How to nail your group shots!

Let’s be honest, this is the most boring part of a wedding day for you and any guests who are in the group shots. Literally nobody wants to be taken away from chatting with their friends to stand in a line smiling at a camera. But I understand it’s still nice to have some group shots of your close family, it’s often older generations who appreciate group shots the most. Most of my clients say they prefer the candid shots but their parents would appreciate a group photo of them.

If you’d rather not have any group shots at all then you can fully enjoy your whole reception without any interference from your photographer, and you’ll get the absolute optimum set of documentary photos (you’ll end up with more shots too as groups take a decent chunk of time for the amount of photos produced). After the ceremony you can chat to all of your guests, who will all be dying to congratulate you, and not worry about missing any of your reception to take group photos. Remember that you and any of your guests are more than welcome to grab me at any point throughout the day for a quick photo, which only takes seconds to do if you’re already chatting to the group of people.

However, if you would still like some formal shots, here are a few tips to help you get through this part of the day as quickly as possible. Everything I’ve written here is to make things easier and more enjoyable for you two on the day and is all based on my experience.

These are the main pieces of advice I can give you that will make a big difference in getting groups done without fuss:

Keep your list small

It may seem obvious but the more people who are needed for group shots, the longer it will take. There will likely be people there who haven’t seen each other for ages so it always takes longer than you’d expect to collect people for group shots. Gathering people who do not want to be gathered can be a time consuming task so it’s worth bearing in mind that it can take 5 minutes per group (even longer if we lose somebody important - this has been known to happen at hotel venues when somebody has gone to sort themselves out in their room, then you are left waiting and frustrated). I highly recommend keeping your list to 6-8 different groups maximum. 6 group shots taking 5 minutes per group is already half an hour gone from your drinks reception.

When making your list have a think about who you really want to have a photograph with, rather than who other people say you should have one with. Sometimes parents can push for lots of group shots, but remember that wedding photography has changed a lot since they got married. I know that when my parents married back in the 70’s wedding photography was pretty much made up of just group photographs. But now you’ll get lots of candids and authentic moments captured so you simply don’t need as many groups. (I’ll always be keeping an eye out for the special people so you’ll get plenty of candid shots of your parents etc throughout the day). Ultimately it’s your decision and anyone else telling you you should get lots of groups isn’t the person who’s in every photo and standing around waiting (you are!). And the more groups we do, the fewer candids there will be during this time (which is the perfect time for candids when emotions are high post ceremony).

I personally would recommend keeping group shots to just immediate family (or even just parents) and bridal party.

Allocate a member of the wedding party to help

Allocating somebody to help gather people really, really helps hurry things along. I’ll have your group shots list with me but I won’t be able to put names to faces. Sometimes it’s easy enough to call out names when it’s a small wedding, but other times it’s impossible if I need to go round all the different groups of people asking who people are, whilst the music is playing and the drinks are flowing. If you have an allocated person who knows who most people are they can gather them much more quickly than me. In an ideal world I’d be taking the first group shot whilst the allocated helper can start gathering the next group. It makes it sooooo much faster! Think about who is outgoing or has a loud voice who doesn’t mind going around gathering people and they will be the best bet. I always bring an extra copy of my list so I can pass one to the helpful person.

Give people a heads up if they in group shots

I don’t want to give you too much pre-wedding homework but if a couple of days before the wedding you send a quick text to anyone who is in your group shot list just to let them know they will be needed during this time, then they are less likely to wander off so there will be less waiting around for you to do on the day. This single factor can make so much difference in how quickly we can get them done.

Be open minded about the backdrop

It’s absolutely fine to request a certain spot to do group shots, I’m more than happy to do them wherever you want them, however there’s one thing that can often interfere with this - the sun!

If the sun’s out during this time we’ll need to find some shade, this is 100% essential for group shots. If we were to take them in the sun you’ll be squinting so your eyes will look closed, your eyes will hurt with trying to keep them open and there’ll be harsh shadows created. For group shots a brick wall in the shade is far superior to a beautiful, colourful garden in full sun. I’ll scope out the best spot on the day so you don’t have to do any research but it’s just something to bear in mind in case you have a specific vision. Don’t worry, the candid photos will be great in the sun, it’s only when you have to look into the camera, trying to keep your eyes open that it’s a problem!

If it’s raining then we’ll likely need to find a space indoors for the comfort of your guests. I’m more than happy shooting in the rain if you’re up for it but guests don’t usually like it so indoors is usually the better option.

When and where to do group shots

We’ll fit your group shots in during the drinks reception/time after the ceremony. If your ceremony venue is a church/register office or somewhere else that’s separate from the wedding venue then it can be easiest to do them at the ceremony venue if there’s an appropriate space. Once people are done in photos they can then make their way to the venue and you can enjoy your whole drinks reception without groups, yay! If you’d prefer to do them at the wedding venue though that’s fine by me, we can discuss this when we chat. In general the earlier we get them finished the better.

Thank you so much for reading! I know it’s boring but having a few pointers like this before the day can really help the flow of things on the day.