To reveal or not reveal, that is the question!
Short answer: up to you. That’s it, end of blog post, come back next week…
But wait, that’s not it, I wish it could be as simple as that, keep reading.
During your consultation your photographer should (hopefully) ask you some details about your wedding and should ask you whether you would like to do a Reveal, sometimes called a first look. If your wedding photographer didn’t, give me her/his number, we need to have a chat!
A reveal is that intimate moment between you and your future husband/wife where you get to see each other for the first time, prior to the ceremony.
Why in the world would you want to do a reveal or a first look, hasn’t TV and the media taught us that soon to be weds always see each other for the first time during the ceremony???
For a couple of reasons actually. We find that about half of our couples choose to do a reveal because:
They want to be less stressed as they are walking down the aisle
They want to have more time to take more quality pictures
The ceremony and reception are happening at two separate locations
They want to keep that intimate moment for themselves
Gives the couple the flexibility to add an additional location for wedding photos
Generally during a wedding there is very limited time between the ceremony and the reception, especially once you factor in the transportation and our darned traffic if you live anywhere near Toronto or Durham Region. This means that if you have an hour and a half between your reception and ceremony and 30 minutes get eaten up by the drive (for a drive that should only take 10 minutes) then you only have 1 hour to do formal photos, bridal party photos and of course of you and your partner!
That’s 20 minutes per category, not including any hiccups.
What if you could do all the photos but the formal (family) photos prior to the ceremony? Then you wouldn’t need to be stressed and you could even enjoy your cocktail hour… I personally think that would sound fantastic!
When we consult with our couples we lay out the facts and the plan for their big day. Generally we would capture all the getting ready photos and then we would go to that ideal location where the couple wants to get their wedding photos done. The reveal would happen there, they would share that moment (typically alone) and then give them some space to just be. After a few minutes the bridal party will then be invited to take some fun photos and then we would jump into the photos of the bride and groom. This would give us anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour just for photos of you, all before the ceremony! The formal photos would take place right after the ceremony.
Look at that... no stress, no fuss *whew* and you get to have lots of frame worthy photos that you will remember forever.
Now, are there instances when you shouldn’t or don’t need to do a reveal/first look? Maybe.
If everything is happening in one location and you have more than 2 hours to spare between the ceremony and the reception you may not need to do a first look but we as professional wedding photographers still recommend it.
Chances are that things will come up, something will run late (traffic, people?) and that will cause tension and potentially stress and some sort of sacrifice will need to be made as far as photos. I will of course stay as cool as a cucumber and will work as fast as humanly possible, but I’m looking out for your best interest!!!
If you have anymore questions send me a quick message, I’d be glad to help out.
Oleg
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