When planning your wedding, have you and your partner considered adding a first look to your timeline? First look photographs are some of the most romantic and personal wedding pictures I get to create and there are so many reasons to consider adding them to your wedding day.

What Is A First Look?

A bride and groom’s first look is when the couple gets to see each other in their wedding attire before the actual ceremony. It’s usually held just before the ceremony begins and takes place at a set location near or at the venue.

It’s an untraditional wedding experience that’s becoming more popular. Usually, the groom is standing with his back to the bride as she comes up and surprises him with a simple tap on the shoulder (or the other way around). 

That being said there are a lot of first look wedding ideas that can be created to find something unique and fitting to you and your partner.

Are First Looks Bad Luck?

Back in the day, bride and groom pictures before the wedding were unheard of because of the superstition that it is bad to see your spouse before the wedding ceremony. This dates back to a time when arranged marriages were customary and we have long since passed this as being a common practice. While some areas in the world still do arranged marriages, I think it’s safe to say that you and your boo do not fall into this practice.

A wedding is a large milestone in anyone’s life and it’s often filled with love and emotions as family and close friends gather to witness the union of two people in love. While traditional couples may wait to see each other at the ceremony, there are a lot of reasons to consider taking first look photos. Here are my top 5.

#1 It’s Meaningful and Eases Your Nerves

Bride and groom first look photographs are like a romantic mini getaway that allows you to connect before the wedding. A wedding day can be non-stop busy and full of stress so taking a moment or two to step out of the hustle and bustle of the day allows you to put your nerves at ease and allows you to remember what’s most important. You get to share in an intimate moment between just you and your partner. Queue all of the pre-wedding emotions!

Doing a first look before the ceremony doesn’t detract from the meaning and excitement of having a second look at the ceremony. While having a first look at your ceremony sounds fine, and can be, you and your partner are on two different ends of the aisle. With a first look before the ceremony, you’re close enough to be in the same photographs, and the overall experience makes for some beautifully captured emotions to look back on.

#2 The First Look Photo Will Be Well Composed and Clean

Think about it, by the time that your wedding ceremony is over, you’ve been running around for hours with hair and makeup done. You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, you’ve smudged your lipstick, while your groom’s suit has become wrinkled and his dress shirt untucked. You will never look as picture perfect as you do before the ceremony. Having a wedding day first look means that you can have several photos where you both look amazing in a beautiful well lit and composed setting.

#3 Your Wedding Timeline Is More Efficient

A wedding day timeline with the first look is more efficient because it’s using your time wisely by getting more photos taken before and less after. A wedding timeline without the first look means all of those photos of you and your partner, as well as the wedding party, will be taken after the ceremony during the time when everyone else is heading to the reception that follows.

Don’t worry, even with a first look, I will still be able to get photos of your bouquet, rings, and other important details before your ceremony. 

#4 You Get More Photographs of the Two of You

When you choose to take first look photos, you’ll be getting more photos with more variety! Something that is going to make your first look images stand out is the different lighting used. The natural lighting will change throughout the day as the sun and clouds move around. While I can’t control the weather, I can work with it to create stunning photos and by having a first look before the ceremony, and bride+groom pictures after,  you can have a wide variety of lighting in your photos making them stand out more in your wedding album.

#5 You Can Actually Be Present At Your Reception

This sounds crazy because you know you’ll obviously be there, the wedding ceremony and reception couldn’t happen without you! But, with how much planning, organizing, and last minute bumps happening it can be hard to feel present at your wedding, even more so at the reception after. The more time you have at your reception due to your post ceremony photographs being shorter, the more you will get to enjoy the party part of your day. 

So many brides look at the wedding reception photos months or years later only to not remember things because they were somewhere else when the photos were taken. The after ceremony photos will be much quicker and you can get to the reception on time, allowing you to actually be present with your guests and partake in the celebration!

There are countless moments for us to capture during your ceremony and the reception. Inside jokes, passing glances, awkward dances and happy tears all caught forever in photographs. But there’s only one moment where you will see each other for the first time, be sure to plan to have it captured beautifully.