2025 Wedding Trends: Are First Looks A Thing Of the Past?
- Susan Garrity
- Feb 28
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 12
North Georgia Wedding Couples and Pros Weigh In
Your wedding in North Georgia is a day that you will never forget. Seeing your loved one standing in front of the arbor at Willow Creek Farm as the processional starts, the big gates open and you walk down the aisle is a sweet & special moment for everyone involved. Traditionally, walking down the aisle is the first time a bride and groom see each other on their wedding day, but now that isn’t always the case. Many couples decide to have a more private first look including only the bride, groom and the photographer before the ceremony begins. The decision to keep with tradition & forego a non-traditional first look or to share a moment with your partner before the ceremony is a big decision for most couples. To help make this decision a little easier, we have interviewed some of our previous Willow Creek Farm brides & photographers for this blog to help you decide on whether or not to have a first look .
Keeping with tradition and saving the first look for the ceremony has some benefits. Sweet pictures of the groom seeing the bride for the first time as the black gates swing open and she glides down the aisle is always a dramatic and magical moment. One of our Willow Creek Farm brides, Megan Crane shared with us this memory from her wedding: “I have enjoyed attending weddings since I was a little girl, my favorite part of a wedding is hands down when the groom sees the bride for the first time! It's like for a minute they are alone in their own world. At our wedding, the excitement of seeing Justin [Her Groom] built up all morning and well into the evening. When I saw him for the first time walking down the aisle, my heart exploded with anticipation, excitement and the most love I have ever felt. It was truly magical, like a fairy tale moment that I have dreamed of my entire life.” The first sighting of your partner beside the dramatic backdrop of the two mountain creeks merging into one, the sounds of flowing water and the iconic Willow Creek Arbor combine to make the moment truly magical and quite emotional for you, your soon to be spouse, the wedding party and guests alike! This is one reason couples choose to stick to tradition.
Choosing to forego a first look doesn’t mean that you have to give up a private moment with your groom before the wedding ceremony. Many couples share special gifts, vows, or even a prayer together, typically on either side of a door holding hands to connect them, without having to physically see each other before the ceremony.
One of our brides, Rachel McMahon shared with us why she & her husband decided to do just that, “From the start, my husband had always said he did not want to do a first look, he wanted to go the traditional route, which I was totally fine with. I liked the idea of writing our own vows, but my husband felt like sharing our personal, intimate vows in front of our guest would be a little uncomfortable, so he had the idea to write our own vows, share them privately before the ceremony without seeing each other and to do traditional vows during the ceremony. At first I was skeptical, as I had never seen this done before, but I thought it was the perfect compromise for us both.
Fifteen minutes before our ceremony, Ryan and I shared the vows we had written for each other privately with just our photographers capturing the moment, and IT WAS PERFECT! Not only was it so reassuring to hear his voice before our ceremony at the creeks, but it built the suspense for the ceremony & allowed me to get my tears out and under control. Our decision to do this was by far my favorite part of our day, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”
If you’re nervous, seeing your partner before the ceremony can calm your nerves. It gives you a moment with each other to truly remember what the day is about before the craziness of wedding day celebrations take over. It can also allow for more relaxed and raw emotions because the moment is just between the two of you.
One of our brides, Rebecca Phrommala shared with us why she chose to do a first look: “For us, having a moment to ourselves on our day was so important. With a first look, we were able to share each other’s excitement and joy before the ceremony. Being able to completely give into the emotions that we were having and taking that time for us was one of my favorite parts of that day. I am so happy that we did a first look because both of us were so overcome with emotion when we did see each other, and we were able to express ourselves privately in such a beautifully intimate moment.”
Another benefit of having a first look is that it enables you to take more photos before the wedding begins so that you’re more likely to be able to actually make it to cocktail hour. Bride Rebecca Phrommala said, “Another perk to doing a first look was that it allowed us to take most of our photos together and with our bridal party before the ceremony, saving time afterwards so that we could quickly join family and friends!”
Having a first look also allows your photographer to capture intimate pictures of the two of you together. During the ceremony this can be harder because the bride and groom aren’t standing together until the bride reaches the alter. Photographer Hillary Nichols from Hillary Leah Photography shared with us her decision on whether to have a first look, “Personally, we did have a first look. It was such a sweet intimate moment. He was against it from the beginning but, a fellow photographer friend convinced him when she mentioned that she loved first looks because you don't share that moment with anyone else. YOU get to see your spouse for the first time alone and don't share that with anyone but yourselves. That stuck with him and changed his mind about seeing me!"
Although the decision to do a first look should be based off of what the two of you want, there are also logistical reasons to consider as well. Photographer Hillary Nichols talks about these logistics by stating, "as a wedding photographer, I always allow my clients to choose whether or not they want to do a "first look" on their wedding day. I don't like to sway, but rather educate my clients on what their photo timeline looks like AND the lighting. I always encourage my clients to shape their timeline around their first look decision. For instance, if your ceremony in the Winter and you do not want a first look, have an earlier ceremony time to make sure you aren't fighting daylight or stressed about fitting pictures in before it gets dark. As a North Georgia Wedding Venue, we experience 4 distinct seasons and the time changes every spring and fall so you will also need to take sunset time into consideration when planning your timeline and first look. Always consult with your photographer before printing invitations to make sure your ceremony time allows for the pictures you want and not feel rushed.
Finally, the owner of Willow Creek Farm weighs in. I think it depends on the venue, says owner, Susan Garrity. Logistically a first look is a great idea at most venues. If you are getting married at a venue where you are just entering the ceremony spot through a normal door or you are entering straight out of the bridal suite then go for the first look.
However, the ceremony spot at Willow Creek Farm has huge custom made black iron gates that make for a very DRAMATIC entrance for the bride! . The wedding party enters down the concrete path to the ceremony but not the bride. She is secretly transported to the back of the gates and no one knows where she is! When the processional starts and the big gates slowly open, suddenly there she is and it is so stunning and so dramatic that the groom is almost always quite emotional, especially if he hasn't seen her all day. It is a moment our couples reminisce about the rest of their lives and we just love the raw emotion of that first look when the bride walks through the gates towards the creek and the laurel arbor and, most importantly towards her soul mate.
Susan says she does, however favor a bride's first look with her bridesmaids and her dad. The dads always get really emotional and it's one of my favorite parts of the day.
Willow Creek Farm is a unique and affordable Cleveland GA wedding venue.
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