A lot of my clients are concerned that their family and extended family are either loud, hard to handle, or super big. They worry about how that will make the family portrait time a crazy and stressful part of their day. Needless to say, it can be a tricky part of your wedding but rest assured we have a process that we stick to that ensures fast painless family portraits.
When we schedule our pre-wedding consultation 7 weeks before your date part of that meeting will be dedicated to creating a family shot list that you would like to have covered. That includes names, relations, and groupings of the people in your family that you want in your photos. With that list, we order it in a way that works best. Typically we start with the largest group first and then peal people back one layer at a time. This helps move things along faster and smoother. If there are elderly grandparents that have a difficult time moving around, we will finish them first. Then we complete the rest of the list one family’s side at a time.
It’s really that simple. Just make sure that you communicate a time and location with everyone in the family that you want pictures of. That place and time will be dependent on the timeline that we create together. That way we don’t lose any stragglers and we move through the list as fast as possible. On the actual day, we will have a digital copy and printed out copy that we mark off with pen as we go along to ensure that everything is covered. As you know, things don’t always go according to plan and with that variable number of people, it can be challenging and unpredictable. However, we do our best to simplify and this process works very well for us. I’m going to share with you our general family list and order to give you an idea of what we will work up together.
Our general family portrait process:
Gather a list of family members you would like photographed and include names and relations of each person
Order list from biggest to smallest using format below, finish grandparents first
Group according to different sides of family
Communicate with everyone where they need to be and what time
Photographers shout out and check off list one grouping at a time
Double check list
Enjoy the rest of the wedding
Bride’s Mother’s Family:
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, extended family
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents
Bride + groom, grandparents
Bride, maternal grandparents
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings
Bride + groom, mother, father
Bride, mother
Bride, father
Bride siblings
Bride + groom, siblings
Bride’s Father’s Family:
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, extended family
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents
Bride + groom, grandparents
Bride, paternal grandparents
Bride + groom, groom’s parents, bride’s parents
Groom’s Mother’s Family:
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, extended family
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents
Bride + groom, grandparents
Groom, maternal grandparents
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings
Bride + groom, mother, father,
Bride + groom, siblings
Groom, siblings
Groom’s Father’s Family:
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents, extended family
Bride + groom, mother, father, siblings, grandparents
Bride + groom, grandparents
Bride, paternal grandparents
This list is just an example of how we like to order things. Your specific list will include names and relations so that we can shout out the people that are needed for each photo. Plus, the best part is that you get to determine how big or long the list is. We have done things super simple for clients in the past and kept it to immediate family and we have dealt with giant groups of extended family. Either way, we are there to capture what you want so you get to decide who all is included. We will just help keep it organized and quick so that everyone can enjoy the rest of their event.
