As a wedding photographer, the hardest part of my day is getting people together for formal photographs. My goal is to get it done as quickly as possible which is why I do some planning ahead of the event as far as timeline and lighting and I use a formal shot list.
Traditional formal photographs have always been taken during cocktail hour. The problem is we generally start with family formals and then go on to taking photographs of the bride and groom. Many times I find family members would rather be at cocktail hour then taking photographs. So a lot of time is wasted trying to track down family members in the area where cocktail hour is happening which leaves me only a little time with the bride and groom.
What I’ve started to do with my couples is to do a first look and the photos of the couple and finally family formals all before the ceremony. Which leaves us with lots of options as far as the timeline.
Option 1 – If timing runs on schedule the brides is ready, we do the first look, formals of the couple and family formal. Ceremony starts and the couple is free to enjoy their cocktail hour and I do mostly candids for the rest of the evening.
Option 2 – If the bride runs a little late getting ready, we do the first look and then just family formals. During the ceremony, we can do photos of the new couple and hopefully the couple can catch the last part of their cocktail hour.
When you do the formals before the ceremony you don’t have to deal with the distraction of cocktail hour, and couples get the opportunity to go to their cocktail hour. It also helps with the flow of the day.
The reason I do a formal shot list is because it gets my couples thinking about who they want to get photos with before their wedding day, so we’re not left trying to do it on-the-fly the day of. Also, it organizes the all the shots. In general, I start with members of the family that are handy-capped, then I go to the photos that have the biggest group or those who are present. Then I narrow the groups down and check of all the photos that the bride requested.
Many photographers don’t even bother with a formal shot list because they don’t want the liability. I beg my clients to fill it out, it saves us so much stress the day of. Many times my brides don’t want to fill it out and they end up not getting all the people in the formals that they want. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sent the shot list to a bride, they don’t fill it out and after the event, they make a comment about how they wished they got a photo with so and so. As a photographer who works so hard to make my clients over joyed and happy it really bums me out but it not my fault.