Family Photos - Tips For Creating Your List
Yes! You hired a documentary photographer who works primarily in candid imagery.
And Yes! Family group photos are still important, and likely what gets printed first nearly every time. My goal is to make the process easy and efficient for everyone, and it doesn’t need to take up a huge chunk of time on your day.
First, consider what you’ll do with them.
Think about what you plan to do with your portraits and where it will end up. Will it be up in a frame in your living room? Keeping this in mind, begin writing down who will be in this family portrait in your living room. Is this THE big family portrait? Are spouses and children included? If you’re not a huge fan of spending a long time standing still and smiling for photos, asking these questions will help guide you in creating the list that feels right to you.
A SAMPLE TEMPLATE TO GET YOU STARTED
Couple + both sides of immediate family, including family’s spouses and children
Couple + Partner 1’s immediate family, including spouses and children
Couple + Partner 2’s immediate family, including spouses and children
Partner 1 with parents
Partner 2 with parents
Couple with both sets of parents
Once the main list is photographed, I will always open up the time to additional requests while everyone is present (such as siblings, all the women of the family, individuals with parents, etc).
Keep Your Groups Simple
Avoid a series of groups where just one person is being added each time, unless this is intentional.
For example:
John & Jack + Amy
John & Jack + Amy + Andrew
John & Jack + Amy + Andrew + Beatrice
Going back to the first point (consider what you’ll do with them), if you’re adding just one person to a group or taking just one person out of a group and your list is looking longer than you’d like, consider why you need a photo with and then without this person.
Communicate to Family When They Need to Arrive
The actual photo taking part of the process doesn’t actually take that long. It’s when folks arrive late, a tie goes missing, or anything else that happens that takes time. Instead of requiring a strict 20 minute block at an exact time, I prefer to give all of us a good buffer of time for these pictures to happen.
Your planner will be more exact for the sake of running an efficient day and might write 2:30PM - 3:00PM FAMILY PHOTOS
The best way to prepare for this is to communicate to family members that they need to be dressed and ready to be photographed at XX TIME.
As a general rule of thumb, I recommend having immediate family at the venue ready to be photographed at least 1.5 hours before the ceremony.
Separate Your List - Before Ceremony and After Ceremony
Separate your requested photo list into two sections if necessary: Immediate family before the ceremony, and extended family after the ceremony.
If you want other groups casually, such as different friend groups, we can get those done after the family shots, during cocktail hour while you meet with each group, or during dinner.
If You Have Large Groups, Name a Point Person
Groups of people will quickly pay attention to a voice they recognize.
If you have a large group list, ask someone who ideally knows both sides of the family to help gather people up for family photos if needed. There is usually someone in the family or wedding party that has that take-charge-attitude and love the opportunity to use it.
If they’re excited to have this responsibility, you can forward them a copy of the family list so they know in advance who to keep an eye out for from running away to cocktail hour.
How to Tackle Reeeally Large Groups Like a Champ
Be Specific When Writing Your List
It is extremely helpful for me to have the family formals list include names and relationship. Here’s an example:
- Henry & Cate + Cate’s parents (Dan and Chris)
- Henry & Cate + Henry’s parents (Phillippe and Claudie)
- Henry & Cate + Cate’s immediate family (Dan, Chris, Sarah and Eric)
Please also specify if a specific grouping includes just one of you (or none of you).
Otherwise, I will automatically assume both of you are included in the group.
