This week’s Wedding Wednesday post was written by one of our grooms, Jeff. We asked him to tell us about his experience doing a “First Look” on the wedding day. You can view some of their downtown Nashville wedding photos here!

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So, I have to admit, when Gwen and Matt first suggested to us that we should do a “first look” as part of the schedule of photography for our wedding day, although my bride was on board with the idea from the get go, I was dead set, adamantly against it. It went against all the freaky superstitions, it was wrong, it is not meant to be for the bride and groom to see each other BEFORE the wedding! It’s bad luck, right? Why would I do that? NO NO NO NO NO!

After some discussion with my fiancée I agreed to give it some thought….. I thought about it for the months to come, and particularly with ours being a night time low light wedding, We wanted to make sure we had the optimal lighting for the pictures we would remember FOREVER when looking back on our day! “No No No” but it made a little sense right? I mean, we are in 2010, not the 50’s right? NO!NO! well…maybe…I mean Jessi is ok with it…..but, what about the music? The nervous butterflies? OK, I will think about it some more.

I finally conceded “defeat” (or so I thought at the time) and said we would do our first look, as long as I could play music when my bride walked in. For me, it was about that moment, and all of the senses that go into it. The music playing, the decorations, the smell of the air, the feeling when I would see my bride for the very first time. So, we decided to have our first look in the very spot where we would have the wedding! A “dress rehearsal” of what would come just hours later.

OK, I admit it I was wrong to be so against the “first look”! We hit the music, I had my back turned, Gwen and Matt were snapping pictures, the music was playing, the sun was shining,and the butterflies were all over the place in my stomach as I turned around to see the most beautiful bride in the whole wide world! We were both so glad to not have to worry about 100 people seeing us, as we saw each other , and it gave us both the chance to enjoy a moment we would cherish for the rest of our lives. Plus, with the Nashville Sun shining down, and as much time as we needed, the pictures were of course unbelievable! So, for a guy who considers himself to be pretty old fashion when it came to weddings, I am certainly grateful that we had our “first look” moment all to ourselves!