Have you heard of doing a first look for your wedding? Rather than the traditional approach of seeing each other down the aisle before having bridal photos, you do all of your photos before the ceremony and have a reveal where you see each other all dressed up for the first time on the day.

There are some pros and cons to doing first looks. I love both options and will always go with whatever the individual couple wants to do. If you’re on the fence here are some really good points to consider before making a decision. All of the photos in this blog post are from weddings with first looks.

Better light after your ceremony

I know some photographers prefer to do bridal photos after the ceremony. This is because the later in the day you do your photos the better the lighting is going to be. Say your ceremony is at 3 pm, which is pretty standard, that would mean your bridal photos would most likely be either 1-2 pm or 4-5 pm. The closer to sunset time the better but it doesn’t mean that doing photos earlier in the day is going to give you bad photos. Talk to your photographer about finding a location with some shade or tree cover, or do what we did and take most of your photos inside a building. If you’re still worried about the lighting in your photos, work into your timeline 15 minutes for sunset photos, this will give you another opportunity for great photos!

Take away the nerves

If you’re not really into old traditions and wanting a more relaxed approach then doing a first look will be perfect for you. Seeing each other sooner will ease any nerves and you’ll have more fun during the ceremony.

Photos first, party later

Personally, for our wedding we did a first look purely because we wanted to do photos for a shorter amount of time so that we could party and be with our guests (ironic that the photographer wants less photos for her own wedding day, right)! Even an hour away from your guests for bridal photos can feel like a long time and can leave couples feeling like they didn’t get to talk to everyone on their wedding day.