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I often find couples either know for certain whether they do or do not want a first look, or they are unsure. So whether you have made your decision or are undecided, take a peek at the benefits of doing a first look to ensure your wedding day will flow the way you want it to!
Benefits of a First Look:
- You get to spend MORE time with your partner on your wedding day! I know, sounds obvious right? But I find many couples don’t consider this when planning their day. Doing a first look allows for an average of 2 extra hours with your person on your wedding day! Whoop whoop!
- More alone time! Which is basically a non existent part of a traditional wedding schedule. This gives you time to talk, relax nerves, read private vows or even go for a walk. And from this point on, you get to spend the entire day together.
- Photo Insurance Plan. Haha you may be thinking, what do I mean by this? There are things that can happen on a wedding day that are out of our control and cannot be predicted. These events can greatly affect the amount of time we have for portraits during a wedding day. -> In 2019, I was photographing a wedding where the ceremony ended up starting 40 minutes late due a guest transportation issue. With the ceremony delay, we were only left with about 20 minutes of daylight for wedding party and family photos. Luckily, this couple had done a first look earlier in the day which allowed for us to focus on the family photos in the 20 minute window!<-
- Multiple looks to your photos! Should your wedding day flow correctly, you would have time for your first look photos prior to your ceremony and then be able to sneak out later in the day for some sunset photos! This also allows for us to use more than one location for photos!
- You can mingle during cocktail hour! On average, couples who do a first look are able to enjoy 20-30 minutes mingling with their guests! Cheers to that!
- Smoother Day! When doing a first look the flow of the day is much smoother and pretty much gets all your photos done before the ceremony! This means once the ceremony is over, you only need to capture family portraits and photos are done! You can enjoy the rest of the night having fun and truly being present with your partner and your guests!
When all is said and done, this is your wedding day! I am hoping the info above will help guide you to either doing or not doing a first look. Or, give you the confidence that you made the right decision to whether or not the benefits of a first look on your wedding day are geared towards you!
For more first look advice and real couple feedback, check out this awesome article from BRIDES here!
