Your wedding photographer is there to capture all the intimate, magic moments on your wedding day. One of the biggest moments of the day is your first look. Your first look is the moment when you and your spouse see each other for the first time, dressed to impress on your wedding day. Like everything else that goes into a wedding, there are different ways you can approach it based on your style and what you want that moment to be. We’ve got wedding photography inspiration for every style to help you choose which first look approach is right for you.


Traditional: At the Ceremony

Like a classic movie moment, you can keep it traditional and choose to see each other for the first time at the altar. If it’s important to you not to see your partner before the wedding, a first look at the altar brings an air of surprise and drama. The moment is heightened because your guests get to watch you see each other for the first time. This definitely heightens the moment, and criers beware: you may want some extra tissue on hand.


Transitional: Pre-Ceremony First Look

If you want a bit more intimacy for your first look, you can do one before the ceremony. This option allows for the big reactions of revealing your wedding looks to each other, and it gives you a moment of privacy before the wedding. If you want something that feels cinematic, you can approach this romantic wedding moment with a “don’t look” first look where you hold hands with your backs to each other, read letters, or say a prayer.

The location can enhance the romanticism of your first look, too. Your wedding photographer can scope out spots at your venue (or nearby) for the right first look location. A path with a bend in it, a magnificent doorway, and screens are all classics for a first look because of the way they allow for that ta-da moment.


Modern: Getting Ready Together

If you really don’t care about not seeing each other before the wedding, why not get dressed together? Your wedding photographer can capture the intimate moments of helping each other with the details of getting dressed-- putting on cufflinks, zipping a dress. It has less of a big reveal moment, but there’s a soft, sweet intimacy to the moment.