Break the Mold: 8 Reasons to Have a First Look
There’s so much to think about when planning your wedding day. The guest list, the venue, what to wear, the food, choosing your photographers, and so on. But have you given any thought to having a first look on your wedding day? The first look is an intimate moment where the two of you get to meet privately before your ceremony, all dressed up in your wedding finest and getting a ‘first look’ of each other before you say “I do”. It’s a really lovely moment to capture and we think it’s a wedding must-have. Here are 8 reasons why you should do a first look on your wedding day.
You’re Feeling Nervous or Anxious
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t really enjoy being the center of attention, then standing up in front of everyone at your ceremony can be a nerve-wracking experience! The last thing you want is pictures where you look anxious or even scared when what you should be feeling is happy and excited, right?
A first look can help with this. For one thing, you get that first moment of seeing your significant other in a private space where you can feel more relaxed and just focus on each other. Your partner can reassure you and help you to relax, and we’ll stay out of the way and leave you to have your moment while we capture things from a distance.
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Couple Portraits Are Important To You
When things are running a bit behind on a wedding day (because it’s bound to happen!), the first sacrifice most couples make is the couple portraits. They suddenly find they’ve got half the amount of time for couple portraits when they had hoped for much more.
We’ll always make sure to do couple portraits, whatever the time constraints. But if you’re a couple who really want to prioritize your portraits, then a first look is a great way to do this. Before the ceremony – and away from all the distractions of excitable guests and fabulous feasting – we can get beautiful couple portraits that you’ll love hanging up on your wall. And then you can still get on and enjoy your day!
All The Emotions
Wedding days are super emotional events, but you might be the kind of couple who doesn’t like to show all those emotions in front of a crowd of people, even if they are your close friends and family!
If you’d like the freedom to be able to really express your emotions (and have us get photos of that), a first look is the perfect opportunity. It’ll just be the two of you and the two of us (at a respectful distance or working quietly around you) in a private location so you can focus entirely on each other and let all those emotions out if you want to.
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Time With Friends and Family Matters To You
You’ve probably seen it at plenty of weddings before, where the couple gets whisked off during the cocktail hour and it seems like they’re never coming back. An hour or two later, they finally return just in time for dinner. And, before you know it, the night is almost over and you’ve not even had a chance for hugs and congratulations.
You know you don’t want this for your wedding day. Part of the reason you’ve invited your friends and family is that it’s important to you that you get to celebrate the day with them!
Having a first look can remove this issue entirely, because you’ll have your couple portraits during the first look – which means you won’t need to disappear later on. You’ll know you’ve got beautiful photographs of just the two of you together, but you can still get on and enjoy celebrating your day with the people who really matter to you!
You’re Having A Late Ceremony
Not every couple wants a full wedding day. You may have decided you prefer to have a late ceremony and take advantage of the setting sun to really create a mood around the moment you exchange your vows.
We love late ceremonies, by the way! But this can prove a challenge to then get you the couple shots you want, due to lack of light and less time to get them done.
A first look can totally solve this problem because you’ll be taking a few moments out before the ceremony to meet up and have those pictures taken. As far as we’re concerned, it’s the perfect solution!
You’ve Got A Specific Location In Mind
And it’s nowhere near where your ceremony and reception are taking place.
If there’s one thing we know, most couples forget to allow for travel time when looking at different locations for shoots as part of their wedding day. Travel time usually means less time spent with friends and family, and we’re sure this isn’t something you’d want to remember your day for.
By opting for a first look, you can schedule getting ready earlier and having the first look at that location, completely removing the time factor as you’ll be able to go from your ceremony straight to celebrating afterwards!
A first look definitely creates much more flexibility with the rest of your wedding day schedule.
Tight Timelines
Don’t get us wrong, getting married and having your reception at the same location is awesome. It means less time spent traveling from place to place, which can only mean more time for those fabulous candid moments we love capturing so much.
But when everything is in one place, it generally means that timelines become more compacted. There’s a lot to fit in, so we usually get a maximum of about an hour between the end of your wedding ceremony and the start of the reception. And in that time we have to fit in family formals, portraits with the wedding party, and couple shots. It means you’ll be spending most of your cocktail hour standing around having your pictures taken before heading straight into reception intros
.
Removing an element from that very tight schedule frees you up to enjoy a few appetizers and drinks with your guests, while we can be getting a whole bunch of lovely candid images, as well as some detail shots.
Consider a first look to free up a little room. You won’t regret it!
Time Alone Together
If there’s one thing we hear couples say a lot, it’s that they wish they’d had a bit of time alone together. Your wedding can be pretty overwhelming, with lots of friends and family all wanting to celebrate and congratulate you. Having a little time alone together to let the feeling of being a married (or soon-to-be-married) couple sink in is a worthwhile experience and one you won’t forget.
A first look guarantees you get those precious moments of time together and you’ll be so pleased you did it. After all, we’re sure you want to spend more of your wedding day together than you do apart, right?
If you’ve found yourself nodding along to this post and are now converted to the idea of having a first look for your special day, get in touch with us. We’d love to help guide you through the process and be the photographers who capture your first look! Let’s Chat!
