Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Wedding Wednesday: First Look or No First Look?

It's Wedding Wednesday and that means we have made it halfway through the week! Woo! Today I wanted to talk about doing a first look. Did you do one? Did you skip the first look? I would love to know your reasoning for either!

I think this choice is totally personal and I have seen so many people do it all different ways. I say to each their own and whatever works best for the couple.

Before we decided what we were going to do, I looked online for what others did and their reasoning behind their decision! In this wedding planning process, I've found you can find pretty much any topic online and it is so helpful! WeddingWire has a fun little 'First Look' quiz, they also had some discussion boards here and here, as well as an article about it! The discussion boards are my favorite to browse through because you can read about what other brides did and their advice on different things.

My fiancĂ© and I discussed this and it's funny because we sometimes have different opinions on things (like he wants a cake and I don't) but for this, we both had exactly the same thoughts and feelings on this particular topic. 

We will not be doing a first look. It was really important to us that we see each other for the first time as I walk down the aisle. 

Photos are really important to me- obviously for sentimental purposes but also for my blog so I am able to share our special day with all of you. However, we both agreed that being in the moment and making sure that we had that moment in the church was far more important. 

With the way our wedding day schedule is drafted, we actually shouldn't have issues with photos and should have plenty of time to get the shots that we want. We hired an incredible photographer/videographer team (more on that in a later post) so I'm confident that a first look isn't even necessary! 

We have both been imagining the moment I walk down the aisle and even talk about it from time to time. I get butterflies every time I think about it!

Thank you to WeddingWire for sponsoring this post, all opinions are my own!

8 comments:

Laura said...

I did a first look and loved it! We had a sunset ceremony on the beach so all pictures had to be done ahead of the ceremony if we wanted the correct lighting. I also liked that moment was shared between just my husband and I (and the photographers) and made us feel a little less nervous for the ceremony itself.

Laura Baker Busic said...

I don't want to do a first look either! Logistically it's "smarter," but I think it's so much more special to see each other for the first time at the ceremony!

Anonymous said...

We did not do a first look because I'm kind of "traditional" when it came to that. I loved the photos our photographer got of my husband getting chocked up as I walked down.

Also, my big day of recommendation is pick a song to walk down the aisle that you will hear again. I did an instrumental version of a favorite song, and now every time I hear it I am transported back to that moment! That song gives me more goosebumps than our first dance song!

Maitland said...

My sister and her husband didn't do a first look and the photographer captured his face right before he saw her and right after and being able to see his face light up again and again is so special. I'm getting married in June and it's that moment that made me decide against a first look. I have a small family and we're not doing a seated dinner so pictures won't take that long and everyone else won't be waiting for food!

Karen said...

No first look I will always remember the look on my husbands face as the church doors opened for my Dad and I to walk down the aisle to the lovely processional music, Maria from the Sound of Music. I knew when I heard that as a little girl I would walk down the aisle listening to that piece of music.

MaggieMcCurdy said...

We did not do a first look. I was SO excited for us to see each other when I walked down the aisle and our photos capturing those moments are some of my favorites. So excited for you!!

Melissa said...

I did not do a first look and it was by far one of the best decisions I made-nothing is more magical than seeing each other for the first time walking down the aisle! Instead, to still get a bit of one-on-one time together, we opted for a short "private vow ceremony" with our minister right after the ceremony during which exchanged more personal vows that we wrote for each other in our vow books. That was definitely one of the best and most emotional parts of the entire day and having a little one-on-one time immediately after you become husband and wife is incredible! Plus it's super great to get photos of the two of you alone in the chapel! In addition to waiting to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle, we also opted for absolutely no communication between saying goodbye for each other after the rehearsal dinner and seeing each other at the altar. It was hard, but it significantly built up and added to the specialness of the ceremony and I'm so glad we did it. Although we did not talk or text or see each other at all, we still "communicated" in that we each wrote a goodnight letter to read before bed on the night before the wedding, and a wedding day letter and gift to read and open before the ceremony. (I love that my photographer and videographer got to capture those moments!) Plus, post-wedding, having those letters and our vow books with all of our thoughts and emotions in writing has been so meaningful and something we will cherish rereading for the rest of our lives! I hope you two have the most special day and enjoy every single moment!

Ryann Carter said...

We didn’t do one either for the same reason. I do not remember my husband’s face, but luckily we had a videographer set up inside and they let my photographer take a few photos from outside of the church as I walked down the aisle (we got married in an old church in Charleston with a Christ centered ceremony. They would have allowed it if I fought, but they were against me walking down the aisle to the wedding march because it was created for a Shakespearean play, luckily I dreamed of walking down the aisle to a different song). It really was all just a daze. But I did a first look with my father and my husband and i stood outside holding hands on either side of a column before the ceremony. It was perfect for us!

 

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