List of shots for photographer?

This list could be as long as your arm....

What style of photography are you having?

Just a list of formals or everything?

A lot of it depends on your circumstances, party size and what you're looking for from the day. This is the list we've sent our photographer for consideration which probably doesn't help a great deal but certainly the "formal group shots" combinations may give some ideas.

Beforehand

• Shot of a New Forest pony with trees in background if you can (possibly on the way to the venue, many wander between Lyndhurst and hotel) – even better if misty/low sun – this would be used as a ‘background picture’ for something we are planning to do with the photos afterwards
• Shot of outside of hotel (however you may find you can get a better shot in late afternoon with the sun behind it through the trees?)

Pre-ceremony

• Bride getting ready shots? (tba) Perhaps a few shots of make up being done and a shot of bride’s jewellery. Not too fussed with shoe shots although it might be nice if a shot could be orchestrated of the dress and shoes together but not fussed.
• Bridesmaids jewellery
• Ceremony room from rear with groom sitting alone at the front, possibly out of focus? (around 12.45pm before registrars arrive)
• Groom waiting at front
• Groom with Best Man
• Rings
• Bride on stairs at hotel with father (approx 1.10pm, before her interview) – coordinate with video team
• Bride on stairs at hotel with bridesmaids

Ceremony

• Bridal party entrance
• Ring bearer and ‘bouncers’ (at rear of bridal party)
• Signing the register
• First kiss
• Stuart during blessing ceremony
• Views from the rear during ceremony and blessing
• (guest) song
• Bridal party exit
• B&G entrance into the garden
• Confetti shot – coordinate with video team
• Informal shots in garden of guests
• Once the room has been set up, and before formal shots, a couple of shots of the WB room all set up but with nobody in it.
• A place setting
• A table centrepiece

Formal shots across the road

• Big shot of everyone
• B&G, all grooms friends and family
• B&G, all brides friends and family
• B&G, all grooms work colleagues
• B&G, all brides work colleagues (past and present)
• B&G with all those who had some sort of involvement in the day
• B&G and whole bridal party
• B&G with ladies of the bridal party
• B with ladies of the bridal party
• B&G with men of the bridal party
• B&G with bride’s cousins, aunts & uncles
• B&G with groom’s family
• B&G with grooms father
• B&G with grooms mother
• B&G with grooms father and stepmother
• B&G with grooms mother and family
• B&G with all parents
• B&G with ‘natural’ parents
• B&G with brides parents
• B with parents
• B&G with brides siblings and partners
• B&G with brides family
• B&G with Best Man and Maid of Honour
• B&G with flowergirl and ring bearer
• B&G alone, various shots such as sitting on the log

Wedding breakfast

• Top table shot
• Table plan (it’s on a mirror so this might not be easy!)
• Shot of us with each table [4] before going up to the barbecue
• Informal shots
• Sweetie table
• Gift table/postbox

Evening reception

• Cake set up before cutting (I believe this will arrive about 5pm)
• Close in of each person doing speech (Father of Bride, Groom, Bride, Mother of Groom, Best Man) but each shot from different angles for a montage I have in mind.
• Several shots of the room full of people from the back looking towards the top table during my speech (obviously enjoying themselves and laughing hysterically if possible…)
• (guest) doing song?
• Informal shots around each table
• Cake cutting
• First dance

Yeah just need a list of the formal shots but hoping the rest will be casual looking shots as hate having to pose!

Blimey AJ, that is a list and a half!!!

We gave ours a list of about 8 formals that were a must have... the rest we left up to them!

Thanks ajdown, just what i'm looking for! Sadly I can't have the pony as one of my options ?

With divorced/remarried parents, it's extra complicated as we want my actual parents together, plus individually, plus with their respective families so that's six shots there instead of the one you'd normally have.

It's not as bad as it looks really, a lot of it is down to a good list and ushers who are on the ball to herd people in and out of the photographic area swiftly and efficiently. It's also a good idea to group together shots so all the family ones are together, for example.

Our photographer gave us two bits of advice which may help in your planning.

Firstly, do the big "all people" shots first, ending with those of just the bride and groom. That enables people to wander back to the bar or wherever and not have to hang around for perhaps an hour and a half getting bored once they've had their turn in front of the camera.

Secondly, on average allow 5 minutes per shot - obviously bigger ones will take longer (complex group shots can take 15 minutes to set up) but if you average it out, then you won't be too far out in the end.

