diff --git a/src/app/page.tsx b/src/app/page.tsx
index 2e1cdfc1..96e524e8 100644
--- a/src/app/page.tsx
+++ b/src/app/page.tsx
@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ import { MAX_PHOTOS_TO_SHOW_OG } from '@/photo/image-response';
 export const runtime = 'edge';
 
 export async function generateMetadata(): Promise<Metadata> {
-  const photos = await getPhotosCached({ limit: MAX_PHOTOS_TO_SHOW_OG });
+  // Make homepage queries resilient to error on first time setup
+  const photos = await getPhotosCached({ limit: MAX_PHOTOS_TO_SHOW_OG })
+    .catch(() => []);
   return generateOgImageMetaForPhotos(photos);
 }
 
@@ -27,8 +29,7 @@ export default async function HomePage({ searchParams }: PaginationParams) {
     photos,
     count,
   ] = await Promise.all([
-    // Make homepage queries resilient to error
-    // for initial setup when database may not exist
+    // Make homepage queries resilient to error on first time setup
     getPhotosCached({ limit }).catch(() => []),
     getPhotosCountCached().catch(() => 0),
   ]);
diff --git a/src/site/Footer.tsx b/src/site/Footer.tsx
index 1e1ce612..3ab5878f 100644
--- a/src/site/Footer.tsx
+++ b/src/site/Footer.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import { authCached } from '@/cache';
 import FooterClient from './FooterClient';
 
 export default async function Footer() {
-  const session = await authCached();
+  // Make footer auth resilient to error on first time setup
+  const session = await authCached().catch(() => null);
   return (
     <FooterClient userEmail={session?.user?.email} />
   );
diff --git a/src/site/Nav.tsx b/src/site/Nav.tsx
index 684cc5c0..709bb834 100644
--- a/src/site/Nav.tsx
+++ b/src/site/Nav.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ import { authCached } from '@/cache';
 import NavClient from './NavClient';
 
 export default async function Nav() {
-  const session = await authCached();
+  // Make nav auth resilient to error on first time setup
+  const session = await authCached().catch(() => null);
   return (
     <NavClient showAdmin={Boolean(session?.user?.email)} />
   );