There are times when everyone wishes they could go back and warn their younger, more naïve selves against making a certain decision or committing the act they’re about to do. For me, one such time was my wedding day. While I look enormously fondly over the day I said “I do” to the love of my life, there is one thing I admit I wish I’d done differently. I wish my husband and I saw each other before the ceremony.
My wedding was a fairytale—we exchanged vows among the majestic redwoods with a running fountain in the middle of a lake providing a dazzling backdrop. It was April and the tulips were in bloom and the horses (yes, horses) seemed to be basking in the unseasonably warm spring sun. Everything was fantastically perfect—everything we planned it to be. In my ideal fairytale-like wedding, I wanted my husband to see me for the first time walking down the aisle in my beaded and lace sweetheart-styled, mermaid dress with a train that rivaled the royals—and take his breath away.
The thing is, not meeting up with my husband until the ceremony left little time for us to take pictures together—something I didn’t fully understand or appreciate until we got our photos soon after returning from our honeymoon. Suffice it to say, I was sad that my enchantment of an entrance came at the cost of having fewer indelible images to hold on to.
It’s not that no one warned me about it—I had a wonderful photographer who told me that waiting to see each other until the ceremony will leave less time for photos. But I was a bride who couldn’t be reasoned with. And while I wish I could have told the bride version of me to snap out of my dreamlike delusion, I don’t wallow on the images I don’t have—I appreciate the ones I do. Besides, I took my hard-learned lessons with me to my sister’s wedding just six months later and insisted that she not repeat the mistake I made. She did an unveiling hours before walking down the aisle, giving her and her husband ample time to take pre-ceremony shots. Needless to say, her photographer—who was also mine—was all too pleased.
So if you’re in the planning stages of your big day—and your taste is more on the traditional side (like was mine) in that you want your future husband to see you for the first time walking down the aisle, just pause and think about the time you may be stealing away from valuable picture-taking or just being together and absorbing it all. Besides, no matter when he first lays eyes on you, it’s going to be a magical moment for you both.