Group Photos Don’t Have to be Painful

Let’s be honest, the group photos are probably the least favourite part of any wedding day. Take it from me, I’m the guy who gets the look of despair when I start the chat with the guests about the dreaded group shots! But fear not, I’m gonna let you into my secret of how I do my group shots.

Firstly, how much time is there between the ceremony and the wedding breakfast/receiving line? The majority of the time there is roughly an hour and a half. For me this is more than enough time to get the group photos, couple shots and let the couple enjoy around 30 minutes of their drinks reception. 

There’s a couple of ways that you can approach the group photos, you can be fully organised and write a list or you can chose on the day. If you’re being organised, when you are choosing how many group shots you’d like write them in order of priority.

When organising the group shots I try my best to leave the bride and groom in position and role call the relevant guests. Sometimes I’m lucky to get an awesome usher to help me out or a bridesmaid with a big gob, either way, as the photographer you must take control. The only thing that needs to slow you down is how the kids are behaving, try and rush a 3 year old who’s just hit up the sweet cart then you’re fighting a losing battle. Here’s a tip for the parents of said 3 year old, keep your eyes on the camera, don’t worry if your child is looking, then when the split second of the kid looking happens, everyone is looking. Far more often than not, it’s the parent thats not looking. When all else fails, PHOTOSHOP!!

Good News! Group Photos Don’t Have to be Boring!

Ok, the chance of you persuading grandma to ‘vogue’ for a group shot is slim to none. But you can persuade your bridal squad or groomsmen to get an awesome ‘out of the box’ style group shot. A photo that can reflect your characters, your personalities and your fun side. Speak with your photographer about this, it can take a little more time but when it’s well organised and properly executed it shouldn’t take any longer than a few minutes

Essential Group Photos

Quite often couples ask me to just shoot ‘the essentials’ when it comes to group shots, therefore getting more time to document the day as it happens naturally. So these are the group photos that I take when asked for ‘essentials’

Everyone at the ceremony

Brides side of the family

Grooms side of the family

Friends of Bride and Groom

Parent’s of Bride and Groom

Groomsmen

Bridesmaids

Bride and Father (or whoever gave Bride away)

Groom and Best man

That’s it, there’s only 9 photos, but it covers everyone. Granted a lot of couples want more group photos but this set covers all bases