First Look Photos

WildRumpus

I know it's been discussed here before, but I'm bringing it up again. Rick and I were discussing how/when we want to take pictures for the wedding, and the topic came up again. I would really like to get pictures downtown, but our ceremony site is about 30 minutes away, which means we would leave our guests just hanging around for at least an hour and a half. Not cool. The other options are to do a first look and get pictures out of the way before the ceremony, or just suck it up and skip the downtown pictures. For those of you that did a first look, are you glad you did or do you regret it. Feel free to AW pictures to make your case.

ohwhynot

We did a first look and I loved it.  It would have been nice to have the traditional walk down the aisle, too, but the first look gave us a little chance to chat and nuzzle a bit before the big event.  It was sweet.  Here are some photos from our first look:

KentuckyKate

We didn't do a first look, and I don't regret it.  I really wanted that "moment."  But also,  pictures weren't that important to me.  We only took a few minutes of posed pictures inside our church and outside our reception site, and the rest were all candids throughout the night.  To me, tons of pictures weren't worth missing some of our reception or missing that feeling H and I got when the church doors opened.

WildRumpus

OWN, Kate brought up a good point. Did you feel like it took anything away from the walk down the aisle, since you'd already seen each other?

FutureMrsDudley55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-photos-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a1f1dfec-7b1a-4211-b31c-cd3bc57c4e47Post:85c32fcf-1170-428e-93fe-acf90c413502">Re: First Look Photos</a>:
[QUOTE]Those are beautiful photos, Duds.  I also recall rach's first look photos as being particularly awesome. 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much, OWN! Your wedding photos are absolutely beautiful too.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

That's the exact reason we're doing first look. We're doing pics downtown and it will take 30-45 minutes just to drive there. We'd miss most of our reception.

We're meeting the photographer at 2pm and our ceremony is at 5:30pm. The only pics we'll be doing after the ceremony are with our families.

zippityb

We did them, and I'm glad we did. There was no big emotional reveal or anything like that, because that's not how we roll, but it was nice for us to have some alone time before all the craziness started. And by alone time, I mean us and two photographers and our friend that was helping us/them.

Celles

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-photos-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a1f1dfec-7b1a-4211-b31c-cd3bc57c4e47Post:bdf37072-4ab4-43e8-8bfb-2c9e8e339d6b">Re: First Look Photos</a>:
[QUOTE]We did a first look and it was such a wonderful moment to share. H began to cry as soon as he saw me, which made me cry, and made our photographer cry. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Posted by FutureMrsDudley55[/QUOTE]

That last picture just made <em>me </em>cry!  I'm not even joking.

They're lovely. :)

WildRumpus

Duds, I'm going to show your pictures to Rick. They're beautiful

kayakrunhike

We did the first look as well, and totally don't regret it.  I'm glad, partly because my curls fell out promptly after the ceremony (it was really humid, and my hair doesn't curl well to begin with), so everyone looked refreshed and excited in the pictures.  I started crying when I saw him during the first look pics, and there are some great pics of the expressions on the GM faces in the background.  We got pretty much all of our photos done ahead of time, except for the ones with our parents, so we had some down time before the reception to relax. 

Honestly, seeing DH before the ceremony and hanging out with our closest friends went a long way towards helping me relax, and I feel like it made the day that much better.  It did absolutely nothing to ruin the moment when I walked down the aisle, and DH feels the same way. 

FutureMrsDudley55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_first-look-photos-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:a1f1dfec-7b1a-4211-b31c-cd3bc57c4e47Post:523413c8-4618-430e-82e1-656bb83d307c">Re: First Look Photos</a>:
[QUOTE]Duds, I'm going to show your pictures to Rick. They're beautiful
Posted by Jill9288[/QUOTE]

Thank you Jill! =)

MissIntentional

we didn't do photos until after the ceremony, but we he had already seen me in my dress and we drove to the venue together. even though he had seen me before i still love the look he had as i walked down the aisle. your groom will be excited and staring at you like he wants to eat you up as you walk down even if he's already seen you i'm sure.

lemken

Do first look - it's the absolute best!

JDM143

I'm getting married in three weeks and we're doing a first look for a few reasons.  First, I want to have a private moment with him before the whirlwind of the day, and also I wanted to be as present as possible throughout the day and see the people that travelled to be there - and we're having a bigger party (220 folks) so it'll take some time to connect with a lot of different people, and I want to have the most time to do that.  And I want my bridal party to enjoy cocktail hour - they have done so much leading up to this day, I figure the more they can enjoy the better.  

I do wonder about walking down the aisle, but the other factors outweigh it for me. 

Good luck with your decision!

annabeiler

We did first look photos! We had it planned that no one else would be around just us and our photographer.  The "preview" our photographer gave us, showed the most true reaction two people could ever have when seeing each other. There were a few tears, laughs, hugs / kisses.. really a moment to remember.  The reaction when I was walking down the aisle was completely different and I don't think that the first look took away from that at all. We wanted to avoid leaving all the guests, so we did all our photos before the ceremony.  It worked out perfectly! 

kbarkshire

My Fi and I are leaning towards first look pictures also. We will see eachother pretty much all throughout the day as we and our bridal team are doing the decorating. Also one big factor that is playing in is, we are getting married in early December, which it starts getting darker earlier. Our ceremony starts at 530 and I really would like pictures of us taken outside before dark and that's not going to happen if we wait...and this is all weather permitting!!!

I'm sure however, whatever decision you make, you'll not take away from coming down the aisle. Both you and your soon-to-be's nerves and emotions will still be going as you walk down the aisle, because the 'moment' has finally arrived!!

barrelbabe004

We did one too and I'm glad we did.  It was nice to have our "moment" privately and gave us a chance to talk to each other and relax.  I didn't really have nerves until the dress was on and it was nice to go see him and remind myself why I was getting married.
I think I only have 1 picture saved on this computer but this is where I stepped on the front of my dress and I heard a rip sound (ended up just being the hem of the skirt ripped a little) but he said "there's my swan" since I'm a klutz.  Hence the laughing... Which quickly turned into crying.
ETA: And it was really the only private moment we had the entire day until we got into the car to go to the hotel.

tropicanagrl8

We are doing first look photos.  I want to have that private moment with my FI so I can hug and kiss him and not wait until after the ceremony. Plus, our ceremony and reception are at the same venue, this will get the pictures out of the way so we can just enjoy more time with the guest right after the ceremony.

ReesesMD22

I agree with kbarkshire.
 
I am getting married in December.  The problems with these dates are that the sun sets really early, around 4:30pm, the time of my ceremony. 

And there is the weather to factor in as well,  as she pointed out

I am looking forward to my First Look photos with my Fi, and I don't think it will take away from my trip up the aisle.

Good Luck to all!

polichik

When I get even slightly emotional (like when somebody cries on TV), I can feel tears tugging. When I cry, I CRY, so I wanted to do a first look to avoid blubbering. We're going to do tons of photos before the ceremony, which I'm really happy about.

We're getting some awesome downtown photos, photos in a theater that I love, photos in the garden and museum where FI and I first met, and we're only doing a few extended family photos post-ceremony. We're also having a 6 PM wedding, so we have time to do all this. Photography is almost 1/4th of our budget, so I wanted to make the most of it!

We've also built in an hour of down time with the WP at a bar during our photos, so we can relax, sit, eat, and the photog can get some more candids before the ceremony even starts.