Pain-Free Wedding Day Family Photo Planner
Imagine this: You’ve just finished your wedding ceremony and now instead of basking in the glow you’re stressing out trying to herd over 30 family members into family photos. Your photographer finally gets everyone looking at the camera and smiling (including that aunt in the back who was intentionally hiding behind your cousin). CLICK! Your photographer says “Great, got it!”
Then suddenly someone shouts “Wait! Grandpa Harry was in the bathroom. We have to start over!”
Ugh! Now you’ve lost everyone’s attention and your entire family is getting ants in their pants!
Now you have to repeat this process about 15 more times in order to get all of those complicated combinations of family photos!
Doesn’t that sound like SUCH a buzzkill?!?
Let me help you avoid this! I’ve put together a super easy process and checklist to print off to avoid this unnecessary stress on your wedding day. Follow this process so you can focus on celebrating during your group photos instead of getting frazzled!
STEP 1: Put everyone into a family category
By family “Category” I mean things like Bride’s Immediate Family, Groom’s Extended Family, etc. This is going to serve as your reference point so that you don’t have to worry about leaving anyone out!
On the first two pages of the printout you’ll write down the names of everyone that falls into those categories I’ve listed for you. One page is for the bride and one page is for the groom. While you’re doing this- assign a leader for each category. This needs to be someone who knows and can wrangle everyone in that group when they’re needed! I’ve included a spot in each category to designate your leader. I’ve also included some extra blank pages if there are any additional categories you need.
BONUS: Make sure you show this list to your category leaders ahead of time and discuss this responsibility with them! Your category leaders should all have a copy of the photo list!
2. STEP 2: CREATE YOUR PHOTO GROUPS!
In the second part of the document, you’re going to combine the categories you created to decide which photo groups you want. These will make up your labeled “groups” Some couples want to combine both sides of the family across the board while others like to keep the sides a little more separate. There’s no right or wrong way! This guide will help you make sure you don’t miss any combinations that are important to YOU.
An example photo group could be (Group 5: Bride’s Entire Family). This group could include:
Bride’s Immediate Family
Bride’s Mother’s Immediate Family
Bride’s Mothers Extended Family
Bride’s Father’s Immediate Family
Bride’s Father’s Extended Family
3. Step 3: write the names of everyone in each group
This is the easiest part! Just write down the names of everyone in your groups! You’ll just take your Group list and write out the individual names of everyone in each group!
4. step 4: Order your groups from largest to smallest
This is one of the most important parts of the process! Start with your absolutely largest groups and work down from there. That way you can “release” family members to cocktail hour once their photos are finished! Your category leader will be the one that can tell everyone when they can head to cocktail hour!
Here’s an example of how this could go down:
GROUP 2: BRIDE SIDE- EVERYONE
Bride Immediate Family
Bride Father’s Side Immediate Family
Bride Father’s Side Extended Family
Bride’s Mother Side Immediate Family
Bride’s Mother Side Extended Family
* Bride’s Side Extended Family can be released to cocktail hour after this photo
GROUP 3: BRIDE SIDE- IMMEDIATE FAMILY
Bride Immediate Family
Bride Father’s Side Immediate Family
Bride Mother’s Side Immediate Family