Wedding Day First Look

If you aren’t familiar with a Wedding Day First Look, it is the moment a soon to be married couple sees each other for the first time just before their ceremony.

You may be unsure of if you want to do a first look so I’ll give you a little insight about how it can helpful for your wedding day timeline and also give you tips on how to plan your timeline if you are more traditional and prefer not to see each other before your vows.

Here are some ways a “First Look” helps keep your wedding timeline on track and stress free.

Walking down an aisle with all eyes on you may be giving you some jitters. Seeing your partner before will immediately calm those nerves and put you at ease. It’s a moment with just the two of you and I take a step back and allow you to have that time together while capturing all that emotion between you.

You may ask “Won’t this spoil things for when we see each other walking down the aisle”? I’ve asked some of my couples about this and they all have said no. They say that seeing them during the first look is special and when they see each other walking down the aisle, it is another equally as special moment for them.

After you have your first look moment we have the opportunity to take the portraits of the two of you, portraits of you with your bridal party and if there is time we can take all of your family portraits as well. This way after the ceremony you can go straight to cocktail hour! You took the time to choose delicious food and this way you’ll have the time to enjoy it.

Here is a way to keep a smooth wedding day timeline if you prefer not to do a “First Look”.

If you feel that you want to keep to traditions and not see each other before the ceremony I recommend that couples add some buffer time in between their ceremony and cocktail hour. If you let guests know in your invitations that cocktail hour will begin a couple hours after the ceremony this allows us to take our time with all of your portraits. It gives guests the opportunity to rest a bit before a big night of fun as well. When you add this buffer time it also means you won’t miss out on all that cocktail hour food and mingling with your friends and family.

This couple wanted to have a moment together without actually seeing each other before their ceremony. We found this little hidden corner in their church and they were able to hold hands and say a little prayer together. I thought this was such a beautiful idea.

They also had some of that buffer time worked into their timeline so we had time for all of their portraits before cocktail hour started.

I hope this post gave you some helpful wedding day tips on whether or not a “First Look” is right for you. Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions. I’m always happy to help with any wedding day subject!

Locations: The Green Building / The Merion / Tyler Arboretum / Brooklyn Winery