Wedding Family Portraits: Who to Include and How to Stay Efficient
Wedding family photos are simultaneously some of the most important photos taken, and the most dreaded time on a wedding day. These formal family portraits are pretty darn important as they capture a moment in time for you and your family members you’ll never get back. They also, however, take up time during your day, and, let’s face it, have the capacity to take away from your overall experience if not done right. Whether you're planning to snap group photos before or after the ceremony, work with your photographer to come up with a straightforward shot list of every family wedding photo and wedding party photo grouping you'd like taken.
Who Is Usually in Family Wedding Photos?
When it comes to who to include in family wedding photos, keep it to your nearest and dearest. Focus on immediate family, which includes parents, siblings and grandparents and significant others of those members, when it's applicable. If extended family, like aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. is important to you and your family, consider having a big group photo with each side immediately after the ceremony.
Almost as important as who's included in your family wedding photos are those people you'd prefer not to include. It's best to have a discussion with your wedding photographer before the actual day about people you don't want included—like siblings' new significant others or distant relatives—so you don't get held up during the session. This will maximize your photo sessions.
Tips for an Efficient Photo Session
To make the wedding family photo experience painless and hyper efficient, consider these tips when compiling your own list:
- Keep it simple. Seriously! There really is no need to have every possible combination of humans in formal portraits.
- Keep it to the most important people, and consider taking less formal portraits with other extended family members or friends at another point during your day.
- Consider how much time you actually want to spend taking formal, posed photos on your wedding day vs. how much time you want to spend relaxing, taking a moment to hang back with your person, or socializing with your guests.
- Make sure you take individuals with each grandparent. These are so special and worth making time for!
- Once you’ve made your list, notify everyone on it that they’ll be a part of your family photos, and let them know when and where they’ll need to be to take them.
- It also may help to have them stay away from the bar until after photos have been completed. This will make it much easier to wrangle people.
Traditional Family Wedding Photo Groupings
Use this handy list as a jumping off point for your shoot. You can use these traditional groupings to plan your own wedding photos:
| Category | Shot List Groupings |
|---|---|
| Bride’s Family |
|
| Groom’s Family |
|
| Both Families |
|
Wedding Party Groupings
Now that you've taken care of the family wedding pictures, you'll want to capture your wedding party—bridesmaids, groomsmen, and young attendants. Here are common wedding party groupings:
- Couple with Partner One's wedding party
- Couple with Partner Two's wedding party
- Couple with the entire wedding party
- Couple with flower girl and ring bearer
- Partner One with their wedding party
- Partner Two with their wedding party
Additional Considerations
If there is a special person in your life who isn’t family, but is important enough to include in this formal portrait time, definitely include them too! For a fun shot of the groom, grab a grandfather, father of the groom, and the groom himself for a “generational shot”. Remember, cooperation and efficiency are key to ensure photo sessions don't take time away from other important parts of the day.