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The First Look

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starfish701 Posts : 465 Registered: 12/10/08

The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 11:15 AM; Cheetah mentioned that there should be a thread about this and I agree!

For those of you who did a 'first look':

How did you set it up?
Where was it?
Who came to who (did you FH come up to you? did you meet somewhere?)
Was there anyone else there?
Why did you decided to do it?
How did it feel?

washington_dc

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WinterWonderlan... Posts : 659 Registered: 8/23/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 11:47 AM Go to message in response to: starfish701; DH & I did a first look and it was one of the best decisions of our wedding!

How did you set it up & where was it?

There were numerous locations around our wedding site that we wanted to take pictures at. So we met at one of those locations. After getting ready, someone went to DH's hotel room and told him that I was about to leave and that she'd let him know when it was okay for him to leave. I went with my photographer and his assistant over to the location where we were going to do the meet in his vehicle. After we got down the road a few minutes, bridesmaid told DH here it was okay for him to head down there. DH got there and parked no where near us, I didn't even see his vehicle to be honest, but the photographer must have. Photographer got out of the car and set up DH where he wanted him to be, then came and got me and his assistant. Then with DH's back turned toward me, I walked to him and then turned him around when I got there.

Who came to who?
I came to him. This was best for us as I could slightly see his face as I was coming up to him even though he couldn't see me. I could see how nervous/excited he was...which was touching for me.

People there?
Me, DH, Photographer, Photographer assistant. I should mention that my photographer and assistant were not strangers. I had worked with the photographer previously and actually knew his assistant when I was younger, she was my neighbor.

Why did we decide to do it?
Pictures were very important to us...as when we are 90 and our memory is fading, those pictures will trigger memories of that special day. Our wedding was at 3, and we did our first look at 11. It took away 75% of my nerves. It gave DH & I semi-private time together that day, to bask in the awesomeness of our wedding day. Definitely a good decision, as now we have a lot of great pictures of the two of us, and did not have to miss any of our reception, not to mention it started sprinking during our outdoor ceremony so we wouldn't have been able to do outdoor pics after. When I look back at those pictures now, I love recalling each moment and how special it was getting to spend the entire day together. I think it made him a little more at ease too, because I know he was very nervous about the simple fact of how stressed I might be and how nervous I might be. Our guys know how big of a deal we make out of this day and how much we have put into it. I think all that makes them feel the pressure a little bit that day to live up to all of our expectations. Not to mention the poor guy had strept throat and was worried about messing up his vows because of it and how I would react to that. I think it helped him to see how completely calm I was after seeing him and how happy I was that we were getting married, despite the MILLION mess ups that were occurring the week before our wedding.

How did it feel?
Intimate, right, perfect. I am a private kind of person. I was glad to share that moment between us, instead of between us and our closest 100 friends.

Those are some of my favorite pictures...and as soon as I find them on my comp, I will post the pictures of our "first look."

washington_dc

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CheetahAngel Posts : 2,017 Registered: 11/29/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 11:52 AM Go to message in response to: starfish701; Thank you Starfish! :)

I'm thinking of doing the first look but not sure how or where to do it. Should the wedding party we around? Should the parents be around? Should it just be you, your FH, and the photographer? Should it be at the venue, a park, the place where the bride gets ready? How long does the first look usually take? I have a lot of questions lol.

Thanks!

Visit my wedding website http://www.mywedding.com/alanandjarlyn
Sign my guestbook!!! :)

washington_dc , connecticut , october_2010

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CheetahAngel Posts : 2,017 Registered: 11/29/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 11:58 AM Go to message in response to: WinterWonderlan...; WinterWonderland thanks for sharing. I am nervous already about wedding day so I think that the first look will help calm my nerves down. It's not something I had planned on doing but from reading about the first look it sounds like something that I think my fh and I would enjoy and like I said it will calm our nerves down. I just need to decide where to do it at and what time. My ceremony starts at 12:30pm. That doesn't leave us much room in the morning. I may have to wake up even earlier for this lol. I can't wait to see your pictures!

