We hear from some brides that the reason they opt out of a "First Look" is because they don't want to violate the "tradition" of not seeing each other before the wedding ceremony.

But where did this tradition originate?

Believe it or not, it came from arranged marriages. It was assumed that if a couple saw each other before the ceremony, they may opt to cancel the wedding if they weren't pleased with the person their parents had "chosen" for them. Before that, it was traditionally the time the daughter was sold by her parents into another family through marriage (i.e. childrearing for economic, political, or religious purposes.)

Eventually, this custom morphed into the superstition that it was bad luck to see your spouse on your wedding day before the ceremony.

At Century Tree Co, we're big fans of First Looks for a variety of reasons.

1. It gives you more time with your spouse on your wedding day, and that’s the point, right? Spend significantly more time on your first day of marriage together! You won’t regret spending more time with your partner on your wedding day, but you might regret not spending more time with your person.

3. It opens up more time for you to enjoy your wedding reception (that you planned for a very long time) by reducing the number of formal portraits taken after the ceremony.

3. It allows the photographer to take more photos before the ceremony while your hair and makeup is at its best. After the ceremony, portraits will only be about 25 minutes instead of two hours, and you can go enjoy the cocktail hour you planned and spent a lot of money on.

4. You can have a real conversation with laughter and tears with your almost-spouse, instead of trying to conserve your excitement at the alter by having to whisper to each other under the officiants voice. You will never be alone on your wedding day unless you do a first look. I ensure that you will have at least 20 minutes alone with your spouse if you do a first look (compared to no alone time if you do traditional, unless I can try and squeeze 5 minutes in) and on your first day of marriage, don’t you want to spend as much time as possible with your spouse?

5. Formal portraits will also be shorter too, because we can eliminate all of the formal portraits of you + your bridal party/ family without your spouse, and we can do all of them with your spouse. That means you get way more photos, and you get to spend way more quality time with the person you are marrying. Win-Win.

And, if you're worried about a First Look taking away from the Big Moment when you come down the aisle, you shouldn't be. It's just as meaningful and emotional for a groom to see his bride come down the aisle whether or not he's had a private moment with her before the ceremony. We promise.

At the end of the day, it's your choice and we will support you either way! But based on our experiences in the wedding industry as professionals and personally doing a first look at our wedding, a First Look is the way to go.

On a personal note, I (Shannon) wanted to do a First Look on our own wedding day. Joe was originally against it, because he was worried it might take away from the moment of seeing me walk down the aisle. He decided to do the First Look, and he said it was his favorite part of our wedding day. It was the only moment we were alone during the whole day too. He got teary-eyed during the first look and when I walked down the aisle to him.