The Wedding Pictures Shot List

What Is A Wedding Shot List?

The wedding day photo shot list is a list of the different groups of people you wish to be photographed with in your formal portraits. Usually, these portraits are taken immediately after the ceremony and only include your immediate family. The groupings include the married couple with different groups of people, for example: parents, grandparents, sibling(s) (with and without significant other(s)), etc. These groupings can also include other significant people in your lives. At the end of this post I will provide the shot list I send to couples before the Big Day.

Why Is It Important To Have A Shot List?

The wedding shot list is a crucial part of the wedding day planning process. For majority of the couples I work with I do not know any of them personally, meaning I more than likely won’t know any of the significant people in their lives. By providing a shot list I will know who is to be included in the formal portraits. Although, many of these combinations are second nature at this point, I still don’t operate without a shot list. With the commotion of the moment it is easy to forget a combination and this list helps us stay organized to ensure nothing is missed. It also saves a ton of time having to come up with combinations on the spot.

You don’t have to worry about figuring out the groupings on your own. I provide a list of the most common combinations in the wedding day questionnaire that is sent out prior to your wedding day. You are more than welcome to add combinations and or take the ones that don’t suite your family out.

How Many Group Combination Should You Have?

This all depends on how large your family/wedding party are. Families with more people will have more combinations and the same goes for wedding party groupings. On average, you can expect 15-20 family combinations (again dependent on how large or small your family may be) and about 10 wedding party combinations. Family portraits move relatively quickly (thanks to how the shot list is organized) and it is easy to pump out these photos in about 15 minutes. I do my best to get the family formals done as quickly as possible, so the family can enjoy cocktail hour. Plus, it is rare to get a family who loves having family pictures taken, so getting them done efficiently as possible is a must.

Now that leaves us with the wedding party pictures. I build time into the beginning of the day to get the bridal party and groom and groomsmen photos. Most of these pictures are taken before the ceremony. During the time after the ceremony, we focus on group photos with the entire wedding party. Again, it is relatively easy to capture these photos in a small amount of time. Your wedding party has worked hard for you and I want to get them to cocktail hour and having fun as quickly as possible. The less time spent on group photos, the more time I get to spend with the couple creating portraits that they would want to frame on their walls in their home.

Who Will Help Gather The People Who Need To Be In The Pictures?

I always ask the bride and groom to designate someone who is close to the family to gather everyone that is required to participate in these photos. This person should be someone who is loud and a little bossy. More often than not this person is one of the bridesmaids, siblings, or someone who is familiar with the members of the family. I like to give a copy of the shot list to the “people rangler” so they can read off the groupings in the order they’re written. Additionally, it is important that the people who you would like in your formal pictures know that their attendance is required immediately after the ceremony.

If all else fails, I will have my second shooter or assistant read the names off aloud as they go down the list of combinations on the shot list.

When Should I Send You The Shot List?

As mentioned early, I send out a Wedding Day Questionnaire three to four months prior to your wedding day. I like to schedule a timeline review (phone call, video chat, or coffee date) three weeks before your wedding, so I would need the questionnaire completed and returned at least a week before our timeline review meeting. This will allow me enough time to get everything organized and prepare any questions I may have during our meeting. Once we have everything ironed out I will send you the finalized timeline.

Sample Wedding Day Shot List

Below is a simple sample timeline that I send to couples with a list of the most common group pictures requested on a wedding day. Obviously, every wedding is different and everyone has different needs and wants so group photos can be tailored to what you need.

• Bride & Groom with officiant

• Bride & Groom with both sides of immediate family

• Bride & Groom with bride’s immediate family (parents, grandparents, and siblings

• Bride & Groom with bride’s parents

• Bride & Groom with bride’s grandparents

• Bride & Groom with bride’s siblings

• Bride & Groom with groom’s immediate family (parents, grandparents, and siblings)

• Bride & Groom with groom’s parents

• Bride & Groom with groom’s grandparents

• Bride & Groom with groom’s siblings

• Bride & Groom with full wedding party (bridal party and groomsmen)

• Bride & Groom with bridal party

• Bride & Groom with groomsmen

• Bride with groomsmen

• Groom with bridesmaids

Quick Tips:

• If younger children are involved in the group pictures please provide some sort of entertainment or a source of distraction while they wait for their group to be called. Note: Groups that contain young children are prioritized before the other groups. Younger kids burn out very quickly and we want to get them at their best.

• If there are elderly members or members that are not able to stand long please make sure there is adequate seating available for them while they wait for their group to be called. Note: Please include this information within the questionnaire in the “notes” section or after their names.

• If you are doing a first look consider building time into the timeline, prior to the ceremony, to do your wedding party and family photos. If getting the families there before the ceremony isn’t feasible, we can at least do the wedding party pictures before the ceremony. Either way, the more we can get done before the ceremony the more time we have to focus on the couple’s pictures following the wedding ceremony.

• Every venue is different and lighting can be temperamental. If you have a preference on where you’d like to have your group pictures taken at your venue or elsewhere it is advised that you select a few areas, instead of just one. In the event that the lighting is just not doable in your preferred location it is always good to have a backup location. Don’t worry too much about this, prior to starting the day with you, we will walk the property and scout out specific locations, based on lighting and overall aesthetic that will work best for group portraits.

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