Pros & Cons of a First Look from a Wedding Planner
The stress. The emotions. The expectations. There’s so many feelings and moving parts on your wedding day, which often leads to the question - “should we do a first look?”. If you’re not familiar with the term, a first look is when the couple opts to see each other before the ceremony and usually does a private vow reading, special pictures, and has some privacy together before all of the guests arrive. However, some couples want to keep things traditional and see each other for the first time that day at the ceremony. To be honest with you, I definitely am biased towards doing a first look - but over half of my couples have decided to not do a first look. Either way is special and true wedding professionals will respect and work with whatever option you choose. I wanted to break down some pros and cons of first looks to help you determine what option is the best for you and your fiancé!
First Look Pros:
More time for pictures. I know, I know, this is always the first thing everyone says and let me be the first to clarify something. If you hire a professional photographer who can work well under a timeline and shot list, and a professional wedding planner who can manipulate and enforce a timeline, whatever option you decide will still result in beautiful photos. However, usually a first look should happens ~2 hours before your ceremony, which means all of the following photos can happen before your ceremony:
Bride + Groom portraits (yes, you can still do more post-ceremony, too)
Bride + Bridesmaids / Groom + Groomsmen (which should be done pre-ceremony regardless in my opinion) as well as Entire Wedding Party photos of Bride, Groom, Bridesmaids, Groomsmen.
Bride + Groom with both of their sets of parents + siblings
This means that the only pictures left post-ceremony are extended family group photos (if you opt for this) and a few more special couple photos, such as golden hour portraits. Without the first look, all of the photos mentioned above have to take place during cocktail hour. Which brings me to my second point…
You can enjoy your cocktail hour: If being a part of your cocktail hour is important to you, then I encourage you to consider a first look. Even with a small bridal party, the photo combinations mentioned above, in addition to family photos easily eat up 45 minutes, leaving only 15 minutes for couples portraits and no time for joining cocktail hour festivities.
It gives you a private moment together. As I’m sure you’ve heard, your wedding day goes 1 million miles per hour, and unless you are intentional about planning uninterrupted time into the timeline, the first look will be the only time the two of you are alone on your wedding day. I always suggest incorporating something fun and special into this private moment too - whether it’s reading a special poem or vows, giving a gift, or even sharing your favorite snack.
First Look Cons:
Loosing the traditional element: There definitely is something super romantic about the anticipation of the grand entrance down the aisle to the love of your life. The emotions, raw reaction, and the grand reveal of the bride feels very traditional, and it’s classic for a reason! If this is something that you and your partner have envisioned, don’t let the logistics of a first look change your mind!
2. Getting Ready Logistics - since the first look has to happen an hour or two before the ceremony, this pushes the getting ready timeline to a little bit earlier in the morning. Also after the first look there’s a good chance you’ll probably have to fix your makeup and touchup your hair or dress, which some don’t want to take the risk on before ceremony.
3. Too Intimate to be Photographed: Since this moment is so intimate, it might feel slightly awkward to have a photographer there documenting it at all. Alternatives are doing a first look truly alone without a photo and video team, or doing a “first touch” where you still get to be around your partner and talk to them before the ceremony, but saving the first look and raw reaction to you walking down the aisle.
Did I miss anything? Do you regret having a first look, or did it help with the overall flow of your day? Let me know in the comments over on Instagram!