You are probably wondering what I mean when I say the Bride and Groom Information Sheet…. Well, guess what… its just that! This is a document I send out to you about one month before the wedding day asking you “all the things” that will help your wedding day run smoothly from a photography perspective! I ask things like location starting address, to ceremony and reception addresses, important phone numbers, list of important details, I want to know if there are any family situations I should be aware of, specific rules and regulations I need to know for ceremony and reception locations, and more! All of these things are so important for a photographer to know so that we can do our best and prepare ahead of time.
One thing I wanted to talk about today are the family formals section of my bride and groom information sheet. Some of the most important photographs on the wedding day are your family formals! I want to make sure that I am able to capture all of your family groupings in a timely manner to fit with your timeline. While all of my questions are very important, this helps you to see how to break down your family groupings so this portion of the day can go by fast, and you can get back to your party.
Here is what I ask for Family Formals-
FAMILY FORMALS: Family formals do not have to take over 20 minutes. However, this is only possible if we are organized beforehand! Please list ten different groupings for family photos.
For example:
1. Bride and groom with parents.
2. Bride and Groom with grandparents.
3. Bride and Groom with siblings.
Within these groupings, you can have more than one shot (ex. B&G with Grooms parents, B&G with Brides Parents, (etc.) If you have a very large family and more than 10 group photos, I suggest saving some of the extended family shots until the reception so that family portrait time will not interfere with your romantic portraits and you will not keep your guests waiting at the reception.
Please inform me of any family members that may not get along and/or may not want to be grouped with a certain other family members so that we can avoid and awkward interactions during family formals. Thank you!!
Please list 10 Family Groupings for Family Portraits: (Please include names so that I can call family members by their first name as we organize the portraits) EX: B&G with Bride’s Parents (Kevin & Brenda) ALSO, please specify if there are STEP PARENTS and STEP SIBLINGS involved in portraits.
So the reason I ask for groupings of 10 is so that we do not go over in time and you still get your romantic bride and groom portraits together. If there are BIG groups, we can save those for the reception and sometimes its helps to have the DJ or band call out the group to come to the dance floor. Again, we talk about this in our meeting and it will all work out perfectly.
