Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Can You Feel the Love Tonight: That First Look

If you can recall way, way back when I was deciding whether to do a first look, I preferred to wait until the aisle to actually see each other all dressed up (since we pretty much threw all of the other bride/groom traditions out the window) but was unwilling to sacrifice precious picture time to do it, especially since we had the photographer for the whole day.

I did a lot of internet research before deciding whether or not to do a first look--from bloggers to wedding boards to friends and friends of friends--and the overwhelming opinion of people who were skeptical of first looks was that they were totally worth it, and they were really glad they did one.

I wouldn't say I feel the same way.  In fact, I was pretty spot on in how I thought I would feel.  Pictures aside, I would have preferred to see Daniel for the first time walking down the aisle.  We didn't really have that grand "OMG" moment the way it was, and I think the aisle would have helped with that.  I'm not sorry I did it or anything, but I'm not super happy that I did either.

But the pictures were totally worth it.

There would have been other problems anyway.  Because our aisle was so freaking long, there wouldn't have been much of a "BAM, there you are!" moment anyway.  And I probably would not have been as relaxed if I had had to stay away from Daniel all day.

But mostly we would have missed out on a bunch of great pictures.

Especially with what happened after the ceremony.

But we'll get there.

Doing a first look was the right choice for us, but we would have been happy not doing one too, I think.  So in conclusion, if you don't want to do a first look, don't let the internet pressure you into it.  If you think it would be better to see your husband while walking down the aisle, go for it.  I don't think you'll be sorry.  Though if you want significant time for pictures, you're going to have to do them ahead of time, so keep that in mind too.

So without further ado, our first look:

I was super sensitive about making sure we were as alone as possible before we did this.  As soon as we got to the parking lot (a good 10 minute walk from our picture location), I made everyone who was already with Daniel leave, so it would be just him, me, and the photographer.  I even made the photographer back off as much as possible, so it would be more intimate.  As such, these are not our best pictures of the day, especially since I was still worried about how late we were running.  But they do convey a sense of what we were feeling.

 Getting Ready

 The Look

Daniel's Reaction


And My Reaction

Yeah, told you I was stressed out.  I have no idea what we were saying at this point, but this picture truly encapsulates everything I had felt thus far that morning:  the stress, the worry, the desire for it to all be over.  Fortunately, that was about to change.

And this is how my wedding day became a good one:



Daniel, without you my wedding day would have been wasted, for more reasons than one.  I love you.

Did you do a first look?  Were you happy you did or didn't?  What were your pros and cons?

2 comments:

  1. Especially the photo of your heads touching -- I teared up! I'm glad you guys did it this way. It's seeing not just how you would look to each other, but the relief that "finally, this is happening!"

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  2. Oh my gosh - you look like a princess in these pictures! So pretty!

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