The above photos are when we first saw each other from the other ends of the aisle!
We decided not to do the popular first look that day. Each couple will be different. For us, we felt that life has very few moments that are total surprises, and we wanted to experience this one. Additionally, we had the “Catholic gap,” meaning our wedding ceremony was at 1 PM and our reception didn’t start until 6 PM. So we knew we had plenty of time after the ceremony to take photos together.I will never forget that moment!
During the Catholic Gap, we enlisted one of my best friends and a cousin to entertain our guest. We offered two “Gap activities” for our guests to go on while they had down time, both walking tours of downtown NYC. One was a bar crawl to some bars nearby that had sentimental meaning to us a couple. The other was a landmark tour nearby, including the Strand Bookstore, Washington Square Park, the Friend’s Apartment, and NYU (my alma mater).
I decided to walk myself down the aisle. The tradition of a father walking his daughter down the aisle comes from the old idea of giving her away. Nowadays, I hope women no longer feel they need to be given away, but rather use the tradition to have a final, special moment with their father. Though he wasn’t physically here, I still was able to have a moment thinking of him and having him with me. I remember looking up to Heaven right before I took my first steps down the aisle.
That said, my mom met me at the end of the aisle and walked with me right to my groom.