I have to say that a ton of my future brides email me saying “oh I want pictures like theirs” after viewing my blog. The thing that all of these amazing weddings have in common is an awesome time line. What is important for my brides to know is that those photographs were taken because the bride/groom and I built time into the day to make them happen. I typically ask for an hour and a half total for portraits (family, wedding party, and bride/groom). This assures a stress free/relaxed experience.
The day of your wedding can be pretty hectic. Things are very rarely on time. Plan for everything to take longer than you think. If you’ve given yourself 20 minutes to travel from the ceremony to the reception, make it 30 instead. The more you plan for the unexpected, the less stressed you’ll feel on your big day. If you want to have a stress-free day and you want to enjoy every second of it I strongly recommend doing a first look. I know some people are against it but its HUGE. I have never had a couple say the regretted doing it. I have had just about every couple say they wish they DID it. Here are reasons why. Lately a lot of people that are anti-first looks have been asking me if I had any testimonials from people who have done first looks. Until today I didn’t. But, I figured it was a really awesome idea to have something like this so that my clients who are wanting something more traditional can see how amazing the first look can really be. I would never force someone into it, but if you want an outside opinion here you go!
SHANNON + BRENT
Why did you chose to do a first look? In all honesty, we chose to do a first look purely because we were getting married at 6:00 PM in the fall and barely had enough light left in the day for our ceremony. We were both dead set against seeing each other before – we wanted to have some tradition! We fell in love with Molly for her natural light photos and knew that was something we really wanted so we opted for stunning pictures that would last a life time instead of rushed photos so he would only first see me coming down the aisle.
What was your favorite part of the first look? Now that we have done the first look, my favorite part was the same part you are hoping to get when you walk down the aisle – that look on his face the first time he sees you in your wedding dress. To me, my favorite part was sharing that with my husband in private, no one else was with us or staring at us as we shared that first moment. We could joke and laugh and he could take his time to tell me how beautiful I was J
What was the most memorable part of the first look? Similar to my favorite part, it was that moment just before you get to see your husband… Molly sets everything up as a surprise almost so he doesn’t see you coming. When he turns around, the look on his face was like a kid on Christmas morning. It’s that same look you are looking for when you walk down the aisle for the first time but with the first look you get to share it privately with just you and your husband.
What did you get out of the first look that you wouldn’t have if you had not done a first look? Beautiful, relaxed, naturally stunning photos for one! There is no pressure to hurry up and get to your cocktail hour. My husband and I originally didn’t even plan on going to our cocktail hour as we wanted to take that time just for us. We ended up joining in towards the end and realized it would have been a great hour to really see and be with our guests. The reception goes by in a flash! It is also a time for you to really spend some quality time with your family and wedding party. Once Molly was finished taking photos of just us we had our immediate family and wedding party with us to take some more… they came out beautiful because no one felt rushed, everyone was relaxed and it was great to spend some alone time with the people you most want at your wedding to begin with!
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? I would – we are so happy with our photos and for anyone getting married in the evening, in the fall, you’ll be thankful you have the memories for a lifetime versus the first two minutes you share when you are walking down the aisle. I also purposely decided not to wear my veil for the first look. This may seem like something small, but when you put the veil on, that is when you become the bride. That is how I wanted my husband to see me as I walked down the aisle – a new look – his bride! And it worked!! As I walked down the aisle, I still got that feeling I always wanted… my husband looking at me for the first time as his wife and bride. We both got choked up and had to fight back the tears and I know that is what you are looking for too
SAM + RACHEL
Why did you chose to do a first look? I chose to do a first look mostly so that we could go to our cocktail hour to get all of the “hello’s” done. I also had a big bridal party and wanted them to get their photos done early on so that they would be happy and enjoy the cocktail hour/reception with their husbands/dates.
What was your favorite part of the first look? My favorite part will always be seeing Sam’s face light up. Molly encouraged me and made me feel so beautiful before seeing him which was amazing because I was so anxi0us. The first look was literally the ONLY time that Sam and I had alone time the entire day. We laughed, hugged and kissed and we could never get that time back.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? Walking up to Sam, knowing that he was about to turn around and knowing we would be married in just a short couple of hours. My heart was POUNDING. Molly, as always, got some awesome pictures of this unfolding. The pictures are incredible. I feel like in a church or at any ceremony setting guys tend to hold in their emotions since everyone is looking at them. When it’s just you two they act so much more natural and are not as afraid to show their emotion.
