Groups

Image by Travis Hill -

Group shots can be the hardest part of the day for us photographers. People are hungry, they want to chit chat and do anything but get their photos taken. The are a couple ways I like to combat this. Firstly is pre planning! Start talking about group shots with your bride as soon as you can. Tell her the more she informs her bridal party to listen to her photographer the sooner they will get to the reception. Make her aware she needs to communicate this as much as possible, it will make things go a lot smoother for everyone. Secondly, try to make the shots fun, have fun and interact with the people, don’t just bark orders at them. I like to get a loud aunt, or MOB to bark the orders. Besides she knows all their names, and it makes her feel important. I can’t tell you how many of my “wedding day helpers” said they should work for me full time.

Last but not least, tell your bride stories of the limo driver or the church lady recommending poses. Tell the bride these people try hard, but they just recommend what they have seen other photographers do. But make sure the bride knows your unique, and don’t do what other photographers do. That way when they make ridiculous suggestions like “have all the groomsman hold the bride” you can just look at the bride and laugh together. Unless you tell her this upfront, she will think it’s normal. You can stop this with pre planning!