To get straight to it, this is the wedding photography checklist I suggest to the bride and groom. There are Word and pdf downloads at the bottom of the article as well if you want to edit it yourself.
1. Bride and groom on their own, then with:
2. Bride’s extended family
3. Bride’s parents and siblings (and other immediate family if present)
4. Bride’s parents
5. Bride’s and groom’s parents together
6. Groom’s parents
7. Groom’s parents and siblings (and other immediate family if present)
8. Groom’s extended family
9. Bridesmaids
10. Groomsmen
11. Bridesmaids and groomsmen
12. Everyone
Sometimes the extended family or shot of everyone isn’t included, sometimes one or two additional shots are added.
Haven’t I missed a few?
Fair enough, this definitely isn’t a full list of the shots I’m going to take, but is rather a key list of the must have group shots, which again will almost always be modified somewhat to suit the wedding party.
This contrasts with the huge wedding photography checklist that you might find printed in magazines by ‘experts’ that lists perhaps 50 group shots, and 100s of required shots in total.
I’ve been handed these lists at wedding consultations by a couple who are rightly concerned that the key photographs are taken. If the photographer is experienced though, they will make sure all the key shots – the ‘wedding classics’ – are included. For those new to the profession, I will provide a full wedding photo list on this site as a reference guide.
But I’ve found that agreeing and setting in stone a large list tends to backfire. In the end you to get far fewer shots as the photographer is concentrating on ticking off from a checklist and at the same time some great opportunities for candid images are missed. You also find that the photographer tends to have to boss the guests around too much trying to get these shots set up.
I think it’s much better to decide on a small list of group photos, perhaps agree on a handful of other must haves, then trust the photographer to get the classic walking down the aisle type shots, and so leave them with lots of time to capture all the lovely moments of the day as it unfolds.
Avoiding a long and painful group shoot
10 up to about 15 group shots maximum works great so using something like the list above as a starting point for discussions is ideal. This element of the day shouldn’t last longer than 30 minutes as a result which stops the weddings party and guests getting bored and impatient to get away.
On the contrary, I find that if this is done fairly quickly, everyone loves getting together in the family poses, with families and friends coming together en masse possibly for the only time on the day. And if there are no long waits between groups, everyone really enjoys it and the photos reflect that.
Have fun!
I’ve listed the groups in a way that allow them to be set up easily and that allows the photographer to move on to the next shot quickly. For example, I’ve started with the whole of the bride’s family, gradually taken people away, then added the groom parents, siblings and so on up to the extended family shot again.
I’ve put a single shot with the bride and groom first but this will more likely be a whole shoot with them. It often works best to do those shots first, especially if guests are taking their time to arrive from the church, check-in, get a drink and so on. By the time their turn comes round, they’re ready.
Alternatively, if the whole day is taking part in one location, it is sometimes nice to get the groups done straight away, as it is easier to be more flexible with the length of time taken for the bride and groom photos.
It’s also a great idea if you can enlist the help of the groomsmen to pull the right people together, and it just feels nicer if a member of the wedding party is doing it rather than the photographer. Hey, those ushers need a few duties to perform after all. In advance, I agree with the bride and groom who will give me a hand, and brief them quickly on the day. If things don’t seem to be running smoothly – best man lost in the bar area or whatever – I quickly step in and round people up myself.
With the order I’ve shown in the wedding photo checklist above, calling the guests should be that much easier. Just ask for the best man or usher to call over all of the bride’s family, and as you’re photographing groups 2-4, ask for all of the groom’s family to congregate close by so you can go straight in to those, so numbers 5-8 are in the bag. Then another call for all the bridesmaids and groomsmen for shots 9-11. These are the guys who can really help with the final shot of everyone, finding people who may have gone astray for example. Doing it this way rather than calling each group in turn really saves time.
Informal groups
It’s down to the photographer’s style as to what’s formal or not, but by informal groups I mean I also suggest that the bride and groom lists other ‘informal’ groups of people they’d like me to get shots of. These might include a shot of a dad with all his brother and sisters, the bride and her best friend, perhaps an auntie and uncle with their children, whatever they want.
I make sure I get these shots spread across the day, in different locations with different lighting, and composed in different ways. I find this works really well – it helps to keep the number of formal group shots down and it adds much more variety into the overall coverage. It also means that rather than me spending an hour or two during the drinks reception stage-managing everything, my interaction with the guests is broken into smaller more manageable chunks, again making it more enjoyable for them.
Who’s who – a very informal list
Before the day, I will also have received a list of names of all the key wedding party members. I make my own list of groups and some individual portraits from this and do as many as feels right on the day and that time permits. So, I might get the bride and her mum, then her with dad, then all three, then with her sister or brother, and same for the groom, also shots of bridesmaids and groomsmen with their partners, any children with their parents and so on.
The list is pretty much endless but with a bit of planning you will get so many more photographs that are extremely valuable not only to the bride and groom but to many of the guests too. This works well commercially for the photographer but also will provide enormous benefit to the client.
All in all, keeping the size of the wedding photos checklist to a minimum, but still finding ways to capture the other important shots in different ways has helped improve the finished product enormously for me.
I get much more time to shoot what I see during the drinks reception in particular, when everybody is really buzzing, meeting up for the first time in ages, and of course congratulating the married couple for the first time too. Why get in the way?
Candid shots during the formals
During a drinks reception, people naturally form little circles of conversation with everyone facing inwards so shooting candidly in and around the formal groups can provide an opportunity to get people facing roughly in the same direction, and of course lots of the people who are important members of the wedding party.
When the formal groups are in full swing, if you’ve got a second or two as people come together, get some shots of smaller elements of a group. For example, a nice moment between the bride and her new father-in-law, or the groom and his siblings joking.
Immediately after a group shot is done, people often tend to relax a little bit and make a joke or two so keep your camera ready, and maybe switch to a longer lens for a close up. Watch out for any fun or teasing that is happening spontaneously, comment on it if you want, and you’ll normally just increase the laughter and get more great shots.
Another nice technique is to watch out for people setting up their own impromptu groups shots. I always do my best to get over to them as fast as I can, sometimes getting a shot slightly from the side as they look at another camera, sometimes asking them to look at me afterwards. Often, one of the friends or family members is taking a shot of all the rest, so it’s nice to offer that they get in the shot too to capture them all. Again, another option is just to shoot small elements of the group as it looks at another camera. The image you get doesn’t really look like a group shot at all, rather one, two or three people laughing and smiling together.
Questions and comments
If you have any questions, comments or queries, please leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Downloads:
Wedding photography checklist pdf
Wedding photography checklist Word
