Weddingbee Blog
As I’m sure you all know by now, the Husky wedding will be anything but conventional. Between our hippo-topped cake and our offbeat processional, I think it’s clear to most involved that we have no intention of abiding by many wedding traditions.
There are, however, a very important couple of exceptions.
(source)
For one, my dad will walk me down the aisle. I realize that this is a tradition that many modern-day ladies have decided to eschew, mainly because of the perceived implication that the woman is property, to be given from one to another. But I see it differently. My father has walked beside me, as my guide when I was lost, my crutch when I couldn’t walk on my own, and always as my friend. By walking down the aisle beside me, to let go of my arm and let Mr. Husky take hold, he is not giving me away as property. He is vacating his place beside me to make room for my husband to walk with me.
And when my dad and I start walking down the aisle together, it will be the first time Husk will see me that day.
That’s right - we will not be doing a “first look” and getting pictures out of the way before the ceremony begins. Because when Mr. H sees me for the first time that day, I want our guests to see him see me. We have invited our guests as witnesses of our vows to love, honor and respect one another, and I’m afraid that a first look photo shoot would be robbing them of a very beautiful and intimate moment. So we will steal off for a bit after the ceremony to get some photos of us together, and of our families.
Of course, that means I have to sacrifice adorable photos, like so:
(clockwise from top left: source, source, source, source, source)
Are you doing a first look? What ideas do you have to keep your guests entertained while you pose for photos?
I agree with you.. I’m not doing a first look. Even though taking pictures before ceremony come out great im sure.
We are not going to do one either. I would love to have the time to take more photos before the ceremony but I just don’t want to lose that moment of him seeing me enter the ceremony for the first time, its just too good to pass up.
We are doing one–mainly because I don’t want to miss cocktail hour! 
I am with you - no first look for us either. It also helps that it is a Catholic wedding and we have ample time between the ceremony and the reception. So much so that we made cocktail hour two hours instead of one. Even in pictures run us a little long, we will have plenty of time to raise a glass with our guests!
We are not doing one either. I had never even heard of this until weddingbee!! I have always imagined myself on my wedding day seeing my groom for the very first time as I round the corner and start my walk up the aisle with my dad. It gives me a rush of emotion and nerves just thinking about it and I know my FI feels the same way and has imagined the same thing!
I’m so torn, I see the beauty in both and just dont know what I want. I guess I’ll just have to wait untill I’m actually engaged and ask Mr. JenBabe what he likes.
I’m with JenBabe - I have no idea! I love the idea of not missing time with guests who have flown out to see us; but the first look is an incredible moment that I”d love to be able to share! aaah - decision!
We’re not doing one either and excited about it. Yeah, maybe lots of time for pictures, but oh well.
I just want to say that I love how you worded the giving away of the bride “He is vacating his place beside me to make room for my husband to walk with me.” It is how I have always felt about it but could never put into words. Oh and no first look for us either. Neither one of us wanted one.
“He is vacating his place beside me to make room for my husband to walk with me.” that made me cryyyyyy at work.
This is a lovely blog post
Have to do a frist look - I work for Artworks Tulsa Photography PT and every wedding where they don’t do a first glance runs behind on time, and other important things get left out b/c of that….but you do whats right for you two
We are doing a first look because otherwise we would run out of daylight to get all of our pictures done between the ceremony and reception. If you are planning on doing your photos after the ceremony, then I would suggest doing a cocktail hour while you knock these out.
We won’t be doing a first look mainly because it is just not going to be practical with the time line.
As far as cocktail hour goes we are setting up a photo area a la http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2010/06/my-favorite-thing-about-our-we.html so our guests will have a chance to take their own pics with whoever they want however they want.
arrggg, I’m still so torn on this, I would rather wait until the ceremony, but I don’t want to miss time with my guests!
I don’t think we are going to do a first look for several reasons.
1) I don’t feel like a photo session is conducive to getting in and staying in the head space I want to be for the ceremony.
2) I feel like there is something symbolically meaningful about saying “We are going to part for a little time and get ready on our own and when we come back together it will be at the altar to get married.” I feel like that separation is important. That said we probably are going to see each other that morning (otherwise one of us would have to miss brunch) but we won’t see each other in our ceremony clothes pre-ceremony.
It helps that we don’t have a bridal party so pictures should go pretty fast. I really don’t want to spend 2 or more hours on pictures (This was the ‘modest’ schedule more than one photographer we talked to proposed) That just is not how I want to spend my wedding day.
If we had not found the photographer we finally did, we might have forgone photography entirely simply because I felt like the other people we had talked would have been so intrusive and that photography would have dominated the day.
We did a first look. I totally understand what you are saying about robbing your guests of the moment but I felt the opposite. I felt we were robbing ourselves of an intimate moment by not doing a first look. Yes our photog was there but he stood back and made no noise and you couldn’t tell he was there. I loved that I could tell my husband how amazing he looked and how much I loved him and how excited I was for the day without having to feel like I had to “be on” because people were watching us. Also.. hubs gets VERY nervous when he is the center of attention so it really really calmed him to get to see me and hold my hand and be with me before the ceremony started.
We did one and I’m glad we did, mostly bc I didn’t want to miss the cocktail hour, haha! Walking down the aisle was still an incredible, amazing moment and I didn’t feel that anything was lost by the fact that he had seen me beforehand
We are doing one for two reasons- 1) I don’t want to miss too much of cocktail hour. I’m sure we’ll still do some portraits in that time, but I want to get the majority of them out of the way early. 2) Our wedding is they day before daylight savings time starts, which means it still gets dark early. In order to have any light to do portraits, we kind of HAVE to do them before the ceremony!
I agree… my future hubby is only emotional around me and although I know everyone realizes what a great person he is I think it will be very obvious when he sees me when I start to walk down the aisle that he loves me very, very much and I want everyone to see that side of him. We actually have a light-hearted bet going that he is going to cry like a big baby, and we both know he will… lol. Anyways, to save on picture time I am going to do my pics with bridesmaids and my parents before the ceremony and he will do his but separately of course. Then we will take some together while the guests are at the cocktail hour. I also want to do a group photo outside the church after the ceremony… I LOVE the group photos I have seen and think it would be great to attach to thank you cards, etc. It represents the idea, for me, that we are becoming one big family connected by love…. and all that mushy nonsense!
We are not doing one!! WE planned some time in between the ceremony and the start of the cocktail hour so we can acutally get there to have some cocktails!!
Glad to hear someone else is waiting for the look he has when you wallk down the aisle!
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Miss Husky, Denver Age and Occupation: 26, Systems Administrator Fiance's Age and Occupation: 32, Mechanical Engineer, recently laid off Engagement Date: August 14, 2009 Wedding Date: October 2010 Venue: Rancho San Carlos About Me: I am planning a quirky-crafty wedding with my recently out-of-work fiancé for a (fingers crossed!) warm October afternoon. We are two self-professed nerds with an affinity for all things outdoors---be it rain, snow or shine. Recently relocated from the drizzly Northwest, we're enjoying the many sun-soaked days in the mile high city. Our day will be filled with both of our large families and friends, a self-served Cajun feast, and a Zydeco-style jazz band rocking beneath the beams of a historic red barn.
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