It's often good to have some 'alone time' in the middle of the day to take stock of quite what's just happened, as it can be a great rush from start to finish if you aren't careful. Often the bride and groom go off with the photographer to take some shots away from the venue - which may only be 5 minutes down the road if there's somewhere with a nice view, somewhere that's meaningful to you or whatever. You can enjoy the time in the car together, and relax and get away from the guests. Don't worry about them "getting bored" - if the bar's open, they'll be happy, or they can go chat to other guests/relatives especially those that they haven't seen for a while.

We're getting married in the New Forest in September, which is full of them. I just thought it might make a nice background shot for the dvd menu or something, particularly as it's not out of the photographer's way coming to the hotel. Obviously as I just posted above, there may be some other local beauty spot or somewhere meaningful to you both that you can go visit after the formal photos for some extra shots. Each venue and area has its own unique features so why not utilise them in your special photos?

Feel free to cannibalise, use and ignore any or all parts of that big list - we're probably overcomplicating things because we are spending a lot of time planning every aspect of our day in great detail.

Our venue has quite big grounds and a lake which is really quite stunning so they will make for some good photos. Other than the venue itself there's not really anything nearby of interest.

I have a parent's partner there on the day but do you think it is unfair to exclude them from family shots? She hasn't been around for very long and I haven't got a lot of respect for her. Plus if they were to separate in the future would the family really want a reminder of her on all the wedding photos? I was thinking maybe one of her and my dad for their keepsake, a couple on group shots - i.e. whole wedding part & shot of just the girls.

We are meeting our tog on Sunday. My attitude is that we chose our tog because he knows what he is doing. We will have to explaing the couple of political bits re OH's mum & father not speaking etc but other than that I would rather my tog uses his iniative as he should know what shots to be taking!

Unfortunately any "person plus partner of some description" included in the photo might break up at some point in the future so I don't think you can really exclude her "just in case".

That's why, just to be safe, we're getting a picture of my father with us, my mother with us, and both of them with us, as well as each of them with their respective new families.

Once you've got the combinations, you can of course choose which ones you want to put in each album, and of course if it's an album where you insert pictures rather than a printed book if anything does happen you can swap them out.

You don't have to include her in all the family shots though, but for political reasons you may find it's easier just to take some with and some without so she doesn't feel too left out - which in itself may cause some friction on the day. I don't think she can expect to be treated as a full family member, particularly if it's just fairly new as you say, but she should understand inclusion in some and not others.

It's awkward ground. I'd rather her not be in any if I had my way but obviously don't want to upset my dad! I think if I just explain to family that we have given photographers a list of photos and who's going to be in them, they can't really argue on the day why is so and so not in them! That's the plan anyway

Ours gave us a suggested list of the "normal" shots but suggested we add to it any specific things that we wanted taken otherwise he would, as you say, "use his initiative".

There's certain things, like our ring bearer being accompanied by "bouncers" (two ushers in dark glasses) that could easily be missed if he'd been at the back taking pictures of the bride's entrance then scooting up the side of the room to take pictures of the arrival at the front, for example. They may be professionals but they aren't psychic (generally) so we felt it useful to list everything going on in the hope that most of them could be captured - and we'll be using most of them in a photo slideshow on our DVD, more than you necessarily would in an album, for example.

I can understand pointing out certain things to your tog, eg we are going to have our dalmatian ring bearers & our little boy wearing a mini RAF uniform of which we will want lots of photos but I think my tog would actually be quite offended if I gave him a huge long list! Oh well, I guess everyone works in different ways ?

I saved this down the other day that I found somewhere.....haven't tweeked it yet for personal taste but may help.

