Well, the fiancee and I have another question regarding wedding traditions:

When is the veil (blusher?) supposed to be lifted? I always thought it was just after both of us get up there, and before the preacher starts talking. The fiancee says it's after "you may kiss the bride."

Also, regarding the "you shouldn't see each other beforehand," photographers are now saying you should see each other to take pictures... How did you ladies do it?

The veil should be lifted after the "you may kiss the bride".

Taking pics beforehand saves time.  Your guests don't have to wait as long at the reception before you arrive.  I waited two hours at a reception for the bride and groom and still had to leave before they arrived.  You could have the photographer give you a few minutes with your bride alone before they start taking pics.

we had an outside wedding  in the middle of july  so we HAD to take pictures before  so we both looked fresh. i have to say that the looks i got when he first saw me and when i came down the isle we both classic and wonderful.  He told me later he liked the fact we got to have that moment before the plunge.  he saw me dressed up just for him

Wedding photographer here ... a couple I shot, er, took pictures of yesterday had a "revealing" before the ceremony. So it was the three bridesmaids and the three groomsmen and then the bride and groom. All except the bride were waiting, the groom had his backed turned. The bride walked in slowly and then the groom turned around and they saw each other for the first time.

Normally I am all for traditional.... but being able to take the whole bridal party out for some fun takes away some of the tension from the day.

My husband and I did it the traditional way and didn't see each other before the wedding, doing all of the photos afterwards.  Our parents said it was going to take too long and no one would want to wait that long, but we really wanted to go the traditional route and figured that it was our day and we should be able to do what we want.  Our families aren't that big and we had a smaller sized wedding party, so the photos didn't take too long.  I think our guests ended up waiting a little over an hour.  We had an outdoor reception, so there was a lot they could do while waiting and we had snacks out for them to eat.  

A lot of our guests told us later that they didn't mind waiting, and we got some really great photos.

I run sound for weddings at my church (we do lots of them)

Veils aren't very common anymore, in my experience  And I've seen them lifted at different times.  Do what you want.

I'd say 80% of weddings have pictures before.  If you do them afterword, please have something for your guests to do while they wait.