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I am big on the first look! Mainly because it will calm my nerves. I will be a big ball of tears if we don't do it! Plus, it will give you an intimate chance to see your FI before the ceremony, which I think is so sweet, as you will prob. be running around like a mad woman the rest of the night :)
Check out some of the threads on "First Look", there are a lot of reasons that it is a good thing. If you are questioning it, it will help you.
My advice is keep the pics first!
Also, I alloted a ton of time to pictures, but I have read in several places it does not take long at all. I just wanted to be on the safe side. Estimates I heard were about 30 - 45 min per set... For example, 30 min for you and your BMs, 30 min for FI and is GMs, 30 min for his fam, 30 min for your fam... etc.
So my only advice might be to start the photos a little sooner, depending on what you have planned. Do you have extended family to take photos with, or is it just your wedding party and parents? If it is just 6 people in the wedding party, plus your parents, I think an hour and a half is good!!
I can tell you right now, you will not be introduced at 6:15. It's going to take almost that long just to get people out of the venue, then getting family/friends to FOCUS when taking formal pictures is a huge pain in the butt. EVERYONE is very rightly excited, but that means attention spans are almost 0. I would keep the pics first if you can handle the first look, make sure your to the venue at least 30 min. before ceremony time, you're at 1 hour so you should be good. Then I would push your announcing back to 6:30 at the earliest, dinner at 6:45. Besides 15 min. isn't a lot of time for your guests to get a drink, say hello to one person, and get to their table for your entrance.
If you don't want to have a first look, don't let anyone force you into it! We've decided that we don't want one, so we are going to do all of our girly bridal party shots before (and all the boy shots as well), some quick whole bridal party shots after the ceremony, and the main chunk of time will be for the two of us.
This works for us because we don't have big families, it may not work for you if you have a lot of time to spend on family portraits
If you don't want a first look, you're going to need more time. You're going to need to move up your ceremony enough that you have about 45 min. to an hour for formals with family, at LEAST 15min if not 30min for you and your husband, and then about 15 min. for the entire bridal party. Then, before ceremony, do bride/bridesmaids. Groom/groomsmen. After ceremony you just have to put it all together.
@gocubbies - thanks for the information on how much time to allot for each group of pictures. Also, I imagine that I will be really nervous before the ceremony. I don't like big events, and because of where we are getting married, the entrance is kind of dramatic - it involves me walking down a whole flight of stairs prior to walking down the aisle - I'm kind of nervous about falling down the steps. LOL.
@klp2010 - I will definitely have to re-look at the timeline. The ceremony should actually be done at 5:50 according to the minister, and we aren't doing a receiving line. Hmmm...
@missvintage - thanks for the info on how you will divide up your time for your pictures. It's good to see how other people divided up their time for pictures.
A lady at my church said to take a couple of photo shoots before the wedding
1.) Bride with bridesmaids
2.) Groom with groomsmen
That way it will save you time after the wedding and the bride and groom do not see each other...
We took a long time for pictures. About 1 1/2 hours. I didn't do the first look because I wanted that look when my husband sees me for the first time when I am walking down the aisle to my song. (I had a very non-trad song). It was so beautiful and one of my favorite parts of the day. We had a full cocktail hour and 1/2... haha but it was worth it to us. Because in the end are pictures are gonna be awesome!!
My husband and I had a first look and I loved it. It gave us a chance to spend some time together before the wedding (because you will not have time to sit and relax with eachother after the ceremony). It didn't make the walk down the aisle any less special either.
we are taking pics before the ceremony. there is no way to avoid it. our ceremony isn't until 7:15. i think a first look will calm my panic response anyway. my concern is getting my dress/shoes dirty before the ceremony!!
See each other before the ceremony. I can't tell you how happy you'll be with that decision. Otherwise, you'll miss cocktail hour with your guests, and you'd be surprised how many brides regret that because the reception goes by so fast!
Brides and grooms think that first looks aren't special or emotional, when really, I think they're MORE special and emotional than seeing each other during the aisle walk. When you're walking down the aisle, people are looking at you, and it's a little overwhelming. I don't even remember my husband's face as I came down. BUT, we did a first look, and I completely remember his face when he first saw me. It was intimate, special, and after the ceremony, we had 15 mins on family portraits, and we were done! It was awesome.
Guests also saw me before the ceremony, and I didn't care. They gotta see you sometime!
We're doing a day after bride/groom shoot, but also doing wedding party and family pictures before the ceremony. FI helped me pick out my dress, so no surprises here. :)
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Initially, this was the schedule (ceremony and reception are in the same building, but different areas):
3:00 pictures in park (basically all the pictures other than a FEW after the ceremony inside)
4:30 be back at ceremony location, freshen up, etc
5:00 music starts
5:30 ceremony starts
6:00 ceremony ends - guests move to other room, get drink at bar, etc (no full cocktail hour). We can take a few pictures now.
6:15 we are announced into the room, prayers, toasts, etc.
6:30 dinner
So the problem... I don't know that I want everyone (including my fiance) to see me before the wedding! I didn't have the ceremony earlier because I didn't want to make everyone wait for us to take pictures but now I'm questioning if that's a good idea. I need to make a decision ASAP because the invitations are getting printed really soon (they are actually already at the printer...).
Should I move the ceremony first or keep the pictures first? We have to go to a nearby park for pictures (there isn't much of an opportunity to have pictures at our venue outside). How much time should pictures take (there are 6 people in the wedding party total and of course our parents as well). Advice?