First Look on Your Wedding Day

5 easy ways to make your wedding day as smooth as possible while walking away with your best photos ever.

Your wedding day will go by in a flash. Months of planning and preparation for just a few hours of celebration and being pulled in every which way for congratulations, toasts, and tears. Is it still a beautiful heartfelt milestone in your life? Abso-fricking-lutely. All I’m saying is that it’s important to carve out moments that remind you why you’re here: because of the love you share. That’s why I love including a first look.

What even is a first look anyway?

Traditionally, the engaged couple would see each other for the first time at the ceremony. A first look on the other hand, is when the engaged couple plans to see each other for the first time alone, with only the photographer/videographer present.

1. Alone Time

With all the hustle and bustle of the long awaited day, there is often ironically hardly anytime for you to spend alone with your partner. The first look is the perfect moment for you two to pause, take a breath, slow down, and feel into the moment. So much time is often spent with excited bridal parties, family members, and friends you haven’t seen since college, having a first look allows you to have more time together to focus on why you’re here in the first place: the love you share.

2. Relive the Pressure

We all know that moment in a movie when the groom sees the bride for the first time as she walks down the aisle and he swells up with emotion and the whole crowd ooh’s and ahh’s over how sweet it is. But it doesn’t usually happen like that. With all eyes on the person at the alter, their reaction will never be as genuine, authentic, or tender as if it were just the two of you sneaking away together to share a moment. With no one else around, you’re each free to feel and express your emotions without the added pressure of a performance.

3. The More Pictures the Better

Photos from the first look are sometimes my favorite photos from the whole day because they’re so real, raw and intimate. Making time to have a first look means you’ll end up with more photos to remember your day by. Just looking at those photos on your one year anniversary transports you back to the crazy love/excitement/anticipation you were feeling when you first got married. It’s also a great opportunity to sneak in some extra portrait session time, which in turn saves you time after the ceremony to head straight into party mode.

4. Calm the Nerves

Usually at this point you haven’t seen each other since the day before, if not longer, and you’re both feeling pretty nervous. It’s a great time to recenter and reassure each other and calm any nerves you might be feeling.

5. More Control

Your wedding will only happen once. No matter how well you plan, there are variables that you just can’t control. There’s a lot of moving parts (bad weather, bad light, bad traffic, bad sushi the night before), so it’s important to make a plan with as little risk as possible. Planning for a first look means we get to decide when and where to take the pictures This ensurers the best light and location, and guarantees that we get plenty of couples pictures. That also means we can get all the family/bridal party photos out of the way so that once the ceremony is over, all that’s left to do is celebrate.

Just remember that I’m a photographer, so I’m a little biased. I’m always going to prioritize photos if I can because that’s my job. But ultimately I’m here to support the two of you. If that means you want to throw the first look out the window, then I will back you 100%. This day is about you, so take my advice with a grain of salt and decide what’s most important for you and your fiancee.