Tips For Your Formal Family Photos
Formal family portraits are very essential during a wedding. They don’t only capture the genuine happiness and wonderful atmosphere surrounding the bride and groom but they also show the bond and connection between the two families.
Weddings are some of the rarest moments where the family is together and taking formal family photos with both families can be quite stressful and hectic, especially if you have a large family or a large wedding.
Most formal family pictures happen after the ceremony has ended and before the wedding reception. Now, here are some formal family photo ideas that can help you prepare for your family portraits on your wedding day.
Consider The Spot
When you’re looking for the perfect spot for your formal family portrait, make sure to choose a spot with good lighting.
Lighting is a very crucial element that can change the way a photo looks.
When taking your formal family photos with you and your spouse’s family, make sure to find a spot where there is good lighting. If there is good lighting, your photo would look stunning from all angles.
If the sun is too harsh or if the spot is too dim, move to another location. But make sure to choose a nearby spot so that older family members won’t have to walk too far.
Get Everyone Ready
The key to a successful formal family portrait is by taking photos of different groups. A professional photographer has a standard list of how they take group photos during a wedding ceremony. Taking pictures in groupings can help avoid chaos and messy group photos.
Now, while the photographer is taking pictures of the current group, have someone (preferably with a loud voice) call out the next group and put them on standby to not waste any of your time.
Our standard list at Legacy Union is like this:
Bride & Groom with bride’s grandparents.
Bride & Groom with bride’s extended family.
Bride & Groom with bride’s parents and siblings.
Bride & Groom with bride’s parents.
Bride with parents.
Bride with mom.
Bride with dad.
Bride & Groom with bride’s siblings.
Bride & Groom with groom’s grandparents.
Bride & Groom with groom’s extended family.
Bride & Groom with groom’s parents and siblings.
Bride & Groom with groom’s parents.
Groom with parents.
Groom with mom.
Groom with dad.
Bride & Groom with groom’s siblings.
We at Legacy Union want to make sure to give everyone the spotlight with both the bride and groom while keeping things smooth and flowing.
Put Down Objects
The idea of formal family portraits is to freeze a wonderful moment in time. But aside from that, it’s also about giving everyone the time to shine as they celebrate the bride and groom’s most memorable day.
So, we don’t want any objects ruining the formality of this sacred event. We highly recommend that all family members put down any object that can look distracting and informal in photos. Tell your uncles, aunts, cousins, and everyone else to put down their purses, sunglasses, phones, and even their covid masks (just for the pictures – make sure to still follow proper COVID-19 protocols).
Let Your Photographer Do It
Today, almost every person has a phone clutched in their hands at any time of the day. Now, we understand that weddings can be exciting and you want to take photos now and then for the memories or your social media accounts.
But during the formal family photoshoot, make sure to tell your aunts or other extended family members to let the photographer do the picture taking alone. They can have copies from the photographer themselves after a while so it’s not necessary to take pictures even during the formal family photoshoot.
Your wedding day is one of the most memorable days of your life. And it can even be more magical with pictures taken with your family members to show their support and happiness for you. If you want a professional wedding photographer who knows how to take beautiful formal family portraits, get in touch with us today at Legacy Union.
We also offer other services like: Wedding Photography Santa-Barbara, Couple Photography Santa Barbara, Lifestyle Photography Santa Barbara.