Bride Series: Family Formal Photo List in Weddings
Recently, I was in a wedding with 25+ groupings for formal group portraits. It was an interesting experience because that was the largest groupings I have ever experienced so far. (On the side note, the groupings have gone greater than relatives and have extended to coworkers of each side of the bride and groom, college friends of each side, childhood friends of each side, etc. All in all, we spent over an hour finishing it up. And not to mention that after thirty minutes, everyone had lost focus and didn’t realize they were being called for the group photo. Or some had left without notice… Much of our time was spent waiting until the group was complete.)
– Bride + Groom + everyone (family + guests)
Both sides of our grandparents were not able to come all the way to Vancouver for our wedding. So when my photographer sent me the link to order prints, I asked my cousin to show it to my grandma and asked her which ones she’d like to order. Afterall, that was the only way for her to experience our wedding day. To my surprise, she ordered multiples of the family photos and only a few of just us during the ceremony! She told me afterwards, “Those are the ones that matter to me. Those are the ones that you will pass down to your grandchildren one day. A picture of everyone in one frame. And a picture of you and Kevin saying the vow that will keep you together until then.” I am so proud of my grandma, she is so wise! Not until then I realized how lovely it is to put everyone together in one frame and document it.
I have decided to write this post because of both of the experiences. The wedding I had where we lost most of the family members and guests out of bored. And the wisdom of my grandma of treasuring a family heirloom in one frame. I think it is important for us to honour our loved ones and have them in the portrait. However, having more than five to seven groupings will result to losing key people before the portait time was even halfway done. Thus, you lose the point of having the portrait done because they are not even there anymore.
And I salute brides who asked us particularly before the wedding day that they wanted an image of them and their grannies/their aunties/special people in their lives. I need to know that ahead of time because I won’t know unless you told me and we will be able to schedule this right before the ceremony or after the formal group portrait without having fifty eyes waiting for us to get it done with the special list. We will always be accommodating in a smart way, together we can do this! 🙂
Your college roommates and coworkers are important too and we will be able to take your pictures together during the reception when you are doing your round visiting each table in between courses. Also, not to worry about your bestfriends, they will get special portrait times during the day if they are in the bridal party. If not, and we might miss them during the reception, let me know in advance and we’ll work something out! My suggestion is to only have the immediate family groupings as well as the whole group during the formal group portrait time. A maximum of five to seven groupings in twenty minutes. You will keep your loved ones happy and it will be a less stressful day for both of you!
Jenn
PS: There are family matters that we understand and try to accomodate. When your parents are not together anymore, they might ask for not being in the same family picture and that is fine! Let us know in advance and we will definitely accomodate that.
This is part of the bride series we are writing to prepare our brides planning their weddings. Here is one on the insights on getting ready/the morning of.
Such a great post Jennifer!!!
Great post!! Very helpful ideas and I totally agree! Too many photos and people start to loose interest in a quick hurry!
Great insight from both options of how it can be done. I really enjoy these posts that work in a series. I’m sure brides will read as my as they can to prepare for that big day.
Really helpful 🙂
This is a great post and SO needed!! I can’t believe you attempted so many formals…You are a trooper!!!
So true! I recently did a wedding and they didn`t get me the list in time and we had a little more stress on the wedding day navigating the family relationships. So much smoother this way
Awesome and helpful post, thanks for writing it!
Wonder if we were in any of the same Focal Point classes over the years?!