Wedding Tip Wednesday | First Look, or No First Look?

WEddings

When planning your wedding day, there are an overabundance of details to consider. Pastel pink or dusty blue? Loose bouquet or tight and structured? Indoor or outdoor ceremony? We think that the time leading up to your wedding should be fun and a moment to reconnect with the love of your life, making memories with your best friend.. not googling for hours on end. So we bring to you: Wedding Tip Wednesday. A series where we share all of our personal expert opinions on making your day the most magical ever.

Part 1:  Dressing for Your Engagement Session

Part 2. First Look or no First Look?

Part 3: 5 Reasons We Love Long Veils

Part 4: Choosing the perfect Getting Ready Room

Part 5. Indoors versus Outdoor Spaces

This. This is why we love first looks guys. All this emotion. We get asked a lot about a fist look versus no first look. Most of our brides actually choose a first look- times are definitely changing y’all- so we wanted to give you our perspective of first looks at a quick glance! (We promise to try to give you as short of an answer as humanly possible.. because we could seriously talk all day about it). Bonus- If you make it to the end, you will see a peek into our own first look moment and our perspective of a first look as a bride and a groom.

1. First looks gives you twice the emotional moments on your day.

The emotions and intimacy during a reveal are so raw- they are actually hands down my favorite moments of the entire wedding day. Yes. The. entire. day. Seeing each other before their ceremony allowed for Jen and Jeremy to not only to have an emotional connection as she walked down the aisle to become his wife, but also as he saw her for the first time in her gown as a bride.

 

2. Double the Emotional Value

So many brides are worried that they won’t experience the same level of emotions when they walk down the aisle, but I have ALWAYS experienced the opposite. Intuitively we would think that moment would be ruined by the first look, but the emotions are SO different from during the first look. When walking down the aisle- you’re getting married! A groom seeing his future wife walk towards him brings on a totally different set of emotions, and more often than not, the moment is still completely magical. There is also something so romantic about the idea of sharing this moment together. Privately. Because this moment is shared between the couple, I find that the groom feels as though he can be so much more candid and honest with his emotions during the first look without being overly worried about becoming too emotional in front of a large crowd. (Can I get an amen from the ladies out there who has a guy who doesn’t always show his emotions candidly?).

 

3. All the Memories

Since couples have seen one another, they get to spend SO much more time together! Jen and Jeremy in this picture got to actually spend their wedding day together. From 3:00 to the end of the night, they have so many memories to look back on. If they hadn’t done a reveal? They would have only seen each other for about 4 hours or so.

 

4. Bonus Portraits

Had they only seen each other those 4 hours, they would have half the couples portraits that they now have, they would not have been able to attend their entire cocktail hour, and would have missed out on tons of memorable moments shared with their guests. Some of the biggest complaints I hear brides have is how quickly the day flies by. And it does. Of course my job is to help my couples preserve their moments and to savor and enjoy the time that is surpassing them, but one of the best ways we can accomplish the slowing of time is to allow for the bride and groom to enjoy their day together. Cue- first looks.

 

 

After this wedding, Jen messaged me and mentioned just how the day flew by (totally common!) and how much she wished she could relive it the day one more time. I couldn’t help but think how lucky they were to have made the choice to do a first look, have private vow readings to one another, and to create so many memories- together. Though the decision for a first look is a very private, and much debated decision, I always support my brides in whatever decision they make. What is most important is to weigh the options (hum hello! Totally perfect opportunity for a pros-cons list! Woot woot!) and make the decision that is best for you and your honey.

Bonus: Our Personal Experience as a Bride and Groom

We won’t get too in depth here- we promise to share our wedding day with you all from beginning to end soon- but this post would be incomplete if we didn’t at least mention one last thing… and that being that our first look was our absolute favorite part of our wedding day. Having this private moment together was a time that we would never experience without a first look, and being able to spend practically our whole wedding day together is something that we will forever value and cherish. And out aisle moment? It still rocked. ???? (But we promise to give you more on that at another time!)

All our love,

Shauna and Jordon

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