What did you get out of your first look that you wouldn’t have if you had not done one? That special alone time, and that special time we had together. We didn’t spend the night before the wedding together, and we didn’t see each other before the first look so we really missed one another. It was so nice to have that time away from everyone. After the rehearsal and all of the stress leading up to the wedding it was so nice to just be “us”.
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? In a heartbeat. I tell everyone to do one!
Sam was against a first look in the beginning. He wanted to be more traditional. He said that he wanted to have that whole “first time seeing the bride be her walking down the aisle”. Knowing all the pictures would for the most part be done before the wedding and having much more time to spend with the people who traveled really far to be with us totally swayed him. Along with knowing he could eat apps and have drinks at the cocktail hour (lets be serious)
MOLLY + ERIC
Why did you chose to do a first look? I am very upfront and comfortable talking about my anxiety. I have it really bad. It’s something that I battle every day of my life. My biggest fear leading up to my wedding was that I would be struggling with it the day of my wedding. One of the only things that can ground me is Eric. He brings me so much comfort. I knew that if I were with him my anxiety would be much better. On top of that I had photographed so many weddings where the couple chose not to do a first look. More times than not things ended up being really rushed and stressful. Usually things run a little late and what was supposed to be an hour for photos turns into 30-45 minutes. That is not much time at all to photograph a bridal party, family, and the couple. It makes me so so so sad when I see couples stressing out about time. They should be having fun and enjoying themselves. You can also see that stress in the photos. It is all around a negative experience.
What was your favorite part of the first look? I will NEVER forget hearing Eric say “oh my gosh I hear her this is really happening”. Right at that moment I put my hands over his eyes and then he turned. His eyes immediately filled up with tears and he smiled bigger than I had ever seen him smile.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? The hug that we shared. I am pretty sure it was the longest hug we had ever hugged. We kind of just stood there holding each other. All that I could think was “this is my wedding day and this is the man I am going to spend the rest of my life with”. Time seriously stood still. I don’t even remember Bob and Trish (our photographers) being there. It was like we were the only two people in the world. If we hadn’t done a first look that hug would never have happened.
What did you get out of the first look that you wouldn’t have if you had not done a first look? Everyone tells you how fast your wedding day goes. In some ways it does. I think because we did a first look we got to prolong The day. We got to spend much more time together and more time with our friends because we started earlier. We gained three extra hours together.
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? There is no doubt in my mind. Eric and my mom were completely against the first look but because they know me and my anxiety issues they kind of agreed that maybe it was a good idea. After the first look Eric looked at me and said “thank you for making us do that… I can’t imagine the stress in trying to do all of those photos during cocktail hour and I can’t imagine not having that time alone with you”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Pattison Photography
SAM + ARI
Why did you chose to do a first look? I did a first look because it was really important to me that we had enough time for pictures. I wanted to enjoy every moment of my wedding after putting so much hard work into it and a lot of money as well.
What was your favorite part of the first look? My favorite part was that it was just my husband-to-be and me which allowed me to hear his reacting. We also got amazing pictures from it.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? His smile. He is a marine so it doesn’t happen all that often.
What did you get out of the first look that you wouldn’t have if you had not done one? I got more to spend time at my cocktail hour which allowed me to mingle with friends and family I hadn’t seen in awhile.
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? I would do it again in a heartbeat. The location of it was perfect…. Simple just the way it should be. Nothing but the two of us!
CHRISTINE + BEN
Why did you chose to do a first look? We really wanted to capture the first look as a private moment between the two of us. There’s so much pressure to “react” in front of the crowd/your guests that this seemed like a quiet, stress free moment to get great photos and have a moment just to ourselves. Also the day is so hectic, and there’s never enough time to do everything, so this was a perfect opportunity to guarantee we’d get great photos and actually enjoy cocktail hour with our guests, instead of spending the whole time doing photos. (I feel like the cocktail hour is a selling point for the guys, haha).
