The First Look

Do you ever imagine that at some point during your wedding day that you and your groom would have a private moment away from all the hectic wedding preparations, schedules, and crowds of guests, a moment where the two of you can just quietly appreciate everything that is happening on your special day?

I know that it’s a huge break from tradition for the bride and groom to meet before the wedding - but speaking as someone who has shot a lot of weddings and understands how the photo time can often go (how quickly it can disappear), I’ve learned that meeting before the ceremony for photos is one of the best decisions a Bride and Groom can make. When you have a first look, it’s completely private. You’re not surrounded by a bunch of friends, family, guests, or friends of friends. It’s just the two of you. We back off with the longest lenses possible and photodocument some of the most precious moments that will happen on your wedding day.

As someone who sees thousands of wedding photos every week - the photos that always seem to have the most authentic emotions, the most honest, tender expressions, are those that are taken in the privacy of a “first look.” Just about every bride and groom who’s done a first look with us has told me, “We’re so happy we had the first look - I felt like it was the only time we really got to be alone and it really helped calm the nerves.”

One Bride once told me she was so happy that they decided to take their photos before the ceremony because after the ceremony, after she had cried and the wind had swept through her hair a bit, she was glad she had taken all the formals with her husband when her hair and make up were still pristine.

Aside from that - doing photos before makes your whole wedding experience YOUR wedding experience. You aren’t bogged down by a big long hour of photos that stops you from experiencing what’s happening at your own wedding. Once the ceremony is done, since all the formal photos have been taken before, both the bride and groom get to enjoy the cocktail hour with their guests. Guests also like this since they don’t have to wait around for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half, before things get rolling.

If you decide to do a first look, you have my promise that I will do everything I can to make sure your “first look” experience is every bit as special as it has been for our brides who have done one in the past.

Here are some photos from Jennifer and David’s “first look” that were taken just a few weeks ago at the Foxtail Golf Course