What are First Look Photos? - Wedding Photography

Welcome t0 my first blog guys! My web guy tells me it helps SEO to write blogs, so i thought I would write something useful coming from a Wedding Photographer

First look photos are great, but it might not suit everyone, so here’s a little information.

A first look happens after you are both in your wedding outfits, we choose a rad spot (you can leave that to us usually) we set one of you up somewhere and the other person walks in and you see each other for the first time before the ceremony, that’s the key point.

What are some of the positives?

Well firstly if you are nervous people, or don’t like to be the center of attention it can take a lot of the anxiety away just getting some of the emotion out before hand, calms the nerves down you know.

Some people ask me, “doesn’t it ruin the moment when I walk down the aisle” not in my experience, from what I have witnessed, if you’re “a crier” your going to cry anyway, and some people just don’t either way. Humans are funny like that. Walking down the aisle is a whole different experience; your family are there, your friends, the music. Its pretty special, so is a first look, just different.

Secondly, probably the best part. It means we can usually do your bridal party photos before the ceremony as well. And that means after the ceremony we don’t have to leave for photos; you can just hang out with your family, take some family photos, play lawn games, drink some bubbles, you get the idea.

Some people ask me, “Isn’t the light pretty harsh at that time before the ceremony?” Well. I mean, usually its pretty harsh, but chances are if your getting married in summer its not going to be any different after the ceremony. Plus with camera tech these days its really irrelevant. To a good photographer there is no such thing as bad light; there’s just different light. PLUS me personally, I always take you guys off quickly for sunset photos, just with the two of you anyways.

I guess the only negative for some people would be they just prefer to have a traditional ceremony, and that’s 110% fine! Its your wedding, in my mind you should just do whatever you want. Its not really up to anyone else.

And lastly a quick note on the timeline, I find it doesn’t really affect how many hours we need, because doing the first look and bridal party photos is usually faster before hand so we don’t need to allow for extra time.

I hope that little blog was helpful! If you want any more advice feel free to reach out on my Instagram or email anytime, enjoy some more photos from first looks below!

Chris Turner, Auckland Wedding Photographer.