What was your favorite part of the first look? I loved seeing my husband all dressed up, but most importantly I loved seeing his reaction.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? To be honest it was kind of a blur, but I just remember him looking SO happy.
What did you get out of the first look that you wouldn’t have if you had not done one? Cocktail hour
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? Absolutely
DEANNA + BRYCE
For Bryce and I, being surrounding by our friends and family while we celebrated such an important event was most important to us. We had people come from near and far to be apart of our special day, and we wanted to spend every minute we could being with them. Doing a first look allowed us more time to do just that. We were able to take most of our couple photos then, and be present for our cocktail hour. The best part of the first look is the moment when you turn and see each other (it also made for some of our favorite photos). Seeing Bryce’s reaction, I don’t think I have ever felt so beautiful. While we enjoy being around the people we love, we appreciated the alone time the first look provided us, to spend that special, once in a lifetime moment together. If the “first look” is walking down the aisle, I would imagine there would be so many things you would want to say, steal a kiss, yet you would have to wait until the ceremony was over. With the first look, we could say these things, in the moment, which have made for memories we wont forget. With that being said, I do not think that the first look took anything away from the moment of walking down the aisle to him later. I still felt that rush of pure happiness, love, and all the same emotions and excitement came again, feelings worth having twice! If given the opportunity to do it all over (and believe me, I ask Bryce almost daily if we can!), we would not change a thing. Bryce was pretty open to the first look idea when I presented it to him, but then again, he was in the “what the bride wants, the bride gets” mode by then :)
ANNA + DEREK
Why did you chose to do a first look? We wanted to incorporate Derek’s father on our special day. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us but we were able to share our unforgettable moment with him at his grave site. Derek actually proposed to me on his dad’s birthday at the grave and having the first look there meant a great deal to us both.
What was your favorite part of the first look? My favorite part was seeing Derek’s reaction. I could hear him gasp for air, speechless when he turned around to see me. Our smiles couldn’t have been any bigger.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? It felt like it was just me and him. I soaked in the moment for as long as I could. Our long embrace brought me to tears.
What did you get out of the first look that you would not have if you had not done one? Our first look gave us the moment we needed with one another. We didn’t have to worry about the stress in front of our guests and we were able to be ourselves. Happy tears followed by laughter when we recapped our mornings getting ready with our friends.
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? Most definitely. We loved having our dad there and beautiful pictures that included him. We had plenty of time for our couples and wedding party pictures without feeling rushed. After the ceremony, we had time to take pictures with our extended family and friends. We also had extra time to mingle.
MAGGIE + CHARLIE
Why did you chose to do a first look? Everyone told me that the wedding would go by so fast… and it did!! With the wedding reception being only five hours long, I didn’t want to miss out on a minute of celebrating with our family and friends. Also my favorite party of weddings, in general, is the cocktail hour. I wasn’t about to miss out on that time mingling with friends and to have a drink.
What was your favorite part of the first look? Just getting to see and talk to Charlie! It relieved so much anxiety about the day in general to be able to see and be with him.
What was the most memorable part of the first look? Walking towards Charlie and waiting to tap him on the shoulder to turn around :)
What did you get out of the first look that you would not have if you had not done one? Amazing pictures!! And having that time with just the two of us alone. The rest of the day was so busy so that was really our only time just the two of us.
Would you do a first look if you could do it all over again? YES!!! I loved getting all of our photos out of the way and enjoying the day without the pressure to have to stop and pose for photos.
So there you have it. I hope that this helps those confused brides out there that are torn between doing a first look and not doing one. But remember… at the end of the day the most important thing is that you are marrying your best friend. And that right there is all that matters. I will leave you with one of my favorite first looks of all time. Kristen was very against a first look. She really wanted to see Nicks reaction as she came down the isle. Nick on the other hand really wanted to do a first look so he could have that moment between the two of them. He told her that he wouldn’t be as candid at the alter as he would if they were alone. I think guys try to act strong and hold things in when they are in front of a crowd of friends and family. Anyway… after much debate Kristen chose to do a first look. Here is the outcome… I absolutely adore these two and am so happy they got to experience this awesome moment together.
