Guide to Taking Family Photos at Your Wedding

Wedding day is one of the few days when all your family members are all together in one place and you can enjoy their company during the whole celebration. What is more, this day gives you a great opportunity to take pictures with the family and please make sure  these photos will be framed or even looked through quite often. Don’t forget to print some photos for your grandparents because they may not be comfortable with the web format. Frankly speaking, such printed photos of their beloved grandchild will be the greatest present of all time. Although, even starting your wedding day rather early, don’t think you have too much free time to take tons of pictures. Actually, this day will be so full of details that it’ll be a nice decision to have a wedding planner or just a close person who will help you coordinate all the stages of the wedding and keep the celebration going according to the planned schedule.

Focus on The VIPs

Be sure that your wedding photographer, even if working alone, will try to capture as many meaningful and emotional moments as possible because exactly those candid pictures with your dearest relatives are worth everything. You see, the wedding day is a great celebration not only for the newlyweds, but also for their moms and dads, their siblings and grandparents. These people will enjoy such moments together with the couple sharing every happy tear and tender smile, and your wedding photographer will fix all the stages of your day, from the father’s opening speech to the sister’s toast. The best photo ever will be taken when all the family members are gathered together with the marrying couple in the center. But anyway, there are lots of types and ways to get nice pictures, some of them are here:

Taking the classic pictures

They are really necessary despite being simple and traditional with the direct look at the camera and a light smile. Usually the newlyweds pose in the center and their family stands around them.

Pictures during morning preparations

The bride’s morning is an incredibly tender and beautiful moment for any wedding photographer to take the best pictures. On this day, brides are all so stunning even without make-up and hairstyle because they are full of love and pleasant expectation of meeting the groom. The wedding photographer usually comes quite early to capture the bride’s emotions and preparations, takes glamorous pictures of wedding accessories (your wedding invitations, shoes, perfume, jewelry and bouquet), and also to take photos of the bride in her silk gown or trendy cute pajama before she puts on the most beautiful dress that her mom or sister would help zipping up. For the groom the morning preparation is often shorter and it could be the dad or brother helping to put on cufflinks or fix the tie.

Capturing candid moments

Those are taken during the whole day and at every stage of your celebration: the newlyweds' morning, when they are more or less relaxed with the sweet agitation, counting the minutes to see their partner, pre-ceremony father-daughter first look, the breathtaking moment when the groom finally meets his bride, the laughing and crying of the newlyweds at someone’s joke  or the video prepared by friends.

Photographs around the altar

If the ceremony is held in a church, it’ll be a real altar, but for a non-religious ceremony or an outdoor one, usually an elegant arch is designed and constructed in line with your wedding style and concept. Being an exquisite decoration, it always becomes a top place for taking photos.

Parents: Divorced, or Happily Remarried. Inform The Photographer Beforehand

Keeping in mind that the family bonds may be not quite obvious, some wedding photographers send their couples a questionnaire with all the necessary information or just ask them to list parents and close relatives, mentioning their family bonds and adding pictures if possible. It also helps a lot to coordinate in an effective and quick way the post-ceremony shooting. But even in case your wedding photographer doesn’t inquire who are the people he/she should keep an eye on, provide him/her with this information, so you can stay calm during the celebration knowing that everyone gets a professional portrait.

Start the Photo Session before The Event Starts

Despite the post-ceremony shooting, it’s usually not enough time to take various pictures with all the family members due to a big number of guests. However, you can resolve the situation by organizing a pre-ceremony photo session. With the help of the wedding planner or your responsible friend, ask every relative to come at a certain time, let’s say an hour before the ceremony, to take photos for your family photo book. And don’t forget to bring your pets. You’ll really have fun looking through the wedding photos and stumble upon a funny picture with your lovely family pet.