Hey, let’s talk about family formals. No matter what type of wedding you’re having, family formals will likely be a part of it. It’s important that we know everyone who needs to be a part of these images. So who gets photos and who doesn’t? Well, we suggest keeping your groupings to around 10-12 per side. Why? Because these photos take a lot longer than you’d think. Fortunately for you, we’ve done this enough times to know how to keep things rolling. You may be wondering, what about my uncle and aunt on my mom’s side that I want photos with? Save them for the reception! There will be a lot of time for you to be with all of your guests during your reception and you can pull us aside at ANY moment during the day to get whatever photos you’d like.
We will send this to you and ask for names in your wedding day questionnaire (can be found in your client portal), but if you’d like to plan ahead, here is the combination list we like to stick to.
Bride’s Side
- Bride + Mother
- Bride + Father
- Bride + Parents
- Bride & Groom + Parents
- Bride & Groom + Parents + Siblings
- Bride & Groom + Parents + Siblings’ Families
- Bride & Groom + Grandparents
- Bride & Groom + Both sets of Parents
Groom’s Side
- Groom + Mother
- Groom + Father
- Groom + Parents
- Bride & Groom + Parents
- Bride & Groom + Parents + Siblings
- Bride & Groom + Parents + Siblings’ Families
- Bride & Groom + Grandparents
Some ways we make this part go smoothly:
We’ll ask you to designate one person from your bridal party/family (siblings work best) to wrangle your family members and make sure everyone is accounted for.
We ask that you tell your immediate family or anyone who will be getting photos taken during this time to before the wedding so they know to stick around immediately after the ceremony. It’s never a good time taking pop away from the potstickers.
We take care of calling out names so that you don’t have to. The reason we ask for names ahead of time is because we’ll print out this sheet and use it on your day to help facilitate who’s going where and when.
We are so excited for your wedding and hope these posts give you some peace of mind! We got this.
Until next time,
Emily