Before the ceremony:
1. Wedding dress hanging up
2. B’s shoes
3. B’s bouquet
4. B having her hair and make up done
5. B in her wedding dress
6. B and bridesmaids
7. B with her mother
8. B with her father
9. B with her parents
10. B getting into the car with her father
11. G getting ready
12. G with best man
13. G with ushers

At the ceremony:
14. Flowers decorating ceremony venue
15. Guests outside
16. G and best man outside
17. Ushers escorting guests
18. Organist/musician/choir
19. B arriving
20. G and best man at altar
21. B and father walking down aisle
22. B and G exchanging vows
23. Ring ceremony
24. Signing of register
25. Soloist
26. B and G walking up aisle
27. Attendants walking up aisle
28. Newlyweds outside venue
29. B and G covered in confetti
30. B and G leaving for reception

At the reception:
31. Tables laid for dinner
32. Table centre detail
33. Napkin and placecard detail
34. Other flower arrangements
35. Cake table
36. B and G arriving
37. Guests with champagne
38. B and G entering for dinner
39. Speeches
40. B and G cutting the cake
41. Musicians
42. B and G’s first dance
43. B and father dancing
44. G and mother dancing
45. Best man and maid of honour dancing
46. B throwing bouquet
47. Bouquet being caught
48. B and G in car

Formal group shots:
49. B and G
50. B and G with her parents
51. B and G with his parents
52. B and G with both sets of parents
53. B and G with siblings
54. B and G with close family
55. B and G with bridesmaids
56. B and G with best man and ushers
57. B and G with all attendants
58. B and G with all guests
59. B with her mother
60. B with her father
61. B with both sets of parents
62. B with G’s parents
63. B with her bridesmaids
64. B with best man and usher
65. G with his mother
66. G with his father
67. G with both sets of parents
68. G with B’s parents
69. G with best man and ushers
70. G with bridesmaids

Fantastic thanks nicnol, just what I'm after ?

Just emailed my photographer actually to see if they have a set list themselves that I can just add to

List looks great - going to copy and paste into one of my many wedding spreadsheets and adapt later.

I think I'm just going to go for the list of formals and leave the rest to the photographer. The formals are complicated as my parents are divorced and I don't want to spend ages on them but divorced parents will add to the numbers required. Add in the complication that I'm closer to my step mum than my mum, so there's going to be a lot of careful manoevering. In my mind my step mum is my "Mother of the Bride" which is going to be "difficult" although fortunately the "mother of the bride" doesn't have much to "do" in the formal part of the day so hopefully I can avoid offending either of them or my Dad and I don't really want either of them dressing me in the hotel (bridesmaids only will be so much easier!)

Remember that each photograph takes a certain amount of time. Most (good) photographers will be able to give you a suggestion list of what shots to go for. Usually there is about 90 minutes between the ceremony and the meal. The caterers will time the food to be ready at a certain time, and any overrun by the photographer impact them.

Try to agree your list up front if there is any "must have" shots, but leave the rest to the professional to suggest to you. Remember, that's what you are paying him / her for

If you can also assign a couple of people on round-up duty for the photographer, you will really benefit from this.

Good Luck

Simon.

Completely misread this as b&g alone, sitting on the bog. I thought woah woah woah hold up, then i re-read it and was slightly relieved (snort)

22 formal shots is quite a lot, try for 8 - 10 where at all possible.

For example, unless otherwise requested 50 and 51 can be done as one shot.

All the time you are being posed for shots the less time you have to be photographed relaxing with your guests....which is where the really good photography is to be had.

I've also made some notes on a few of these....

Formal group shots:
49. B and G
50. B and G with her parents - Covered in 52
51. B and G with his parents - Covered in 52
52. B and G with both sets of parents
53. B and G with siblings
54. B and G with close family - Define close family, often a good source of arguments
55. B and G with bridesmaids
56. B and G with best man and ushers
57. B and G with all attendants - All attendants? Is this any different from all guests?
58. B and G with all guests
59. B with her mother
60. B with her father
61. B with both sets of parents - see 50/51
62. B with G’s parents - see 50/51
63. B with her bridesmaids
64. B with best man and usher
65. G with his mother
66. G with his father
67. G with both sets of parents - see 50/51
68. G with B’s parents - see 50/51
69. G with best man and ushers
70. G with bridesmaids - Not really needed see 55

Notice how there are 7 repeats of a combination of Bride / Groom / Parents?

I'm not saying these shouldn't be done, you're paying the tog, it's your wedding etc but the general flow of the day can be improved as each combination still takes time to rearrange. Taking time out of your day.

Thanks Chris.....I haven't looked at this yet properly just saw it on a website and thought great but there is a lot of repition as you point out. Great that you have commented on this.

re no.57 I imagine all attendants means Bridesmaids, best man and ushers!

So far though we only have requests for 2 formal photo's from MIL2B which is her and her sisters and her and groom and his sister!

Cool, never heard them called attendants before!