Visit my wedding website http://www.mywedding.com/alanandjarlyn
Sign my guestbook!!! :)

washington_dc , october_2010 , connecticut

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WinterWonderlan... Posts : 659 Registered: 8/23/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:02 PM Go to message in response to: WinterWonderlan...; Our first look:

Edited by: WinterWonderlandBride on Mar 26, 2010 12:30 PM

washington_dc

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WinterWonderlan... Posts : 659 Registered: 8/23/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:12 PM Go to message in response to: CheetahAngel; I still get the same giddy feeling looking at these pictures :)

One important thing I should include is that I definitely wasn't the most traditional bride. I decided very early into the planning process that this is something I wanted to do. Our photographer actually refuses to do weddings in which the bride and groom won't see each other before the ceremony. It didn't take long, maybe 10 minutes and then we continued with our pictures. Our photographer asked us if we wanted a moment completely alone after he got the pictures of our initial reaction and everything. However we declined for a couple of reasons...we were very comfortable with our photographer and didn't mind sharing the experience with him, and it was like 40 degrees outside, so I was freezing! The only reason we met so early before the ceremony is that we planned to take pictures for that long. We literally did photographs from 11:30-2:45. If we hadn't been planning the photos before hand, then we would have probably did it at 2:15ish for our 3:00 ceremony.

I'm the one who also chose the location to do it. This was about a 5 minute walk from where the ceremony took place. Feel free to ask any questions, this was something I put a lot of thought into so hopefully I can be helpful.

You could have your wedding party around if you wanted to, but I personally didn't even want our parents there. The intimacy of it was my goal, and we achieved that greatly. However after we took these pictures and a couple more pictures at a building next to his one, we immeaditely went to the ceremony site where my mother was doing finish touches on decorating so that she could see us ready and did our pictures over at the ceremony site.

Edit: I just wanted to add that I am glad we did this before the ceremony as well because it was a nasty day outside for my outdoor wedding. We looked much fresher, excited, and put together in the pictures taken pre-ceremony. In the pictures at the reception, you can tell we are tired and that I've froze all day...not to mention my hair was going completely flat after the drizzly outdoor ceremony haha.

Edited by: WinterWonderlandBride on Mar 26, 2010 12:12 PM

october_2010 , washington_dc , connecticut

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starfish701 Posts : 465 Registered: 12/10/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:22 PM Go to message in response to: WinterWonderlan...; We are doing pictures before the ceremony as well. We are taking them at the US Capital, your photos (beautiful btw) gave me inspiration on where to do our 'first look'. I would like it to just by my FH and me but I would also like the WP to eventually join in for some group pictures. I guess I will have to figure our how to pull that off.

washington_dc , connecticut , october_2010

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kennysoldwife Posts : 3,862 Registered: 4/28/07

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:26 PM Go to message in response to: WinterWonderlan...; We did a first look also. Our ceremony was a 6pm in October so it would have been to dark outside to get any pictures, we decided to do our outside pictures before we went to the Church.

We set it up so the wedding party pictures were taken first the girls, him and his guys him with the entire wedding party. I would then join them. I wanted a picture of his face the first time he saw me. My photographer got everyone lined up with their backs to me. I then walked up to them stood beside my husband and then he was told to turn around to face me. The look on his face was priceless he was really surprised. We have been together a long time and we have gotten dressed up but he said the sight of me in my wedding gown was his favorite look of all.

If you can do a first look do it, I am so glad we did. I would have seen his face when he saw me and that is my favorite memory of that day.

Kenny and me perfect together, 10 years and counting
Sucks to be you, So glad I am me
Proud Member of P.O.O.P, People Offended by Offended People

southern_shore_new_jersey , washington_dc , connecticut , october_2010

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JoelsPrettyPres... Posts : 41 Registered: 12/2/09

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:30 PM Go to message in response to: starfish701; I honestly never considered this until now. After reading your posts it does seem like a great idea to capture just the two of you in a very significant moment. I always thought that moment when he first looks at me coming down the isle was one of the most important moments of the wedding. But of course I always thought you couldnt see each other until that moment, tradition, or superstition and all. However we can do this and actually capture the feelings going on insted of all the ceremony goings on at the same time.

