We love, love LOVE first looks! That’s not to say that we ONLY love first looks (yay, tradition and superstition!) But this blog is about first looks so here are a few reasons you SHOULD do one!

1. Enjoying a memorable & quiet moment to yourselves.

Your entire day will consist of 5-200 sets of eyes on you at all times. This is a day about the two of you and having so many happy faces staring at you is a must, but having just 5 minutes together seeing your soon-to-be spouse for the first time in private can be an amazing memory for the two of you. I know what your thinking, “….but YOU will be there, so its not just by ourselves!” We like to put on our long lenses and shoot from a distance as to not interfere with your time together. So, please, take 5 minutes to really be there together…take a deep breath and remember what this day is really about. (…and look how awesome you guys look!)

2. Enjoy most of your cocktail hour.
When you have a first look before your ceremony, you’re also getting the majority of your portraits done before then too. In most cases, we plan for the first look, the bride and groom portraits, the bridal party photos AND the immediate family formals ALL before the ceremony! So, guess what that means! None of these photos need to be done during the cocktail hour! So, go enjoy your signature drinks and adorable tiny portioned deliciousness on a cocktail napkin. (We all know it’s the best food of the day!)

3. Daylight.
Most brides and grooms plan their wedding day without really taking into consideration what time the sun goes down. On more than one occasion, a wedding timeline was made where the ceremony began at 5pm and the sun went down at 6pm. Now what are we left with? We now need to fit in a ceremony, a brief moment of “oh my goodness, we just got MARRIED!”, family formal photos, bridal party photos AND bride and groom portraits in one hour. Unfortunately, this is impossible to do. Now, if you had a first look beforehand, the only thing left to do after the ceremony, is a few photos of family and a few sunset portraits of the two of you!

5. MORE photos please!
So you want to spend half of your day with us and your soon-to-be spouse? OKAY! We love when brides and grooms want to have their photos done somewhere away from their venue. But in order to do this, we need more time than just the cocktail hour. Having a wedding near the beach? Let’s plan for a few hours before the ceremony to do photos ON the beach and the boardwalk. Love your venue, but LOVE the beautiful field a mile down the road a little better? Again, a few hours before the ceremony will give us the perfect amount of time for travel, a first look and as many photos as we can click our little fingers on that shutter.
We really could go on and on about the beautiful and emotional moments that we have witnessed during a first look, but we’ll let you drool over the gorgeous couples who have done one in the past.