When a bride has a special bond with her father, that love really shines through on her wedding day. Father daughter moments are some of most special moments we love to photograph at weddings. You probably know about the long honored tradition of the father daughter dance at the wedding reception. But, you may not have thought about having a first look with your dad. First looks are not only for brides and grooms and truth be told, a first look between a bride and her dad really holds a special place in our hearts.

Whether you're just starting to plan your wedding or you've already put a lot of thought into it, incorporating a dad first look is an incredibly meaningful way to honor the relationship between father and daughter. In this post, we will give you some reasons why a dad first look might be a perfect addition to your wedding day. And at the end, we will share a photo gallery of some of our favorite father daughter first look moments we have photographed over the years.

What is a Father Daughter First Look?

A Father Daughter First Look or Dad First Look is a special wedding moment planned ahead of time, usually to be captured in photos, where your Dad will see you in your wedding dress for the first time before your wedding ceremony and you get to share a very special moment together. It is essentially the same idea as a first look between a couple, but is done with a bride and her father. It can be done as an alternative to a couple’s first look or you can make room in your wedding day timeline for both a couple’s first look and a dad first look.

How do you do a Dad First Look?

A Dad First Look can be done anyway you’d like, but typically your dad will stand with his back turned to his daughter, the bride. Then, the bride will walk up behind him, tap him on the shoulder, and he will turn around and see his little girl all dressed up in her wedding dress. His reaction and the moments that follow are usually captured by your wedding photographer.

Your Dad First Look can be a totally private moment between just you and your dad or you can include other family members as well such as your mom or siblings. We have photographed brides doing first looks with their moms, brothers, bridesmaids, and even groomsmen.

When do you do a Dad First Look?

A First Look with Dad is done after the bride finishes getting completely ready and before the ceremony. Typically, brides will opt to have their first look with their dad before they have their first look with their partner, if they’ve chosen to do both.

Where should you do a First Look with your Dad?

Typically father daughter first looks are done at the getting ready location before heading to the ceremony location, at the ceremony location bridal suite, or at a picturesque outside location at the wedding venue. If you are doing both a first look with your dad and a first look with your partner, you might want to pick a great location and have both first looks at the same spot. This is a great timesaver if your timeline is tight but you really want to do both first looks.

Top Reasons to do a First Look with your Dad

A beautiful and private way to honor that very special bond between the two of you.

Your wedding day is a big day for your Dad, too. While he of course will always be your dad, the moment you become a wife, the chapter of your lives where your dad is the primary man in your life is coming to an end. What a better way to honor how he has been there for you for your whole life than to give him this special moment on your wedding day. It can be a private moment between the two of you or perhaps with your mom and siblings too. You can tell him how much all of his love and support that brought you to this moment has meant to you.

A way to help your dad shake off some nerves before the big moment he walks you down the aisle.

If your Dad will be walking you down the aisle, chances are he is at least a little nervous about it. Seeing you for the first time as a bride right before he walks you down the aisle can be very emotional for dads and knowing that all of your wedding guests will be watching can make for a very nervous father. If you do a first look before the ceremony, all of those emotions can be felt ahead of time and in private, making the walk down the aisle a piece of cake. It has been our experience that fathers that do first looks with their daughters before the ceremony walk down the aisle looking much more relaxed which makes for better wedding photos.

An opportunity to get some meaningful and emotion filled photos that you will cherish forever.

The love that a father has for his daughter can easily be seen and felt on his daughter’s wedding day and is so beautiful to photograph. If you choose to do a first look, you will be able to have tangible memories of that love and admiration from your dad that you can cherish forever in beautiful images.

A great way to get some of your family portraits done before the ceremony.

Usually family portrait time is scheduled for right after the ceremony. If you have a big family, this can eat up a big chunk of your cocktail hour time and leave little time for bridal party portraits and couple portraits or to join your cocktail hour. If you do a dad first look before the ceremony, afterwards you can ask your photographer to take your portraits with dad, mom, siblings, and any other immediate family who have gathered to watch the dad first look and get those photos out of the way at that time. This is also a great idea if you are having a winter wedding where it starts to get dark right after the ceremony.

A Photo Gallery of our Favorite Dad First Looks

Sometimes there are tears and sometimes there are smiles from ear to ear, but every time there is a whole lot of love, the kind of love that can only exist between a Dad and his daughter. Here are some of our favorite father daughter first look moments.

Father Daughter First Look with Danielle and her Dad at Park Winters in Winters, CA

Jessica’s First Look with her Dad at Regale Winery in Los Gatos, CA

Jenny’s First Look with her Dad at her getting ready hotel in San Jose

Megan and her Dad doing a First Look at Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Gilroy, CA

Father Daughter First Look with Truly and her Dad at Hotel DeAnza in San Jose, CA

Jaimie doing a First Look with her Father and her Brother at Redwood Canyon in Castro Valley, CA

Kaitlyn’s First Look with her Dad at the Waterfall Lodge in Ben Lomand, CA

Father Daughter First Look with Lody and her Dad at her San Jose getting ready hotel

We hope you enjoyed these Dad First Looks and were inspired to consider a First Look with Dad for your wedding day. We’d love to be there to capture these once in a lifetime memories for you, so if you are looking for the perfect wedding photographer, please click the contact button below and let’s chat!

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