5 Reasons for A Wedding Day First Look
A listing of 5 reasons to do a first look on your wedding day. Here are some tips that might help you decide if this is the right decision for you and your partner and whether this might fit into your wedding day timeline.
- It puts you at ease! Let’s calm those nerves…
- You’re emotional. Let’s get the emotions out privately.
- Time with your guests. You can schedule your timeline so you have more time for fun with family and friends!
- More time together. Much of the day is spent separately on YOUR day. Why not spend more of it together?
- Reactions. In an curated first look, I can capture reactions better.
What is a First LooK?
A first look is simply when you see your partner before the ceremony on your wedding day! Which means you’ll be seeing your partner before they walk down the aisle. It’s definitely a tough choice, but hopefully these tips give you reason to maybe make the decision to do a first look!
Let’s put you at ease!
When it comes to nerves on the wedding day, they can come in at any point. So if the day has your mind racing before the wedding or your nervous about being in front of people, a first look might be for you! Once you two are together and have seen each other, the nerves seemingly disappear on a wedding day!
You’re Emotional
One or both of you is emotional! You might not want to have any or all those emotions in front of all your guests, so taking time to see each other for the first time in private might be a good choice for you. When planning the first look, I always ask if we want to have a private first look or in place where people might see. Sometimes even being away from your family or wedding party is good idea so you can soak in the moment with each other. It allows me to capture the raw emotion of the moment. You still have that first initial reaction with each other even though it’s not while walking down the aisle.
Time with your Guests
When you do a first look you have the option of doing many of your portraits ahead of time. You can do just your portraits (depending on the time of day) and/or your family portraits as well. See the wedding day timeline tips blog to see what you might need to do in order to schedule more than just the first look. This will allow you to do just wedding party after the wedding ceremony or split your wedding portraits between the first look and maybe during the better light of the day (around sunset).
More Time together
Once you do the first look, you’ll be together on your Big Day! So much of the day is spent separate- getting ready, drive time or even talking to guests or family. If you do the first look, it brings much of that time back together because you’ll see each other well before the ceremony. Or at least you being to enjoy the day together earlier, even it’s right before the ceremony.
Reactions
When the first look is the walk down the aisle a lot of different things can happen. You might see the person from far away and have the reaction before they can see you. A guest might step in the way of me getting your reaction. You might have stairs which causes you to look down and not up during the first moments. During a first look, we set up the right positioning so that I can capture both reactions and then capture any reaction that happens right after. Whereas walking down the aisle, those get muted because you know you’re going right into a ceremony.
Bonus Tip!
If you’re thinking about doing a first look, a second photographer is a great idea!! Then we can curate/organize the first look to happen and capture both reactions at the same time from ideal spots. So this might be something you look for when booking a photography package/photographer.
P.S. These are some of my favorites wedding venues for first looks! The above were taken at the following venues (in order): Black Rock Country Club, the next two at Blithewold Mansion, Lake Pearl, Terrydiddle Farm.
Ready to Love your Wedding Photos?
Romantic late summer mansion wedding in Rhode Island
Blithewold is the perfect location if you’re planning a romantic late summer mansion wedding! Firstly the sunsets are incredible, the gardens are still blooming, and the weather- well… you never know 🙂 Lauren and Chris planned an awesome Thursday night wedding for their closest friends and family in September. Thursday night you say? Well why…
An elegant Spring wedding with Ocean views in Bristol, Rhode Island
When it comes to a venue for an elegant spring wedding, look no further than the sprawling and stunning Blithewold Mansion. Tiffany and Ryan’s wedding here was no exception. Their rose / sapphire blue color combination popped off the gorgeous backdrop. And with a little cloud cover, the garden ceremony was a perfect setting! We…
A Classic Country Club Wedding in Hingham, Massachusetts
Nora and Chayce came to find me through one of the newer weddings sites, Zola, which seems to be a fast growing way couples are finding local wedding vendors. They were planning a classic country club wedding at Black Rock Country Club, which is a favorite for many photographers on the south shore. It’s a…