A Crafty Wedding: First Look

One of the things we had decided to do for our sanity was to have a first look. When we first got engaged (okay, before then) I had begun following a wedding blog and reading up on trends for weddings. Something that has become really popular in the US is to have a first look. This is when the couple sees each other before the ceremony and it is photographed and then portraits are taken (sometimes). There are several benefits to doing a first look and for us, these weighed out the negative ideas about seeing each other before the ceremony.

First of all, I felt like I would be more relaxed if I could see Jeff before we got married. We didn't spend time apart from each other before that time- we stayed together in our house the night before the wedding and drove with each other into town. Secondly, I felt like it would be really complicated to stay apart from each other up until the ceremony. We were still setting up for the wedding that morning and needed to hang out somewhere in the park. There wasn't much of a point to staying apart (plus I didn't really want to wait).

So we planned to meet at the Miyazu Japanese Gardens which was just down the road from the park where we were going to get married. Our photographers were supposed to coordinate our meeting, but when we arrived at the park, I could see Jeff and his best man/brother Doug waiting around with Charlie at the entrance...ummm, not what was supposed to happen. But Anna hopped out of the car and after a quick consultation sent the boys on their way and came back to get me. When we pulled into the parking lot and I got out, something went wrong. For some reason Jeff didn't realize that he needed to stay with Charlie at the bridge and he had come back to the parking lot and saw me as I climbed out of the car.

Oops.

So the following first look is completely staged...but if I hadn't told you this story, you wouldn't have known, right?

MOH Irish walking me to the bridge to see Jeff

Soon we got our wedding party over and took some pictures together before we headed back to the park for the ceremony. I was finally relaxed and ready for this wedding to happen!

Did you have a completely staged first look? Was there something that didn't quite go right during pictures?