The shot lists I have been seeing online and in magazines are quite extensive. Pages and PAGES in fact.
While photography is important on your wedding day, photography is not the ONLY important thing you’ll do on your wedding day and should not be taking up hours of your time…unless that is something you really want. There are so many shots on these “must have shot lists” that are not necessary at all, however, it can be daunting to sit down and create your own shot list.
We are big fans of not having a shot list. It kind of takes the creative flow away when you have to look down at a piece of paper every time you take a picture. But we ARE big fans of the “must have list” where our clients tell us the two or three images they HAVE to have.
For example, though we normally shoot the wedding dress in full length, the back of the dress isn’t the focus of most of our images. We had a client that loved the back of her dress so much and wanted it featured in the photography, so we made sure to take more images than normal showing the back of her gown. Another must have image tends to be a goofy cousins shot, or a picture of a keepsake the bride is carrying down the aisle. It is very important to tell your photographer about these shots, but try to keep the “musts” to a short list and trust your photographer to get the rest of the images.
When it comes to group formals, that is normally where the shot list gets ridiculously long. In reality, group formals are there to document what family attended the wedding and to get a nice smiley picture of the wedding party. Most members of a wedding dread the formals. They power through them, but it isn’t the highlight of the day. So why make them hours long? For family pictures you need:
bride, groom, groom’s extended family (grandparents and decendants…if you want to go bigger that is up to the couple)
bride, groom, groom’s immediate family (parents and siblings with spouses and kids)
groom and siblings
groom and parents
bride, groom, bride’s extended family
bride, groom, bride’s immediate family
bride and siblings
bride and parents
A few others, like the couple with grandparents or the couple with all the little cousins can be nice for documentation and memories as well.
For group pictures you need:
groom and groomsmen
bride and groomsmen (only if bride is good friends with them)
groom and bridesmaids (only if groom is good friends with them)
bride and bridesmaids
bride and groom with entire wedding party
Easy peasy lemon squeezy. All of this can be done in less than an hour if everyone is on time and listening. Which 1) leaves you more time for fun/creative pictures and 2) makes everyone participating very happy
Other pictures are also fine! I’m not saying they should be ignored. But they aren’t necessary, they are extras. Once you change the label, then you can view them more objectively.
Do you NEED a picture of yourself with each individual bridesmaid or would you rather have one with all the bridesmaids close together and smiling? Can you have both? sure! do you need to do one or the other? no. Do you NEED a picture of mom’s side of the family, then dad’s, then all the aunts and uncles, then the cousins, then the spouses, etc.? Do you NEED a picture with his parents and yours together (the in-law picture)? With the officiant? With Godparents or childhood friends? With every single table at your reception? Formals without the ushers and then the same formals with the ushers? NO! Can you ask for these pictures if you want? SURE!
The whole point is that you should get to take the pictures you want. Don’t let a magazine, or your photographer, or your aunt, or your friend that just got married, tell you your must have shot list. Take a few minutes to think about what you really want, pay attention to the length of time you’ll need and budget that time, and inform your photographer about your expectations. And even though I sound like a broken record, work with a photographer you trust, get along with, and is a professional to guarantee you’ll be enjoying your day rather than worrying about how your pictures will turn out.
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