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When it’s your wedding, do you wear a veil all day? Wondering when to remove your veil? Long story short, wear your veil whenever you want. There’s no right or wrong amount of time to wear your veil on the wedding day. That said, most brides tend not to wear their veil for the entire day. Below I’ve outlined the essential parts of the wedding day to help you determine when you want to wear yours.
Do You Wear Your Veil for the First Look?
Some brides choose to don their veil for the first look but other brides opt to wait for the wedding party and family portraits (before the ceremony).
How to decide if you should wear your veil for the first look? It all come does to how much you want the veil in photos. If it’s a priority, put it in earlier. It can be a lot to fuss with, so many brides wait until the ceremony to wear theirs.
If you aren’t taking any portraits after the ceremony because you are doing a first look, I suggest wearing your veil for as many portraits as you’d like pre-ceremony. You won’t get many photos with it otherwise.
Ceremony – A Must for Your Veil
Many brides wait until right before the ceremony to put in the veil. Traditionally, brides always wear their veil for the ceremony. Otherwise they’d only be buying it for a few photos – which is totally fine if that’s ok with you.
Couple’s Portraits
I generally recommend that brides take at least a handful of couple’s portraits wearing their veil. Because you won’t have a person on both sides of you during these portraits, you can put the veil to the side opposite your spouse. This ensures the veil gets the spotlight it deserves.
Do You Wear a Veil During Cocktail Hour?
Almost every bride I know removes their veil at some point during cocktail hour. If you were wearing a long, cathedral veil, you might find a challenging to keep guest from stepping on your veil as you mingle with the crowd. Cocktail hour typically served as the time when a bride bustles her dress. During that time, you’ll find a good opportunity to remove your veil, if desired.
Do You Wear a Veil for the Reception?
It is really rare for a bride to opt for the veil during the reception. Almost no brides wear a long veil during the reception because they’d be stepping on it while dancing and so would other guests. The veil would be torn to shreds. That said, if your first dance is slow, you could wear it then with minimal risk.
Want a veil you can keep on all night long with no risk of damaging it? Opt for a short veil that is fingertip length or shorter. While this is uncommon, wearing a short veil all night would be very cute!
