Family/Group photos at the wedding - the hidden time trap

Often when people are thinking about the sort of photos they want on their wedding day the ones that seem the easiest are the ones that occur right after the ceremony. The ones where you line up your family members, smile at the camera, then move on to the next group.

In many ways these photos are the easiest as the are the most formulaic. However there are a few key things to remember.

1) Smiling can get hard
Generally speaking smiling is easy. This is mostly because we tend to do it fairly quickly. However when you're smiling for 20+ minutes straight things can get a bit painful.

2) You will have more than 1 photo with each group
While it seems like a quick thing to get everyone lined up, looking the right way, smiling, and not blinking the task gets infinitely harder as you add more people to a group.

3) Kids follow their own rules
Re-read the previous point. That's hard enough to do with adults who don't want to run off and play somewhere else/aren't ready for a lie down.

4) Sometimes adults follow their own rules too
Of course, some adults will want to run off somewhere else. Some of them will want to go have a lie down. Some of them just won't like photos.


So what can you do to keep this part of your day fun, manageable, and under control?

1) Budget 2-5 minutes per photo
Each photo will require one group to move into position, another group to move out of position, and those in the shot to have a few photos taken. If everything runs really smoothly you can expect this to take 2 minutes per photo. More than likely though people will move slowly and

2) Organise a drill sergeant/people shepherd
Get a list of photos to a friend or family member who knows who all the people are. Their job will be to make sure all the groups are in the right place at the right time. School teachers seem to be particularly good at this.

3) Divide and conquer
You may like to use two people; one per family. If you do this make sure there is a clear leader at each point of the shoot. If they're both trying to be in charge the whole time things can get confused quite quickly.

4) Don't take photos you don't want
As with every other aspect of your wedding it is your wedding. Don't feel like you need to have photos taken that you don't want taken. You are in charge.

5) Small groups are good
Small groups are easier to organise and are less likely to include a blinker.

A list of suggested family photos for your wedding can be found here. The list is not exhaustive nor is it a required baseline. Remember to take only the photos you want to take.