When should we do the first look?

I’m getting married tomorrow and this is what we are planning on doing!
We are getting as many as we can done before the ceremony. Our first look will be during the actual ceremony and then family after.

Does your cousin have experience with wedding photography as a professional, not a hobbyist?

Many couples do a first look before the ceremony to get pictures taken and nerves out of the way. They all say it doesn’t take away any magic of walking down the aisle. Plus it allows your guests to not have to wait for the reception to start and you can enjoy the appetizers you ordered for cocktail hour and spend more time greeting your guests. Taking pictures after makes your guests have to wait. Plus it cuts into the time if you only the reception venue for a limited period.

This is exactly how I plan to do my schedule for pictures. My FH and I are doing a first touch before the ceremony and then I’m doing my bridesmaid photos and he’ll do his groomsmen photos so pictures during cocktail hour are minimal. My photographer actually gave me a full day of schedule for pictures and laid it all out for me so I knew what time I’d need to get ready

My sister and bro in-law did this (my partner and I are doing a 1st look).

My sis wanted to do a 1st look but her fiancé (now husband) vetoed the idea, he didn't want to see her before the ceremony.So they compromised by taking some pictures separately with family and friends before the ceremony, this allowed them to enjoy about half of the cocktail hour and to greet their guests, they didn't need a receiving line nor doing table visits, 2 things they absolutely wanted to skip.

This is what we did for my first wedding, but it meant that my ex and I missed all of cocktail hour and were late getting introduced into the reception because people (mainly my ex-MIL) kept hounding our photographer. Just make sure you know what groups you need photos with during cocktail hour so those people are easy to find when the ceremony is over. You don’t want to have to go hunt people down for pictures.

Hi Sydney! We did not do a first look for the same reason. We did photos with our parents and bridal party ahead of time. We did collective photos during cocktail hour. During our reception, we did family photo of my side and his including guests. We had a detailed list and had a designated family member gather people (ex: bride with parents, bride and groom with parents, bride and groom with grandparents). This helped the photographer a lot! Timeline suggestions:


4:00pm - bride has dress on 4:15-5:15 - photos of bride, her parents, siblings and bridesmaids 5:30pm - bride hidden/guests begin to arrive6:00pm - Ceremony begins6:30pm - ceremony ends/officiant makes announcement that family should remain at ceremony space for photos 6:30-7:30pm - cocktail hour/family photos (we did photos with my special needs sister and grandparents first so they could be released early)
Hope this helps!! ❤️❤️❤️

This is exactly what we did. I think I put my dress on about 3:30 or 4:00 (for a 6 pm ceremony). The ladies and myself did all of our pictures, then H and the guys went and did theirs, with our DoC running interference so we didn't see each other beforehand. Guests started arriving about 5:30, but we had plenty of time for the photos and didn't feel rushed at all.

H cried when he saw me and honestly those are some of my favorite photos.

After the ceremony, we did family, full bridal party, and couples pictures. As each group was "done" our DoC wrangled them to cocktail hour, so when we were doing couples photos it was just us, the photographer, and the coordinator (who held my bouquet when I didn't need it for the photo). Then we went upstairs in the house (we got married at a historic home) had a few pictures taken on the balcony and the stairs and the DoC went and got my MOH to bustle my dress.

I wouldn't do it any other way, but I was pretty adamant about not wanting a first look all along.

I think you could do that. Another idea is to have a first look that is in the church, so you are really walking down the isle and it’s the same effect. But I understand if you want it to be during the music and all the people there

I've been thinking of doing the exact same thing. Interested to follow this discussion. I don't want to miss too much of the cocktail hour, but I really really want the first look to be walking down the aisle.

View Quoted Comment Aw congrats on the wedding! I hope it’s a magical day for you! Let me know how the first look and pictures go before the ceremony 😁

View Quoted Comment It worked out perfectly! I loved seeing his face as we walked down the isle! Pictures were great before hand and our guest didn’t have to wait too long for us to finish up!