Tips For Family Wedding Portraits

Since the invention of the camera, we've tried to preserve family artifacts through formal group portraits, and a wedding day can be a great place to capture it. On the one hand, you already have professional Wedding Photographers in Seattle,and a wedding is one of the few events that brings together generations of your family. However, wedding family portraits can also be a great source of anxiety. They can sometimes be a massive waste of time during the day when you'd rather be doing something else, like reading, having a drink at cocktail hour, and hanging out with your favorite people.

Seattle Event Photography wants to give tips as you start planning this part of your wedding. This rule can always be broken, but we hope it helps you plan your family portrait.

Ask Your Photographer About Limitations.

Most Seattle Wedding Photographers have often taken family portraits to get a pretty good idea of ​​how many groups they can properly shoot in one shot. You can limit portrait sessions to 30 minutes, giving time to shoot ten groups.

When clients have a different group of more than 10, we tell them we need to add more time to the wedding schedule for that part of the day. Talk to your photographer about what this number means to them.

Quality Before Quantity

Just because you can remodel your family into 50 unique combinations doesn't mean you have to. It's easy to rearrange and find millions of varieties, but you're probably looking for a few specific photos that matter.

Wedding Photographers in Seattle encourage you to think of various family members you will print and frame on your living room wall or include in your wedding album.

When in doubt, ask, "Am I going to frame it?" Remember that goal so you can focus on the shots that matter.

Give Your Family a Schedule.

Your family members may be involved in some aspects of wedding planning or Seattle Event Photography, but they may not have your wedding plans in mind. Give them a specific time and place for their performance - which should be at least 5 minutes before the family portrait begins.

You can ask your photographer to follow up on this with a reminder text on the wedding day so no one forgets. You and your whole family will appreciate the family portrait from your wedding day. They can be fun and stress-free with some thought and applying the tips above!

Show Your Hand

Seeing hands in pictures calms me down—just that.

When people are at a 45-degree angle to the camera, it's okay only to see one hand/palm. When Mom stands right in front of the camera and wraps her arms around her son, Seattle Event Photography prefers to see the ends of her arms wrap around her waist like in the photo below. (Even better: than embracing your loved ones — put your arm in theirs. Or hug them. Or hold hands — though we don't want to get too much prom on your wedding day!)

Let The Important Couple Get Their Photos Too

While most of the Wedding Photographers in Seattle tips will help reduce the number of shots and the time it takes to take them, this last one is an exception.

How often does your family dress up and have a professional photographer? Have your parents and grandparents pictured, just the two of you? They will be very honored that you have thought of them; this could be their first time doing a professional portrait in years.

Share Special Considerations

Seattle Wedding Photographers often get to know clients well enough on their wedding day that they sometimes forget they don't know their family. They don't know if Grandpa had trouble standing and needed a portrait chair. They don't know if your Aunt practically raised you while you barely know Aunt Delores so that you can give them equal time and importance in your portrait. They don't know if there was a divorce, death, or conflict that might upset certain family groups or cause discomfort to the people involved. These examples lead to one important rule: talk to your photographer!

Let them know if there are mobility issues or strained or unique relationships! Your Wedding Photographers in Seattle want to be empathetic and supportive about how they describe your family but to do that, they need information.