Unless you and your fiancé ran off alone to tie the knot it’s likely your wedding pictures don’t just feature a bride and groom. At least it shouldn’t. To achieve a well-balanced wedding photo album you want to find the right mix between candid shots of the bride and groom, formal shots of the entire wedding party and intimate moments like the mother of the bride’s reaction to seeing her little girl walking down the aisle in her wedding gown.
Formal Shots. What bride doesn’t want formal photos of her closest friends and family decked out in their finest? While you don’t want to line your album exclusively with stuffy shots, it is essential to get some basic formal shots for archival purposes. Professional wedding photographers suggest setting aside about 30 minutes to take formal pictures. Among the must snap shot combos: the bride and groom alone, followed by the couple with their attendants, the couple with their parents, the couple with the bride’s immediate family, and the couple with the groom’s immediate family. If you want shots of other groupings add them to your list, though to keep your photo subjects fresh you should try to keep your picture taking session as short as possible (especially if your wedding party includes young children).
Timing Is Everything. To maximize the time you have at a given locale (e.g. the church or park) you might consider hiring a second photographer to shoot behind-the-scenes pictures while the other photographer is shooting formal shots. These photo outtakes gathered while people wait for their turn in the formal shots will add another dimension to your album. For example, grandpa piggy backing the flower girl or the bridesmaids huddled around the bride inspecting her ring.
Keep ‘Em Smiling. My girlfriends and I talk about this topic often: Why is it that women are considered bridezillas during picture taking sessions if they have to scream to get everyone to be quiet and smile nicely? Time is money. The longer it takes for adults to act their age and participate appropriately the longer the photo session is going to take. It’s not like members of a wedding party don’t know what’s in store when they sign up as an attendant. But, it seems like there are always one or two members who make life more difficult on the photographer and the entire wedding party pays for it. One trick to getting subjects to laugh is to have a jovial wedding guest just out of camera range. If there’s a comedian in your group, put him or her to good use. When everyone’s laughing and reacting to something humorous, it creates a more natural feeling to the pictures.
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