First look poll

nda_roxybabe

I was looking at a friends wedding pictures and thinking about this. Now I'm curious

Did you do a first look?
If so, are you glad you did?
If you did not, do you wish you had?
Other thoughts?

temerityjane

Obviously not married yet, but we won't be doing one.

nda_roxybabe

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:31d7349a-d589-4fa3-b10d-8f7c36bdd73dPost:a520d89c-2c92-4b18-8996-aee0a717f58c">Re: First look poll</a>:
[QUOTE]Obviously not married yet, but we won't be doing one.
Posted by temerityjane[/QUOTE]
You'll have to report back once you are :P
I always thought no way, no first look for me. Now...not sure....

LauraT25

The more pictures I see of them, the more I lean toward doing a first look.

Plus it would give us the chance to get more pictures before the sun sets.

Nebb

Its not something that interests me, at all. I actually dont like the way the photos of it look, i think its goofy in some way. I did peek at my husband before the ceremony, I was on a balcony above where all the guests were arriving and I was watching from above and he couldnt see me. Thats as much of a first look as I got and I didnt want it photographed. The whole "oooh im peeking" look is not something I want documented.

kd.joseph

Did you do a first look? No, in fact we separated the night before.
If so, are you glad you did? I'm glad we didn't
If you did not, do you wish you had? Nope, it was very special the way we did it.
Other thoughts? I think it's a decision for each couple. After I decided for us to separate, I begged DH to stay with me the night before (nothing like begging a man to stay with you and getting turned down) but I'm glad we kept up our deal. It was really nice.

reddy123

I'm not married yet, but I'm not doing one, I'm kind of superstitious. I am a little worried about tearing up at the ceremony and ruining my make-up though. 

MISSCOURTNEY20

I really want to do one because I think that it would get rid of some of the jitters, but my FH doesn't want to do them. Now he is asking me to find some pics of some couples who have done them. UHG!!

katiewhompus

We did not. Scott was really adamant about not seeing me until I was walking down the aisle, just because that had always been his one wedding dream. He also always dreamed about getting married in a Catholic church, so I felt I really needed to give him his aisle look.
I also had never seen him in his Dress Blues before or fully dressed up. I kept trying to sneak out of my little hidey hole to catch a peek at him and my girls kept shushing me back. It was a really big "Wow" moment when I stepped out and we both saw each other all dressed up.

nda_roxybabe

Nebb- I always imagine that I would just peek out at T but not let him see me.

kd.joseph

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:31d7349a-d589-4fa3-b10d-8f7c36bdd73dPost:101d4e88-7ec7-4ade-aa91-4683db46ea54">Re: First look poll</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm not married yet, but I'm not doing one, I'm kind of superstitious. I am a little worried about tearing up at the ceremony and ruining my make-up though. 
Posted by reddy123[/QUOTE]

Reddy- I was afraid of this also. And the day of I was actually surprised at how calm I was. My MOH was crying though.

Nebb

I only did it to calm myself. I got VERY jittery right before the ceremony, and I did it to calm myself down. I think its just a personal preference really. I will never forget how deep it felt walking up to my husband on the steps (where we got married) and seeing eachother for the first time with so much emotion. I suppose other people can feel the same way before the ceremony but I feel, fo rmyself, its different actually during the ceremony.

MISSCOURTNEY20

Well, I found some pics, but FH is not budging. Oh well, I guess no first look pics for us. *Lip poked out*

reddy123

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:31d7349a-d589-4fa3-b10d-8f7c36bdd73dPost:10430e6b-7ea5-4557-a27b-37a4e5995e55">Re: First look poll</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: First look poll : Reddy- I was afraid of this also. And the day of I was actually surprised at how calm I was. My MOH was crying though.
Posted by kd.joseph[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>Yeah, I think I'll do okay, the ceremony is short and sweet. I think my dad 'giving me away' will choke me up a little, so I told dad he had to hang out with me all morning so there won't be a big 'reveal' with him (I always see the bride and dad crying in pics at the hotel).</div>

zippityb

We're doing the majority of our photographs before the ceremony. I am actually looking forward to the two of us going around town in the limo taking a bunch of pictures.

