Pre Ceremony Photos, 'First Looks' and Why They Rock!

Over at Getting Hitched there is talk about photographers at the moment as they have just booked theirs! In the post, it mentions that they will be having photos before the ceremony so that they can spend more time with their guests. This has me excited because it is what we are doing also! I couldn’t express my excitement enough in one little comment so I thought I would do an entire post about pre-ceremony photos… this also allows me to digress and share my excitement about what they call a ‘first look’.

Before meeting with photographers my fiancé and I had talked about the idea of doing pre-ceremony photos to allow us to spend more time with our guests. In our opinion our wedding day is really a celebration with our family and friends and well, you can’t celebrate with them while you’re off elsewhere having photos taken. We weren’t too sure about it though because we didn’t really want to see each other before the wedding. We decided that we’d at least discuss it with our photographer and see what her opinion was on the matter. Once we’d talked to her, I was sold (and my fiancé was too after a day to think about it)!

She explained to us the concept of a ‘first look’. It goes a little something like this:

• The groom meets the photographer at the location at an agreed time (his groomsmen can hang out in the car drinking or something until it’s bridal party photos time).
• The bride rocks up a little bit later and meets up with the photographer around the corner (the bridesmaids can sit around sipping champagne).
• The photographer makes sure the groom has his back turned and gets the bride to walk up behind the groom.
• The photographer tells the groom to turn around… and there you have it, the first look.

I am so very excited about this for many reasons:

• As previously mentioned, the guests don’t have to hang around or start the party without us after the ceremony.
• The first time we see each other will be a much more intimate moment. It’ll just be me, him and the photographer.
• We can take our time to enjoy the moment because I won’t be walking down the aisle trying not to trip over.
• We can express how we feel with words because we will be close, not at opposite ends of the aisle.
• We will have time to really let it all sink in!
• It provides the opportunity for some amazing photos with raw emotion showing through.

I think it’s something that every bride and groom should at least consider. I know some people wouldn’t want to do it this way, but there’s so many benefits that it’s at least worth a thought!