I am really liking this idea and those photos were gorgeous by the way! Persuading me even more.
<a href="http://daisypath.com/"><img src="http://dwdf.daisypath.com/46znm7.png" width="400" height="80" border="0" alt="Daisypath Wedding tickers" /></a>

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nearlymrsn Posts : 25 Registered: 11/7/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:32 PM Go to message in response to: starfish701; We did a 'first look'. My sister, who got married 6 weeks before me, didn't, and after seeing how much smoother our day went, she wished she had done one as well. (This isn't to say that first looks are for everyone, it just happened to work better with the photographer that we both used that it would have helped her on her day)

How did you set it up? The photographer offered us the choice to see each other or not, we chose to see each other so we could do more photos before the ceremony.
Where was it? I knew I wanted it to be as close to as if the first look was during the ceremony as possible, so we had it in the church.
Who came to who (did you FH come up to you? did you meet somewhere?) DH was standing at the altar, like he would during the ceremony, the doors to the church were closed. A friend opened them for me, and I walked down the aisle to him, she closed the doors behind me. So, it was like me walking down the aisle for the ceremony, minus everyone else.
Was there anyone else there? It was just us and the photographers in the church.
Why did you decided to do it? It gave us more freedom in the day. Also, years ago I went to a Jewish wedding where the groom veiled the bride. This goes back to the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah in the Bible where Jacob works seven years to marry Rachel, but the veil is so thick, he can't see that he is marrying Leah instead, so he has to work another seven years to marry Rachel. The idea is that this way the groom knows he is marrying the correct bride. While I didn't wear a blusher, I figured that based on this tradition, it can't really be bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.
How did it feel? It was nice. It gave us a chance to be just us on a day that was so filled with other people. It was fun to spend that time together, to see his face when I wasn't worrying about not tripping in front of a whole church full of people, or anything else. It also made doing pictures afterwards a lot of fun. One thing I did insist on, we didn't kiss before the ceremony. So, our first kiss on our wedding day was at the end of the ceremony. That made it more special.
Nearly Mrs. N.

august_2009 , missouri , washington_dc

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WinterWonderlan... Posts : 659 Registered: 8/23/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:37 PM Go to message in response to: JoelsPrettyPres...; Thank you all. We had our wedding party join us at the ceremony site at 1:45 for pictures. We actually ran a little short with time for them...but that is mostly because of weather.

I don't want to say that the first look is the best way for everyone, but it was definitely the best for us. There was SOO much going on at the start of the ceremony. I was worrying about the fact that it was starting to drizzle, and whether the music was going to go right because my musician ended up not being able to come and I didn't find that out until the day before the wedding. The seamstress had left my dress pinned (I didn't know) and I found a pin right before I walked down the aisle. Thinking she just forgot to remove it, I pulled it out...which immeaditely made my dress too long so I was having a hard time managing it. Plus my dad was super nervous (even though he wouldn't admit it). I was about to have a ceremony by a man I had just met the day before (my preacher had a death in the family). Not to mention my garter fell off as I was walking down the aisle because I have tiny chicken legs. So even though my aisle moment was still great, there was a lot going on...and a lot of eyes on me. So I was so glad our first moment had already taken place.

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myras Posts : 396 Registered: 2/26/10

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 2:02 PM Go to message in response to: starfish701; ^{My daughter and her husband did a first look. They wouldn't have had ti any other way. Their photographer and videographer were both there to capture the moment, and the look on Jason's face as he saw Sara for the first time is priceless. Jewish couples usually see each other before the ceremony anyway, because they have to sign their wedding contract. Seeing each other beforehand is totally romantic, it really calms the nerves, and it helps so much with the scheduling of the event. And it did not lessen the excitement that the groom had seeing his bride walk down the aisle, not even one little bit.}
myra@classysassyweddings.com

november_1975 , washington_dc

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starfish701 Posts : 465 Registered: 12/10/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 2:14 PM Go to message in response to: myras; I am thinking about having the first look be at the veiling ceremony. I know thats traditional but.... Arg so much to think about.

november_1975 , washington_dc

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CheetahAngel Posts : 2,017 Registered: 11/29/08

Re: The First Look: Posted: Mar 26, 2010 10:47 PM Go to message in response to: WinterWonderlan...; WinterWonderland your pictures are beautiful! I love the one where you are walking towards him and his back is turned. That picture says a thousand words :) I'm going to mention The First Look to my FH and see what he thinks. I mentioned it to my sister (MOH) and she told me it was strange! How rude lol.

Visit my wedding website http://www.mywedding.com/alanandjarlyn
Sign my guestbook!!! :)

october_2010 , connecticut

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