Should I Have A First Look?

What is a first look? The first look is a moment for you and your future spouse to see each other before your wedding ceremony. If you are wondering if you should have a first look, the answer is definitely yes! The first look is one of our favorite parts of the day. We absolutely loved the moments we had together during our first look. If we haven’t convinced you yet, there are a few reasons why we think you should have a first look:

It Is An Intimate Moment

This is the biggest reason why we LOVE the first look. This is a chance for you to be alone with your future spouse and just be yourself. You get to admire each other on your wedding day in a way that you would not get without a first look. You get to see their reaction without any other distractions. It is just you and him. The portraits that we capture are so raw and emotional. They feel the most authentic of any picture that you will take throughout your wedding day. We feel like this picture of Mikaela and Shane perfectly captures that raw emotion that you will experience at your first look.

It Gives You A Chance To Relax

Let’s be honest, your wedding is one of the most important days of your life! And while it is important, it can also be very stressful. When you are walking down the aisle, you can have up to hundreds of people watching you. A private first look gives you the chance to be yourself and not have to worry about who is watching. It also gives you some time to talk to your future spouse and relax before the wedding starts. Time slows down while you are experiencing your first look, and you get that chance to just relax and get excited. We  love how Kendra and Brady chose to do their first look. After seeing each other, they exchanged reasons why they loved each other. It was one of the most meaningful things we have witnessed as photographers, and the pictures captured so much emotion during that time.

It Helps Your Wedding Timeline Go More Smoothly

Having a first look adds additional structure to your wedding timeline. Typically bridal party pictures are right after the first look with family pictures to follow. This gives you more freedom to enjoy the rest of your day after your wedding ceremony.! You don’t have to spend cocktail hour doing family pictures and bridal party pictures. Go party now! Then you get to spend more time with your guests during cocktail hour and you also do not have to keep your guests waiting at the reception. If you want to know more about planning a wedding timeline, you can CLICK HERE. For Morgan and Tyson, having their first look made their day go much more smoothly, and it gave us an excuse to use these pretty pink trees in some pictures. 😉  By doing their first look, we were able to do family pictures and bridal party pictures before their ceremony. After the ceremony, they just got to have fun! No keeping the guests waiting at the reception because you’re busy taking family photos! 🙂 We definitely think timelines flow so much more smoothly with a first look programmed in the timeline.

More of Those Special “Candid Moment” Pictures!

Now it’s getting personal. While we greatly appreciated our couples pictures at our own wedding, the first look pictures were a special moment to us.  We hold those near and dear to our hearts, and when you like something, don’t you naturally want more of that? With us, we always have two photographers at each wedding. Because there are two of us, we capture your reaction to seeing him for the first time, and his reaction to seeing you for the first time. We think this is so important to document because it’s a time in your life you just won’t get back!

And we are always up for doing a first look with anyone special to you! Your dad, your grandpa, or maybe even your son! Without a first look, this moment in this next picture wouldn’t have happened. Jace is telling his mom that she looked so pretty! Alyssa and Sid love this photo and we do too!

 

More Time TOGETHER on YOUR WEDDING DAY

Imagine if your wedding is not until 4:00 PM. That’s a full day of not seeing each other until the ceremony. And once the ceremony is over… you have to stay and take family pictures. Wouldn’t you rather go party it up? We know we would! 🙂 As we stated before, your first look is a time of just the two of you together. No one else, no other worries. To us, it was like a breath of fresh air during our first look. Like… finally.  And don’t get us wrong, we loved seeing each other, but truly we just enjoyed spending time alone together!

For more of Amber and Cooper’s wedding, you can click here. 🙂 

 

Conclusion

We hope we have helped you answer your question of whether or not you should have a first look. We think there is a lot of value in them, for you and for your spouse! But all in all, it is up to you what you’d like to do for your wedding! First look, or no first look, at the end of the day you are still married, beginning life’s greatest journey together. ❤