FWIW snopes says that it's a fairly modern "tradition" of not seeing each other before the ceremony. Back in the day, the bride and groom used to walk to the church together on the wedding day.

ohwhynot

I'm looking forward to one.  I'd like a few moments together before going in to face the rest of the guests.  I can totally understand the other view, but this feels right for us.  I hope it happens that way. 

katiewhompus

 Dh's "first look" seconds before he totally lost it. I think it was harder because we were in our rain location, so he could see me walking the inside length of the building but the guests couldn't see me until I stood right beside him.

RachNRich

Did you do a first look? We did a first look in order to facilitate picture taking, lest we require our guest to wait a long time while we farted around Vegas taking pictures. 
If so, are you glad you did? I'm so glad we did--I just wish we had planned it out better with our photog so that our first glance of each other wasn't right outside of the elevators at our hotel. 
If you did not, do you wish you had?
Other thoughts? We aren't religious in any sense, so this played a big role in our decision making--we also didn't feel like it would make the actual moment of walking down the aisle any less special. 

ohwhynot

Katiewhompus husband:  Awwwwwww. 

katiewhompus

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-poll?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:31d7349a-d589-4fa3-b10d-8f7c36bdd73dPost:f46781b4-5c0b-4ae8-b04c-2db6e8c8fcb3">Re: First look poll</a>:
[QUOTE]Katiewhompus husband:  Awwwwwww. 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

Yeah, he is the classic stoic manly Marine too. Apparently when he saw me he said "oh my god" and lost it. The only other time I've seen him cry in the three years we've been together is when I blacked out after falling off a hammock. My dad lost it too. Good thing us weepy women were able to hold it together!

katiewhompus

I think a picture like that would be adorable Jesse...I wish I had thought of that. Or a picture of the two of you behind the wall but holding hands...

nda_roxybabe

Aww Katie

sarabear23

We didn't do one, and we also stayed apart the night before. The first time we saw eachother was when i walked down the aisle, and I loved it. It wouldnt have been as special for me if we had seen each other before, I dont think.

katiewhompus

Oh, and we separated at 9pm the night before the wedding, per his family's tradition. It was actually really fun. After dinner my bff asked him to go get something out my car, then sent me out there a few minutes later. Then she stood up and told the family she wanted to make a quick announcement while we were gone. What she was really doing was giving us a good old high school make-out by the car while no one is looking session before we had to leave.
Then I spent the night at my parents house with her and we giggled all night long. In the morning I texted Scott "You still want to be my husband?" and then the day just flew by.

KittE7

oh, sounds like you want more of a "sneaky peeky" than a first look!  in that case, I say save it til you're entering your ceremony.

[QUOTE]We're doing the majority of our photographs before the ceremony. I am actually looking forward to the two of us going around town in the limo taking a bunch of pictures.
Posted by zippityb[/QUOTE]

US TOO! We're not doing so much of a "first look, a quiet moment before the ceremony" as a "first look in private (+photog) before getting photos around town." We didn't get engagement photos, so this will be fun.  Plus, the limited time for photos between the CM and the RC will be packed with the "family reunion"-type photos.
I still think that we're going to get jumpity tummies when we see each other at the ceremony site. :)

sucrets4

Yes, we did, and I loved it.

I don't know why, but seeing him when walking down the aisle seemed kinda...sterile to me.  Like, we couldn't be ourselves because we had to hold it together for the ceremony.

Plus, we got gems of pics like these:





But seriously, I love this:

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

We are not married yet, but we are doing a first look. We are taking pictures downtown, which is 30-45 minutes away from our ceremony and reception location. So if we did not do pics before the ceremony, we would not have awesome off-site pictures, basically.

I'm also not very superstitious or traditional in most wedding respects.

nda_roxybabe

Aww Sucrets, those are cute!

sucrets4

We're silly. 

ohwhynot

Sucrets, those are really nice.  Emmalyn's two months picture is adorable, too.

september's bride

Did you do a first look? Nope, in fact, we stayed in separate places the night before the wedding.
If so, are you glad you did? n/a
If you did not, do you wish you had? No, I liked the way we did it. We saw each other for the first time at the church as I walked down the aisle.
Other thoughts? I think there's something to be said for seeing each other for the first time in front of your family and friends. I love that moment when the bride and groom first catch eyes, and I know so many other people do too.