Guides
Wedding family photo guides
Short, practical guides from the people who make the planner. No filler, just what to decide and how.
For couples
6 min read
The best order for wedding family photos
The order matters more than the list. Get it right and twelve groupings take about twenty minutes. Get it wrong and people wander off to the bar.
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5 min read
How long do wedding family photos take?
Most weddings need 20 to 30 minutes for family photos. Whether yours fits depends on three things, and only one of them is how many photos you want.
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6 min read
Wedding family photos with divorced parents
You don’t need to choose between a photo with everyone and a peaceful day. You just need to plan it a little more carefully than other couples do.
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5 min read
Who to include in wedding family photos
The goal isn’t to photograph everyone you’re related to. It’s to make sure nobody you’ll wish you’d photographed gets missed.
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6 min read
The Irish wedding family photo list
Irish weddings have bigger families, longer days and less reliable weather than most guides assume. Here’s a list that works with that.
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5 min read
Wedding photos with a blended family
Blended families need a slightly longer list and a bit more thought about who stands where. The result is usually photos that show your real family, not a tidy template.
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4 min read
Who should round people up for the family photos?
Your photographer doesn’t know who Uncle Joe is. Someone in your family does. That person is the most useful job you can give anyone on the day.
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5 min read
Family photos before the ceremony: worth it?
Doing family photos before the ceremony can give you your whole drinks reception back. It also means seeing each other early. Here’s how to decide.
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4 min read
Family photos with young children at a wedding
Small children have about ten good minutes in them. The trick is spending those minutes on photos, not on waiting.
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4 min read
Wedding photos with grandparents and less mobile relatives
For some families this is the last big photo with a grandparent. A little planning makes sure it’s a good one, and that they’re comfortable getting it.
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7 min read
Wedding family photo list examples
Templates assume a mum, a dad and two siblings each. Most families don’t look like that. Here are six that probably look more like yours.
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4 min read
Remembering someone in your wedding photos
When someone important isn’t there, the family photos can feel like the moment their absence is most obvious. A little planning can make it a moment of remembering instead.
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5 min read
Wedding photos with a very large family
With forty cousins, the instinct is to add more photos. The trick is to take fewer, bigger, better-organised ones.
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4 min read
Family photos at a small wedding
With twenty guests, you can photograph everyone properly. Small weddings get the family photos big weddings can’t.
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How to run family formals without the chaos
Family formals are the least creative part of the day and the part couples remember if it goes wrong. A good system makes them boring in the best way.
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Most questionnaires ask “who do you want in your family photos?” and get back a paragraph. These questions get you a list you can actually shoot from.
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