Hey there! I’m here to share with you my professional take on a first look and help you decide if you should incorporate it into your wedding day.
If you’re new to the wedding terms, a first look is when the bride + groom have a private moment to see each other for the first time before the wedding ceremony. Although, the first look doesn't have to be necessarily between the bride + groom only, some brides love having this with their dads as well.
And while a first look certainly isn’t for everyone, if you’re on the fence about doing a first look – here’s few reasons why you should:
A first look is private.
If there’s any reason at all to do a first look, it’s this one right here.
A first look can be the most private moment of your day, and that’s something you shouldn’t take lightly. Throughout a wedding day, you constantly have eyes on you at all times.
When you plan for a first look, you’re prioritizing time along with on another without the crowd of wedding guests watching your every move. Don’t get me wrong, I love wedding guests! But sometimes, the bride and groom just need a private moment to themselves to reflect on the fact that they’re getting married!
Vancouver wedding photographer Alexa Pedroza
A first look creates extra time to relax after the ceremony.
I’ve always been a timeline girl, and if I’m being completely honest… a first look is super helpful for having an efficient wedding day timeline.
When you have a first look, you’re getting most of your bridal portraits done beforehand which means you'll have more time to enjoy cocktail hour and time to kick it back with your guests!
If you have a first look, you can do the bridal portraits directly after the first look and even throw in the bridal party after an hour!! When you do that, the only formal portraits after the ceremony are family photos, which will be super quick since they take about 30 minutes tops.
If you don’t do a first look, you’re spending the time after your ceremony to do family photos first, then bridal party photos, and lastly… bride + groom photos. And if you have time, hopping over to the cocktail hour after that!
A first look gives you more time with each other.
Believe it or not, the bride + groom get almost no alone time on their wedding day (shocking, right?!).
Having a first look creates alone time with one another in a non-stressful way. And when your day is so jam packed full with thing after thing, you’ll truly cherish the one-on-one time a first look creates for you.
A first look takes away the pressure of having a ‘good reaction’ at the ceremony.
When you have a first look, you’re taking away the unspoken pressure of having a “good reaction” to the bride walking down the aisle.
We’ve all seen the super emotional photos of a groom reacting to their bride walking down the aisle, and while I love these photos (and still grab a few at every wedding) there’s a tremendous amount of pressure for a groom to have a good reaction.
Having a first look still allows for a groom to have a “good reaction”, but the pressure is gone! If the groom has already seen the bride before she comes down the aisle, he can react however he feels in the moment (and not react from a place of nervousness or pressure).
And you know what? A groom can still have an awesome reaction even when he’s seen the bride beforehand! There’s no right or wrong formula to calculate someone’s reactions, so why not take off that pressure of having a ‘good reaction’ by having a first look?
Alexa Pedroza is a documentary-style wedding photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, traveling worldwide to capture candid, unscripted moments for all the adventurous love birds.
