Daddy / Daughter First Looks, Why we love them

True Confession: I learned about daddy/daughter first looks from a bride! Several years ago, a sweet bride asked me if we could incorporate a few special moments into her wedding day for just her and father. They were very close and she was so worried that she’d be a crying mess walking down the aisle and she “wanted to get all that out of the way ahead of time.” We made it happen and it was truthfully the sweetest moments I had ever witnessed on a wedding day. Now we suggest them to our brides! If you are close with your dad I can promise you will be so glad you did this. Here’s a few tips and tricks so you can make sure this goes off without a hitch!

-Make sure your dad knows what you’re doing! Sounds simple enough, but so many dads show up in street clothes totally unaware that they were supposed to be sharing an important moment with their daughter. Your dad needs to know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it!

-Lie to your dad. Ok, hear me out! Whatever time we plan for him to arrive, when you tell him make it 15 minutes earlier than the real timeline! I have yet to see an on-time dad. They are usually tasked with last minute errands and fail to pay attention to their watches.

-Bring him a special handkerchief. Don’t think your dad’s the crying type? He might be during this moment! What we find so funny is that the really sensitive dads who everyone thinks will cry usually don’t! It’s the strong, silent dads that usually have uncontrollable sobs on the wedding day!

-Expect that this won’t go perfectly. I don’t know why dads like to pick the wedding day to start acting like they don’t know what in the world is going on, but they do! Even if we plan out everything perfectly your dad may still be late, he may be in gym clothes, he may have an armful of your glass table decorations when he sees you and then drop them right in front of you (yes, we saw that happen!) None of that matters, he’s still your daddy and you’ll still love him – even if he does let your childhood nickname out of the bag in front of me!

The photos below are from Megan’s wedding. It was so windy outside we made this first look happen in the house and it was still perfect!