Besides being a huge celebration, one could argue that a wedding is in many ways a reunion too.  Weddings present that sometimes-rare opportunity for families and friends, especially ones that live a significant distance apart from one another, to congregate, reminisce and celebrate the happy occasion.  Naturally, a common objective for a wedding couple is to make sure they enlist the services of a professional photographer to capture as many pictures of their attendees as possible. 

Something to carefully consider is the amount of time it will require to accomplish gathering all the desired photos.  This can severely encroach upon the amount of time that the bride and groom and all their guests get to actually celebrate, dance, etc.  I can’t remember how many times wedding clients have commented, post-wedding, that they wished they could have spent more time dancing and less time in front of the camera!

Here are a few suggestions to ensure you have the perfect wedding day, one that will help you meet the balance between the task of taking pictures AND dancing the night away:

First, communicate with the photographer and create a plan.  Explain to them that while you want to come away from your wedding experience with lots of preserved memories, you also want to allow for enough time to live in the moment too.  That would mean taking advantage of those more low-key moments of your celebration as the opportunities for group photos, such as pre-ceremony, cocktail hour and dinner for the group picture-taking.

Next, supply your photographer with an organized list of the groups you want photos of.  For example, the bride’s family, the groom’s family, mutual friends, work friends, etc. Based upon that list, try and allocate a specific amount of time for photo taking, such as thirty or forty minutes.  Encourage the photographer to help you maintain the timeline.

On the day of your wedding, share this list with the MC and enlist their assistance in announcing that the different groups congregate over the sound system.  This is a more effective method than seeking out these people one by one from amongst a larger group of people.

Weddings take a lot of time and attention to plan, but they do go by quickly.  Be sure to plan accordingly with your photographer and other vendors for a seamless flow of events on your big day!

If you have a question or topic you’d like me to address on an upcoming blog, please send me a message. Adam the DJ