We’re continuing our series on photography timelines for a wedding day by talking about bride & groom photos and also the pros and cons of doing a first look.    If you haven’t had a chance to read the other posts in the series, feel free to check them out:

Part 1. Overview and Sample Timelines
Part 2 – Setting the Scene: Photographing Details
Part 3 – Before the Ceremony
Part 4 – The Ceremony

Bride & Groom Photos
Total time: 30-60 minutes
Bride & Groom portraits are just wonderful and such a great time of the day!  After doing an engagement shoot with us, our couples look forward to their portraits as one of the most romantic times of this perfect day.   We love being able to take the couple out for portraits with just the two of them and also give them a little time alone during a busy day!   Sometimes we have around 20-30 minutes for photos, if our couples don’t do a first look, but if our couples do choose to see each other before the ceremony, we often end up having around an hour for portraits, which can add a lot of variety to the photos.

A first look fits perfectly into some couple’s vision for their day, and for others, it’s not even a consideration. Both options are fine and whatever decision our couples make, won’t affect the quality of their images. When Susie married her husband, she knew a first look would make her day flow smoothly. For Becky and her husband, they wanted the first look to be that moment Becky began walking down the aisle. Neither of us would change the decision we made and we fully support whichever is best for our couples! If a bride feel nervous about walking down the aisle, we find a first look always seems to calm our brides. A first look is also a good option if family and wedding party images are going to take longer than usual. It may also be a good choice if a ceremony is so close to sunset that there will be no natural light left in the sky afterwards. Otherwise we would be exclusively using flashes for bride and groom portraits, which can increase the time needed for portraits. Again, these are just some things to consider. This is a very personal decision and we work closely with each couple to make sure they get great images either way!

With all of our couples, whether they do a first look or not, we also like to take them out at sunset for a few minutes (this generally falls during the time the guests are eating dinner.)  We’ve found a few minutes at sunset can give us some lovely, romantic images that our couple’s cherish!

-Susie