Wedding Group Photographs Without the Chaos – Why I Give Every Couple a Photo List
Wedding group photographs can either be one of the quickest parts of a wedding day or one of the longest. I know that from experience because my personal record for getting through them is somewhere around ten minutes, while at the other end of the scale I've had group photographs take almost three hours.
That's quite a difference, and it wasn't because I suddenly forgot how to use a camera on the three-hour one. 😂
A huge amount comes down to what happens before the wedding, how organised we are on the day and, perhaps most importantly, whether everybody works together when it's time to take the photographs. That's exactly why I've developed my own way of handling wedding group photographs over the years.
My normal approach to wedding photography is relaxed and natural. I don't want to spend a wedding constantly stopping what's happening, arranging people and turning the day into one enormous photoshoot. For most of it, I'm watching, anticipating and photographing the moments happening naturally around me. But being a documentary wedding photographer doesn't mean I don't believe in traditional family photographs. I absolutely do.
In fact, I think some of those photographs become more valuable with time. A photograph with your parents or grandparents might not necessarily be the photograph you're most excited about when you're planning your wedding, but years later it can become one of the most important photographs in the entire collection. Weddings are also one of those increasingly rare occasions when you've got so many of the people who matter to you together in one place, so it makes sense to take advantage of it.
What I don't think you need is to spend half your wedding day doing it.
Planning your wedding group photographs before the day
Rather than asking my couples to start with a blank piece of paper and somehow work out every family photograph they might possibly want, I supply a generic wedding group photograph sheet. It includes the combinations I've found are commonly requested at weddings, covering immediate and extended family, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, bridesmaids, the best man, friends and the wider wedding party.
The important word there is generic.
It isn't my list of photographs that I'm insisting you have. It's a starting point that saves you having to think of everything from scratch. The sheet itself asks couples to cross out anything they don't want and add anything I've missed that is important to them.
Every wedding is different because every family is different. There's no reason for me to photograph a particular combination simply because it's considered a traditional wedding photograph if that combination has absolutely no relevance to you.
I ask for the completed sheet back at our final wedding meeting, and that's when it becomes particularly useful. We can go through what you've chosen, I can understand who the important people are and we can iron out anything that might otherwise cause confusion on the wedding day.
It also tells me something much more important than simply who needs to stand in which photograph.
Understanding your family before your wedding
Families can be complicated. That's just life, and after photographing weddings for as long as I have, I'd never assume that every couple has two parents who are still together, four grandparents attending and one perfectly straightforward family tree.
Parents may have separated years ago and both now have new partners. You might still have a perfectly good relationship with both of them and want a photograph with your Mum and Dad together, despite them no longer being a couple. Alternatively, you might prefer a photograph with Mum and her partner followed by a completely separate photograph with Dad and his partner.
Neither option is right or wrong. They're your family photographs.
Sadly, there are also occasions when a parent or grandparent has passed away. There can be difficult family relationships or relatives who don't speak to one another. There might be a step-parent who's played an enormous part in your life and who you naturally consider one of your parents.
Those are things I'd much rather understand during our conversations before the wedding than discover while I'm standing in front of fifty guests.
Apart from helping me organise everything, it prevents me from accidentally putting somebody in an uncomfortable position or asking an upsetting question. The last thing I want to do is stand there calling for Dad only to discover in front of everybody that Dad sadly isn't with us anymore.
My wedding information sheet asks for the names of important members of the wedding party, including parents, the best man and bridesmaids, which also helps me start putting names to people before the day.
It's a relatively small amount of preparation, but it can make an enormous difference.
Why I usually take group photographs immediately after the ceremony
Wherever the wedding and location allow it, I usually prefer to get the main family and wedding guest photographs done straight after the ceremony.
There's no complicated photographic theory behind that decision. It's simply the point in the day when I've got the best chance of everybody still being in roughly the same place.
Once people have had time to disperse, everything gets harder. Somebody goes to the toilet, somebody else goes to the bar, another guest heads back to their hotel room and somebody has wandered off because they've spotted somebody they haven't seen for ten years and started chatting.
