TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE

We saw each other before and it was the best thing we could have done. We got married at the RH, so the first time he saw me, I was coming down the stairccase and it was perfect. We got all our pics done before the ceremony and went to all of the CH.

AND I was able to fix my makeup so it was perfect when I went down the aisle because I had gotten a lot of my crying out of the way.

this is just my opinion but i dont understand why people do pictures before the ceremony--youre not husband and wife yet!

i know that it saves a lot of time and this is the main reason.

it just a personal choice good luck. your day will go fine either way

ive answered this thread 50000x in the past so heres my short response.

Yes.

- hair/makeup will be fresh for pictures
- more time for pictures
- married at out hall so no gap bw ceremony/CH
- wouldnt want to subject our guests to a gap anyway
- dont want to make everyone miss CH (FH and his family have never been to a NY wedding)
- we're signing the ketubah before so we have to see eachother before anyway
- better & more private 'seeing eachother for first time' pix

---

Posted by KK Holiday

this is just my opinion but i dont understand why people do pictures before the ceremony--youre not husband and wife yet!

i know that it saves a lot of time and this is the main reason.

it just a personal choice good luck. your day will go fine either way

---

technically you can say that we were... our reverend signed the license before the ceremony


he joked with us before we had our 'ceremony' that we were already married!!

---

Posted by KK Holiday

this is just my opinion but i dont understand why people do pictures before the ceremony--youre not husband and wife yet!

i know that it saves a lot of time and this is the main reason.

it just a personal choice good luck. your day will go fine either way

---

You don't have to understand it if you don't want to do it. Basically It's a time issue. Doesn't matter if you are not husband and wife yet.

When you get married at a church and have that nice 3 hour gap between the ceremony and CH, it's the perfect time to take pictures.

When you get married at the RH and the CH starts right after the ceremony ends, you only have about 45 minutes to take your pictures and you and your parents and BP miss the CH.
If you do your pictures before, you can go to a picturesque location like OWG or the Arboretum to take pics.

i was a super traditionalist about this until i realized that it meant DH and i would only have about 1 hr to do allllll our pics w/o cutting into the reception. (we got married at the hall)

with that in mind--we saw each other before---and for us, it was the best decision. we had a special private moment----it calmed us down and we weren't as nervous for the ceremony---and i loved having that time with him before the ceremony.

---

Posted by woobie113007

We saw eachother the first time in church when I was walking down the aisle. In all honesty, I feel like seeing eachother beforehand takes away from the wedding.
We could wait to have all the pics done after the church.

---

agreedd

---

Posted by JJC

I definitely would not want to be seen before the ceremony....I want the whole 'wow' factor as I enter. My girlfriend married a Jewish man though and they HAD to see each other before to sign the papers needed beforehand....

---

i just wanted to say that the 'wow' factor is definitely still there when you do pics beforehand! obviously everyone has their reasons to do it or not do it---but i don't want brides to think it won't be 'as special' when your man sees you before the ceremony. it can be just as special as the other way.

i mean--look at these happy grooms faces and the emotional first time shots!

I think it's totally up to you and whatever works best. I think you're going to have the same feeling the first time you guys see eachother whether it be before or at the ceremony.
For me I don't want us to see eachother before but I see no problem doing it the other way.

---

Posted by MrsS4

im sorry I know many women will disagree with me-- but I honestly think all of the pictures can wait until after the ceremony---I want to see the fh's face as well as all of our guests faces all together when I begin to walk down the aisle the way in my opinion it should be-- I do not like the idea of seeing the fh before the ceremony-- (i know I will get heat for this response but it is jmho)

hth

---

I feel that same way!

---

Posted by Christine N Ralph

---

Posted by MrsS4

im sorry I know many women will disagree with me-- but I honestly think all of the pictures can wait until after the ceremony---I want to see the fh's face as well as all of our guests faces all together when I begin to walk down the aisle the way in my opinion it should be-- I do not like the idea of seeing the fh before the ceremony-- (i know I will get heat for this response but it is jmho)

hth

---

I feel that same way!

---

well everyone has their own opinion--but i really think this question is mostly posed at people who are NOT marrying in a church---and therefore don't have a 2-3 hr gap between ceremony & reception. i think most girls agree that if you have the gap--you are not gonna see each other beforehand cause you have plenty of time to do pics.

if i had married in a church--then no i would not have seen my DH before the ceremony. but those marrying at the hall tend to have to ask themself this question since they were ZERO time between ceremony and CH.

We both agree that we did NOT want to see each other before the ceremony, there was a huge build up of emotion before for us and we wanted to stick with tradition. I really think that this is a personal choice. Some people felt it made them less nervous and anxious to see FH before and that is fine.

I think it also depends on logisitics and time. If you can figure out a way to make not seeing e/o before work and go to a picture location then I would do prior to ceremony. It just happened to work out for us perfectly.

HTH

FH and I are not going to see each other before the ceremony. We want to have that element of excitement and surprise when I walk down the aisle towards him and we 'see each other for the first time'.

Yes, we will be living together at that point but he will spend the night before the wedding elsewhere.

---

Posted by MJDoc12

---

Posted by Christine N Ralph

---

Posted by MrsS4

im sorry I know many women will disagree with me-- but I honestly think all of the pictures can wait until after the ceremony---I want to see the fh's face as well as all of our guests faces all together when I begin to walk down the aisle the way in my opinion it should be-- I do not like the idea of seeing the fh before the ceremony-- (i know I will get heat for this response but it is jmho)

hth

---

I feel that same way!

---

well everyone has their own opinion--but i really think this question is mostly posed at people who are NOT marrying in a church---and therefore don't have a 2-3 hr gap between ceremony & reception. i think most girls agree that if you have the gap--you are not gonna see each other beforehand cause you have plenty of time to do pics.

if i had married in a church--then no i would not have seen my DH before the ceremony. but those marrying at the hall tend to have to ask themself this question since they were ZERO time between ceremony and CH.

---

okay i could understand this-- to each their own... if it doesnt bother either of you or the family-- then def go for it---