Thursday, March 10, 2016

3 Tips for Fast Family Formals after the Ceremony | Arizona Wedding Photographer



Well this week’s wedding Wednesday is getting moved to Thursday! After a wedding, a styled shoot, and an engagement session, when Tuesday night came, I fell asleep on the couch...vertically! I was that tired! I guess my body was trying to tell me to slow down a bit, haha. It’s not the end of the world if I get my Wednesday post up on Thrusday right?

Well, I’m excited about the topic this week! This one goes out to photographers as well as brides!

One of the most intimidating parts of the wedding day, at least for the photographer, is the family formals. It usually comes right after the ceremony (which, by the way, is also pretty intense for the photographer) and there are usually many, many people, though very excited for the couple,  ready to go and do their own things for a bit. Sometimes getting people to stick around for pictures (and being happy about it) is like pulling teeth. Okay, maybe not that bad…..(and I should probably not reference that as a bad thing since my husband will be a dentist someday....sorry Jake :))

All that being said, I want to share a couple of my favorite tips for making this part of the wedding day run smoothly.

1.   Have the bride make a list of 10 shots that mean the most to her and her fiance for the wedding day and email them to you beforehand. For example: Bride and Groom with bride’s family, Bride and Groom with groom’s family, B&G with parents, B&G with siblings, etc. Having this pre-established list all printed out for the wedding day (don't forget it!) speeds up the process so much! I can get the family portraits done, usually in less than half an hour! Sometimes even 10 or 15 minutes, depending on how lively the group is. I’ll usually have my second photographer yelling out the next combination and getting them ready while I’m taking a picture of the group just before them.

2. One other trick I like to tell my brides beforehand, is to pick a person to help the photographers gather people. My two main qualifiers for this person are that they 1. Know pretty much everyone and 2. Try to pick someone who is kind of loud and out there--someone who isn't afraid to boss people around, shout, and get people moving! Don't stress if no one comes to mind. Tip number 1 is the most important!

3. Last but not least, don’t be afraid to limit these post ceremony pictures to 10 groupings. That’s usually plenty. Once you’ve done that allotted amount, assess your time. You’ll almost always get asked for more groupings. If you think you’re running out of sunset portrait time for your bride and groom, then just simply tell whoever is requesting a certain shot to grab you at the reception for it. There's always plenty of time there for those shots! (Obviously, go with what feels right and works for the schedule and timeline though!).

There you have it! 3 tips on how to make that part of the day run as smoothly and quickly as possible. Sounds so simple, but makes a world of a difference in making it go quick, not forgetting shots, and keeping the guests and family happy!


Happy Wedding Thursday everyone!!

xoxo,



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