One of the only things you will have to provide me with prior to your wedding is a list of the portrait combinations you want for your formal portrait session. I'll typically ask for this along with a loose itinerary of your wedding day about 2 to 4 weeks out from your wedding. Here are some tips on organizing your formal wedding portrait session prior to the day so we can get through the process as quickly, efficiently and stress-free as possible.
1. Decide if you want formal portraits.
Even though I am primarily a documentary-style photographer and I specialize in found, candid moments, most of my clients want at least a few portraits for historical purposes. This list can be as long or short as you would like. I always keep in mind these are your wedding pictures—not mine—and I will do pretty much whatever you want to make you happy.
2. Decide how much time you'd like to dedicate to doing portraits.
Once you've decided you'd like formal portraits, you'll need to allocate enough time for the amount of portraits you want. I always ask for a customized list from the client of the people combinations because I have no idea what your individual family dynamic is. For instance, if your parents went through an ugly divorce and aren't on speaking terms, I wouldn't want to force them to pose arm and arm.
There's no need to give me a list from a Martha Stewart article on the standard groupings. I know what is typically done. I just need to know what is going to work for you.
Once you have figured out the different groupings, allocate 3 minutes per grouping and that will give you a realistic estimate of the amount of time it will take you to do them all. If your list starts to get a little long, consider consolidating people into larger group shots.
If you would like to do some portraits of just the two of you—which I strongly suggest—add 15 minutes to the end of your total time so we can go off by ourselves.
3. Prioritize your portrait list.
I highly recommend ordering your list so the most important shots you want are done first. This way, if we are running short on time for some reason, we know we at least have the most vital shots in the can and we can try to work the rest in later at the reception.
Consider the needs of the people being photographed. If you have a grandmother who has trouble walking or standing, let's do her first so she can go sit down. If they have severe mobility issues, we might even have to do those images in a different location. For instance, if we are doing beach shots, I wouldn't want them to take a fall walking across sand, rocks or down a steep flight of stairs.
If you have squirrely, hyper kids (I've got two) who you need to photograph before they run around and get dirty, let's get them done as well. Once a kid gets tired and decides they are done, they are pretty much done. Even if we can get them to calm down and pose, it's not going to look good in the photos if their eyes are red from crying.
If you have a large group that is just waiting around to be in one photo, let's get them out of the way.
For the bridal party shots, I like to do the full group first, then start pairing it down. It's usually easier to subtract bodies than it is to add them into a shot.
As people are done, you can dismiss them to the cocktail reception, or whatever you have planned after the ceremony. That way, they aren't waiting around for no reason.
4. Delegate a people wrangler to help me.
Keep in mind this will be the first time I've met everybody, so it is tough for me to match names up with faces. This is where the people wrangler really makes a difference. This should be a mature, responsible person who knows everybody on your list. It should be somebody people will listen to. I have a policy of not ordering your guests around. I'm not that kind of photographer. I'll let you and your wrangler handle that.
The problem is, at weddings people are really excited. Many of the people might be seeing others for the first time in many years. They tend to get chatty, wander off for drinks, go to the bathroom and in general aren't paying attention. If you can have a person rounding up one group while I'm shooting a group, it makes all the difference in the world.
Clients sometimes scratch their heads over the 3 minutes per grouping number, but this is typically why I say it takes that long. It is highly predictable that at some point, we will be waiting around for one or two people who went to the reception before being photographed (or they thought they were done) and the whole process comes to a screeching halt. I don't blame them. It's human nature, but with a helper we can typically speed up the process dramatically by keeping that from happening.
If you're the bride, don't be afraid to stare daggers at uncooperative guests. It works! You're the boss. Everybody will listen to you. Not so much some photography guy they've never met. Guests always take direction from the bride and groom without question. Feel free to use those powers for good! :-)
5. Dismiss your guests before we do the couple portraits.
There are several reason for this. One, people are a lot more patient when they have drink in their hand and aren't standing around in the sun waiting to be done.
Two, it's hard to feel romantic and be posed romantically when you've got Mom and Grandma watching you.
Three, it's highly distracting for people to be shooting over my shoulder and shouting out ideas. I've had guests get so close to me to shoot a picture over my shoulder with their phone that when I've gone to stand up, I've tripped and fallen down with $5,000 in camera gear in my hand. Also, when there are two cameras, nobody seems to look at the same camera. You are going to have people in the photos look like they have a lazy eye if they are looking even one foot over in a different direction. It will be highly noticeable in your images, and I can promise you my image is going to be better than the one taken with the iPhone over my shoulder.
Fourth, it's going to give you both a chance to breathe and decompress before you a fed to the wolves. There is a tradition at Jewish weddings where the couple goes off for 20 minutes by themselves to eat something and have a drink before they go to the reception. This was a big moment you both just experienced. Give yourself 15 minutes to drink it in and cherish it. Let the moment sink in. I can tell you from experience, this part of the day is often one of the favorites of my clients based on feedback from them.
After that, you did it! The hardest part of the day is over and it's time to party! I'll typically run up and get the DJ or whomever will be announcing you (if you plan on being announced), and then them know you are ready to go.
There are some clients who are interested in doing formal portraits prior to the wedding. That is totally fine, but I would strongly suggest you read a previous blog post I have written about things to consider if you want to do your formal portraits prior to the wedding.
Again, I am here to make you happy, so I will do whatever you would like. However, as a professional I try to give you as much of a heads up as to how things typically go down as I can.
Happy wedding planning!
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