Formal Family Pictures Timing

Since we did a first look we were able to do family photos after the ceremony. They took about an hour and was done during cocktail hour before dinner.

Planning on maybe a few in the hotel before leaving, and then during cocktail hour.

We are going to do them after the ceremony and while everyone else is at the cocktail hour

Formal pics with all of our guests at once would be impossible (~150 guests) so we are doing table visits during dinner with our photographer. It means we will probably not be able to sit and eat at all but having a picture of everyone is important to me.

We did pictures with both immediate families before the ceremony, after the wedding party pictures. We got bigger pictures with both full families at the church immediately following the ceremony.

We didn't take a big group picture with all of our guests, but we did get a few group pictures with everyone who went to our college, and with our sorority sisters and fraternity brothers! We just had our DJ ask those groups to come to the dance floor and had our photographer take the big pictures.

We will do some pictures before the ceremony. I'll probably be one of the first ones ready since FH and I are doing a first look and the FSIL so I'll probably get a couple of pictures with the two of us and then a generations picture with my mom and grandma. Since we'll have the ceremony space for a bit after the ceremony, we'll probably finish up family portraits there.

We spoke with our coordinator and she was concerned that our guests would be bored or thirsty. Our ceremony is at 5pm and say guests arrive at 4:30pm. That means from 4:30pm-5:30pm is ceremony and if we take an extra 30 min that is 1.5 hrs of no drinks or anything and just sitting and waiting.

Thoughts?

We hope to do the immediate families before the ceremony. FMIL wants pics of both of the extended sides of FH's family done as well so that will happen during the cocktail hour. Its easier b/c everyone should be there and in relatively the same place. We have some aunts and uncles that are perpetually late!

Also, we are doing a first look, but I want as little people as possible to see me before I walk down the aisle, so only immediate family pics will be done before the ceremony.

ETA: @VC are you not having a cocktail hour?

@Sara. Yes we will have one but my coordinator said that between 4:30pm-6pm, there is just sitting, ceremony and waiting for pictures. Guests will not have food or drinks for over an hour and a half.

Also, we wanted formal pics so to go grab people during cocktail hour is less than ideal since you'd have to hunt down people, children etc. Sounds messier to me IMO.

I think we still plan on doing post-ceremony immediately prior to cocktail hour, just have to figure out what to do with guests waiting around and how many formal shots and groupings to get it moving as fast as possible.

I'm a little confused - are your ceremony and reception in the same place?

@CMC - yes it is.

Outside patio of the restaurant. We were hoping to do a group photo and formal pictures right after ceremony but then what will the guests do while waiting for their pictures?

Is it just standard/normal for guests to wait for their names to be called and do nothing?

Oh I see - we only did formals with the wedding party (which included all siblings), parents, and grandparents. We told the grandparents to wait in the church after the ceremony was over, instead of leaving immediately for the reception venue. So we did formals with the grandparents first, and then they were able to leave. And then we did them with the rest of the families & wedding party.

Are you planning on visiting tables at the reception? What if you have the photographer follow you to the tables, instead of having to chase people down right after the ceremony?

Why isn't cocktail hour immediately after the ceremony?

We're doing individual (me with mine, him with his) family and BP photos before, and group(both family and whole BP) family after ceremony during "cocktail" hour

And don't call out names, tell the people ahead of time when and where you will need them - and if they dont remember then send your DOC to get them discreetly

Usually when you have the ceremony and reception in the same place the cocktail hour starts immediately after the ceremony ends. This way even if you pull people out for a few minutes, they still have food and drink that they can put to the side for a moment to take a quick picture and keep eating.

@CMC - We don't plan on the tables thing (not me anyways - we'll see what fiance thinks) during dinner. Also we would like formal pictures outside when it is brighter since the venue reception area lighting isn't the best, plus we want formal (nice backdrop photos).

@Chip - We want cocktail hour to be immediate but just wondering the best logistical way to get formal portraits with our guests and when to best do it. I'm coming up with the shot list and it's about 10 shots in total, but the groups are fairly large.

@Sara - thanks. I think I will consider that considering we do have 1.5 hrs from the end of ceremony to dinner time. It's just how efficient that is to use up the time because we (couple) may end up being outside the entire time waiting for people to come out, sort of wasted time on our part too.

You don't have to make all the guests wait for pictures, only the people in the photos. Whoever isnt in photos can go directly to cocktail hour when the ceremony ends - no waiting involved, and those in the photos can join as soon as they're done

Have your cocktail hour start right away. Make a list of all the groups you want photos of. Start with the largest group and go down. Anyone not in photos or finished can go straight to cocktail hour. ETA tell the people ahead of time that they'll be in photos and they should stay in their seats or meet at the place you're going to do them.

@SDC - I think I am leaning towards this. Granted we want photos with everyone so I think we will hit the largest groups first. I also think by doing large families, we can then easily cut them out to make it faster (example: My side of family, then cut it down to paternal side, then maternal side, then only my immediate family and then parents only) so people can just step out.

Unfortunately, If you want pictures with all of your guests, you will probably be standing out there for a long time. If specific guests know they need to take a picture then they should stay close by especially if you ask them to.

My photographer also suggested asking a bridesmaid or someone who know who the people are to wrangle them so there isnt much waiting in between shots.

We're doing first look around 3:15/3:30 and then family photos around 3:30. Ceremony starts at 5. I want everyone in our family and bridal party be able to enjoy cocktail hour. That's many people's favorite parts of the wedding and it's unfortunate to have to miss it because of taking photos. We don't plan to get formal photos of all guests, but my photographer asked about "favorite aunts, uncles, and cousins, etc" to take pictures of during cocktail hour. We will also get group pictures with our respective college friends. Ceremony and reception are at the same location so all photos will be taken there.