and having the reception at one location there will be no down time in between everything to take pictures..so we would miss all of our cocktail hour and bits of the wedding... the day goes by so quickly and you put so much time/effort and money into it.. I dont want to waste the majority of the time taking pictures... photographers though do the thing where you walk up behind him and you tap him on the shoulder and he truns around...

and I spoke to FH about it being a concern and he said that even though he will see me before I walk down the aisle.. it will be different bc of the music...everyone watching.. and physically walking down the aisle...

idk do whatever you feel comfortable with.. in the end it is your day and you dont want to regret anything.

When I got married, DH and I slept together in the same bed the night before, got dressed together the day of, and sat curled up in one another's arms for a good hour and a half at the gazebo outside the courthouse waiting on the JP.

Now, as far as my vow renewal is concerned, DH helped me pick my dress, but he will not see everything put together until I walk to him (He will be at the end of the aisle) and we walk down the aisle together. The picture issue will be solved because by DOC is having him and his guys do their photos in one portion of the venue, and me and my girls get another place at the venue. We will do the photos with everyone together post-ceremony during the social hour.

We are doing pictures before the ceremony for sheer time and it will be in the middle of July and I am afraid it will sooo hot afternoon. I still wanted there to be some sort of element of surprise so the dress I am wearing for the pictures will not be the same dress I am walking down the aisle in. I got a more manageable/ less heavy dress for walking around, taking pictures in.

We will see ea other that day because he will be going to the venue to get things set up and ready, and I will be getting hair and such done..then, I will get ready and meet the photographer at site early for my bridal portraits while he goes back to get ready himself. I hadn't thought of doing our families and the separate/individual family pictures beforehand though so that may save us some time if we can work it out to do that. then we would only have us with our families and whole bridal party pics to do right after the ceremony which would be good because our cake reception is right after at same site.

Oh, meant to say that he is very traditional and doesn't want to see me until I walk down the aisle, it is ok by me either way but I love that he wants to wait until then so we are figuring out lil ways to make that happen.

I don't know why it won't let me finish a post! I wanted to say thanks for all of the res

Ponses...lol

We saw each other before the ceremony. Our photographer stood at the bottom of the grand staircase in the hotel lobby and took pics of his face and then mine as I walked down the steps towards him. It was supposed to be just us but a couple family members showed up (which was fine..I didn't notice them til afterwards) it didn't lessen the effect of me walking towards him down the aisle in the slightest. It was nice to be able to see each other privately..cry it out..then have pics taken of just the two of us. Then we met our party/families and took pics with everyone else.

I think you will get the best pics if you have a private moment between the two of you before the ceremony =), that way the photographer can really capture that moment when he sees you in your dress for the first time! I'm not sure how we will coordinate the day of though!

We're going to wait till the walk its just how I always wanted it but I love the idea of getting solo picture before it saves time but I want the drama

I orignially wanted what you did, not to see him until I was walking down the aisle, but realistically, it's not happening. When I met with my photographer to discuss this, I realized that. She said it would take 2-3 hours to take pictures (us, bridal party, family, etc.) & my wedding is at 5pm, so there is no possible way to take the pictures after the ceremony & even then, why would I ask our guest to sit there & wait for 2-3 hours for us to take pictures? Can you say BORING? I was disappointed, but then she explained to me how the tradition started. Basically, back in the day when there were arranged marriages, they wouldn't allow the bride & groom to see each other until the bride was walking down the aisle so that neither one (especially the groom) would back out because the other was ugly. Sounds stupid huh? Especially since we already know what our FS looks like, like that matters, but whatever. So we are doing what our photographer calls a "first look" (cont.)

(cont.) When both of us are ready & dolled up, he will wait with his back to say a door or something & I will walk through the door & tap him on the shoulder for our "first look" we then have our little moment or whatever & during this entire time, she is taking pictures. That's basically it. It's still very intimate, but I get why you wouldn't want to do it. I was really looking forward to seeing his face when I first appeared at the top of the stairs, but this way, the photographer is able to capture both of our expressions & everything. I think it'll all work out. Here is a sample of a first look session done by my photographer (at my venue ironically) :http://www.amberrhodeslapoint.com/journal/2010/07/first-look/

Http://www.amberrhodeslapoint.com/journal/2010/07/first-look/

We're doing the reveal before the ceremony. Not only for time, but also so the pictures look fresh (I'll probably cry during the ceremony lol) and also for the inimacy of it all. Besides, just because he sees you before doesn't mean his face won't light up as you're walking towards to finally become husband and wife. I'm normally not a sappy person, but I am sentimental and this wedding planning has really brought that part of me out. lol

I didn't read all the posts cause I've got to get my butt to bed but in our culture it's tradition for the groom to come with his family to the brides house to pick her up. I was originally like you and had convinced FH to meet me at the ceremony so that the first time we would see each other would be me walking down the aisle (That's just how my family's always done it). but our ceremony and reception venues are litterally right next to each other so it would mean leaving out guests for an hour or so in order to go take pictures while stressing about about losing daylight. Our wedding starts at 5pm in Sept so we'd only have about an our before sunset. so ya, FIL's won that battle, I compromised and said that we'll do that their way.

I was adamant about not us seeing each other until the ceremony. I also asked him to stay at his mother's house the night prior. We took some pictures before the ceremony - me with the bridesmaids and him with the groomsmen. He told me that he could hardly contain himself when he saw me walking toward him... Knowing that, I am so glad that we waited to see each other. And I would do it all over again the exact same way.

FH and I are actually sneaking off to a private area where it'll be just me, him and the photographer for a private meeting before the ceremony. After that we plan to do family pics and stuff so we can enjoy our cocktail hour.