Pictures Before or After the Wedding?

Traditionally, the wedding pictures are taken after the wedding ceremony and before the reception.  It is considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her gown before the wedding.  However, these days more and more wedding couples are deciding the right time to have their wedding pictures taken.

Taking pictures between the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception has a few negatives - like losing all the excitement you were feeling during the wedding and right after.  Taking pictures at this point can bring you down fast and make you feel like you're missing your own party.  It can feel like it's taking forever.  This doesn't make for the greatest of picture taking sessions and it will show in your pictures. 

You might also feel bad because you're keeping your guests waiting.  You're anxiously imagining them sitting around twiddling their thumbs while they wait for you to show up. Or worse, they eat all the reception food and leave before you get there.

On the other hand, having your pictures snapped before the wedding might not feel right.  You might have wanted to keep with the traditions in your family and really would like the moment to be just right when your beloved sees you in your wedding gown.  Some photographers have addressed this sensitively by shooing everyone out to give the bride and groom a few moments of privacy when he first enters the room where she is. 

But another reason why some brides and grooms don't want the pictures ahead of time is because they are feeling way too stressed and nervous.  It can be a bit hard to smile when you stomach is tied up in a nervous knot, or you're worried your hair-do won't last long enough to accommodate both the pictures and the wedding before it starts going limp.  Time is also an issue.  There is no time for anyone to be running late who will be in the wedding pictures. The pictures need to happen on a set schedule so the wedding can go on at the appointed time.

How about a compromise?  If you don't want to invite bad juju and you don't want your husband-to-be to see you in your fabulous wedding gown prior to the wedding, you can have the photographer take the bridal party pictures, bride and parents, and bride and family pictures prior to the wedding.  You can even have them taken earlier in the day and then go into hiding before the groom party shows up to have their pictures taken.  That leaves fewer pictures, the ones of you together and those with everyone in them, to be taken after the wedding ceremony.  It shortens the time between the wedding and the reception.

The choice of when to have your wedding pictures taken is up to you and your fiance and centres around what you would like. Additionally, you can talk to your photographer and see what he or she suggests.