So, one of the many controversial conversations you can have surrounding wedding photography is all about tradition, and whether you uphold it. And group photos are certainly traditional. We know from being engaged ourselves and booking our own wedding that when looking through our parents wedding albums, we saw a load of things that we decided we definitely don't want ourselves - no offence mum and dad! One of those main things were massive group photos and everyone looking so fed up.
So group photos? Should you do them?
Well that's entirely up to you and what you want from your wedding day. In our opinion, it is best to limit the amount of group photos you take, this is simply for the reason of wanting you to enjoy your day. The less time we spend organising massive group photos, the more time you have to celebrate and enjoy mingling with your guests. In our experience, and when speaking with married family members, usually group photos take up loads of time and its hot, or raining, or theres many other things to be doing, so for this reason we personally recommend only doing a few with your nearest and dearest! Of course, if you want to follow tradition, you're more than welcome to and we can certainly provide more and bigger group photos, but our style of photography is typically inline with less traditional weddings, so we find ourselves not doing too many of them.
So you said you'd do them. How many would you recommend doing?
Simply put, less is more! Try only doing these with mum and dad, best men and bridesmaids, but really, it's up to you to decide. You also don't have to opt for us to take these photos at all if you don't want to, one thing to consider is everyone has mobile phones and you'll find yourself getting your photo taken a lot with various people throughout the course of the day. This means you can skip group photo designated time and get more time to party!
I do want group photos, but not heavily posed ones. What do I do?
This is no problem at all! Rather than designating a particular amount of time for these, we can do some fun ones that resonate with our candid style of imagery. When we see people free, having fun and generally seeming relaxed we can grab them for some silly photos- and as there's two of us this ensures we don't miss any key events from the rest of the reception either! Taking silly photos later in the day often creates more fun memories from your wedding, and allows time for everyone to relax a little more, have some food, have a drink and get into the swing of the celebration. If this is an option you'd like, just let us know and we can incorporate it into your day!
Image below from Meg and Mac's wedding, of all the groomsmen showing off their posing skills.
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