Planning for Family Formals

One of the moments in the day that can be here and gone before you know it is the Family Formals. There are many ways to approach it, but here is what I have seen to be the most cost effective on your time so you aren’t adding time to have the reception covered.

1. Make a list
   • I have a checklist that I send to my clients about 2 months before the wedding and then go over when we discuss the final details 2-4 weeks before. This list includes : Maternal & Paternal Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, In-Laws, Nieces & Nephews for both the Bride’s side & the Groom’s side and of course the wedding party.
2. Do all of the pictures AFTER the ceremony
   • This is pretty much a non-negotiable for me. I absolutely don’t agree with splitting up the formals for 2 reasons. First, you will be guaranteed everyone will be there and not later. Second, we can do all of your groupings at the altar in 30 minutes, splitting the formals up (and not doing a first look) will result in adding an hour before the ceremony. That’s a little much.
3. Consider each photo of up to 10 people can take up 2 minutes each and 10+ people can take up to 5 minutes each
   • This is mostly if no one is paying attention and unless you have a “sit in the pew and don’t talk” policy, people are going to talk about how excited they are, how amazing the Bride looks, etc. The most organized of Bride’s can have chaos at the family formals for this simple reason.
4. Tell everyone that is in the pictures to stay
   • More and more, I see Grandparents leaving or even the in-laws, thinking they are not part of that moment in the day.
5. Relax
   • Well, this goes without saying. I’m a stickler for trying to keep my Bride’s relaxed but the formals can be stressful when you are on a time crunch and no one in listening. I would even recommend explaining to everyone involved that they need to be ready to go because we are on a time crunch.
6. Make a rule to not have anyone else take pictures.
   • We give our Bride & Grooms access to download the digital files and encourage them to share with their family members and guests. This isn’t something every photographer does, but having someone else “need” to have a copy of their own image is going to waste time that we don’t have and is redundant, in my opinion. It will also be very difficult for everyone in the photo to know which camera to look at. You’d think they wouldn’t have a problem, but there are always 30% of the eyeballs somewhere else.

Here is the list that I am currently sending out for family formals. If there are in-laws, I add them when their spouses are in the picture and if the Groom/Bride is pulled out for a photo, so are they. The assumption would be that the Bride & Groom stay at the altar at all time, unless specific otherwise.

• Bride’s Maternal Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Bride’s Paternal Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Bride’s Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
•             – Remove the Groom, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews (This will just be Bride with Parents & Siblings)
• Bride’s Parents (This will just be Bride & Parents)
•             – Remove the Groom, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Bride’s Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews (This will just be Bride & Siblings)
•             – Remove the Groom, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Groom’s Maternal Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Groom’s Paternal Grandparents, Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Groom’s Parents, Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews (This will just be Groom with Parents & Siblings)
•             – Remove the Bride, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Groom’s Parents (This will just be Groom & Parents)
•             – Remove the Bride, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Groom’s Siblings, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews (This will just be Groom & Siblings)
•             – Remove the Bride, In-laws, Nieces/Nephews
• Wedding Party, Flower Girl, Ring Bearer
• Ring Bearer, Flower Girl
• Wedding Party
• Alone
• Bride Alone
• Groom Alone