Liz Power Photography

To See or Not to See?

3 Really Ridiculously Good Reasons for a Bride & Groom to See Each Other Before their Ceremony

Should the groom see the bride before the wedding? When our son got married, I overheard the brother of our future daughter-in-law exclaim, “You’re not seeing each other before the ceremony, are you!!?? That’s not right!” and I was reminded that it is not just the bride and groom who question “to see or not to see”.
I suppose some people love the tradition of waiting till the ceremony, while others still believe it is bad luck. As a seasoned wedding photographer, I would strongly suggest that luck has nothing to do with it. In fact, seeing each other is much more likely to make the day run smoothly. I have seen over and over again that it is better to see each other. Here is why in 3 simple reasons: you get to be together, you get better pictures, and you get it all over with in one fell swoop. This translates to more time with all the people you love and more pictures to help you remember it all.

 You could be with the one you love:
If you choose not to see each other before, you will spend most of your day hiding from the one you are about to marry. This is not only stressful for many brides, but it also keeps nerves high. The minute you see each other, the nerves and stress melt away! In the 600+ weddings my studio has photographed, this has been true over and over again.
On the other hand, if you choose to see each other, you get to be together alone! There are no eyes on you, no pressure, just the two of you. This could easily be the only alone time you get until the day is all over (and believe me when I say it is over far too quickly)!

You could have better pictures of the two of you.
So once you’ve had your alone time, you could immediately start pictures together. Again, there are no eyes on you, no time pressure, and it is still just the two of you. This not only gives you a chance for a better variety of poses, locations, and expressions, but it also means you are still fresh. Brides, your makeup is still intact and your face is not yet tired from smiling so much! Grooms are not yet hungry and ready to get to the party. Win-win! (And I’m sort of joking about the grooms…sort of.)
When you wait till after the ceremony, you are doing pictures of the two of you last when you are both ready to be done and would rather be celebrating with your guests.

You could knock it all out at once.
Your wedding party and family will thank you. They may not realize at first why they have to be ready early (though we strongly recommend you tell them over and over again why they do!) but they will be grateful when all the pictures are done before the ceremony begins. This means they too are free to celebrate with you after you say “I do”. Your family will be free to entertain the guests they invited. And here’s the best part of all: those guests will not be waiting for an hour for you to arrive! You can immediately be announced into your reception. So your wedding party, family, AND guests will be thanking you. And don’t worry if you were hoping for some pictures with specific guests or extended family, that can easily and quickly be done either just before the reception, or even during it. Your DJ could easily round up specific people for you.

To see or not to see? I think you can now see what I see which is that it is better to see! Don’t you think? You have more time with the people you love the most. Your pictures will be even better. You will live happily ever after.

Ok, maybe that last one is wishful thinking. We’ll save tips on that for another post:)