Hi friends! We love helping our brides come up with the best timelines possible to ensure their day runs smoothly and stress-free, and having a first look is one of the best ways to avoid stress at your wedding!

We also get a lot of questions about first looks, so we wanted to share with you our top five reasons to have a first look!

Get Straight to the Party!

With a first look, you can do all of the couple portraits and bridal party portraits before the wedding. Some couples even go the extra mile and get the family portraits done before the ceremony too! That means that after the wedding you are free to go straight to the reception and get the party started!

40% More Portraits

This is another no-brainer, so we don’t need to say a lot about it! If you can plan a first look, you will get more portrait time than if you are doing all the photos after the ceremony. In fact, you actually get about 40% more portraits when you are able to do a first look!!

It eases the nerves!

We have heard from SO many people that they were SO nervous on their wedding day UNTIL they saw each other. It’s like seeing your person immediately calms your fears. You remember why you are doing this!! We love doing first looks because it can take you from being nervous to calm, relaxed, and EXCITED!!

A more genuine reaction from the groom/freedom to both be yourselves!!!

Think about it. Most people are not going to be themselves completely when they have a hundred people staring at them and waiting for their reaction! When you share your first look alone together, you two are free to be yourselves!

The next reason is our favorite reason…

You’ll have alone time on your wedding day

Wedding days are CRAZY BUSY. There are so may things going on, so many people to see, so many things to do. There really is no privacy once you start interacting with your extended family and guests! The whole day is a fast-paced blur!

But when you have a first look, you actually get a few minutes alone to catch your breath, be with each other, and celebrate this big milestone in your story!! We try to plan for the couple to have 30 minutes to enjoy being together.

There you have it! Our top 5 reasons for loving first looks!

Got any more questions for us about first looks or wedding photography in general?

Contact us let us know! We would love to hear from you!

Happy planning,

Stephanie & Christi

Here are some of our favorite first look images!

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