Suddenly the photograph itself takes thirty seconds but finding the people needed for it takes ten minutes.
Straight after the ceremony everybody is already gathered together, so it makes far more sense to use that opportunity. We can get the organised part of the photography finished while everyone is there and then people are free to get on with enjoying themselves.
That's also better for me because once the groups are finished, I can get back to photographing the wedding naturally. I'd much rather capture your guests laughing, talking, drinking and enjoying the reception than repeatedly interrupt them because we're still trying to finish family photographs two hours later.
The guests can make an enormous difference
This is the part I can't completely organise beforehand.
However prepared I am, the speed of your wedding group photographs still relies heavily on your guests actually listening and working with me for a few minutes.
If I know exactly which photograph we're doing next and everybody needed for it is standing nearby, things move incredibly quickly. I can photograph one group, make whatever adjustment is needed, move onto the next combination and keep working through them without the whole thing feeling rushed.
The problems start when somebody who's needed for the next photograph decides that's precisely the moment they fancy a trip to the bar or toilet.
Then everything stops.
It isn't just me waiting either. The couple are standing there waiting, the family members already in position are waiting and potentially the people needed for the photographs afterwards are waiting too.
That's one of the biggest reasons there's such a huge difference between my ten-minute record and the wedding where the group photographs took almost three hours.
Of course, the number of photographs requested plays a part. Ten groups will naturally take less time than thirty. But organisation and cooperation make an incredible difference.
If everybody gives me their attention for a short period of time, we can get through the photographs, get them done properly and then I'll happily release everyone to the bar.
The list doesn't mean we can't change anything
Having a wedding group photo list doesn't mean I'm going to stand there clutching it for dear life and refuse to photograph anything that isn't written down.
Weddings don't work like that.
If somebody turns up unexpectedly who is particularly important to you and you suddenly realise you'd love a photograph together, tell me and we'll take it. If something changes on the day, we'll adapt. If you suddenly think of a photograph that genuinely means something to you, I'm hardly going to tell you that you missed the paperwork deadline. 😂
The purpose of the list isn't to restrict what I photograph. It's simply to give the organised part of the day some structure.
There's a massive difference between adding one spontaneous photograph and trying to invent an entire family wedding photography list while sixty people are standing around waiting.
The more we've sorted beforehand, the less organising we need to do on the wedding day itself.
Natural wedding photography still needs a little organisation
I think there's sometimes a misconception that documentary or natural wedding photography means the photographer should never interfere with anything.
That's not how I work.
For the majority of a wedding I want to let things happen. I'm looking for expressions, reactions, laughter and all those little interactions that nobody has organised. That's a huge part of what I love about photographing weddings.
But there are also moments when my job is to take control.
Wedding group photographs are one of those moments. Rather than awkwardly hoping twenty people somehow arrange themselves into a photograph, I'll organise it, make sure everybody is positioned properly, take the photographs and keep things moving.
Then I'll disappear back into the background again.
For me, that's the balance.
I want you to have the traditional family photographs that could become incredibly important to you in years to come, but I also want you to have photographs showing what your wedding actually felt like. Those two things don't compete with one another. A good wedding gallery should contain both.
Making your wedding group photographs about your family
Ultimately, the generic photo sheet I give my couples isn't really about creating a perfect wedding photography shot list. It's about making sure I understand your family and what's important to you before I arrive.
That's why I don't simply turn up at every wedding and photograph exactly the same combinations.
Your parents may be separated. Your step-parent might be one of the most important people in your life. You might have three generations of your family together for the first time in years. Your closest friends might feel more like family than some of your relatives.
That's what your completed sheet helps me understand.
Once we've discussed it at the final wedding meeting, I've got a plan. On the wedding day we can get everybody together, work through the photographs efficiently and hopefully avoid spending the next three hours trying to find somebody who's vanished to the toilet.
Because although I genuinely believe wedding family photographs matter, I don't believe you should spend your wedding day standing around having them taken.
Get the important photographs.
Get them right.
Then get everybody back to enjoying the wedding.
And if we can get anywhere near my ten-minute record, even better. 😂
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