As a Kansas City Wedding Photographer, I’ve photographed many beautiful weddings over the years and learned a thing or two about family portraits! As you can imagine, family portraits at weddings can be hard to juggle! Just as it’s time for family portraits, Uncle Bob is in the restroom, Grandma is nowhere to be found, and a guy named Jimmy wants a personal photo with all 7 of his kids! You can imagine all this chaos while the bride & groom patiently wait for the family portraits to be done so they can go to the reception and celebrate! While family portraits can be stressful, they don’t have to be!

Here are 5 tips to ensure smooth and seamless family portraits at your Kansas City or Destination wedding:

Make a Detailed List
Provide a detailed list of the important family members and specific shots of what you want. Be sure to include any sticky family situations that may need to be avoided for photos. This way, your photographer will be able to check off shots as they go.

A sample list would look like this:
Bride & Groom & Mom & Dad (Carol & Joe)
Bride & Groom & Bride’s Immediate Family (Carol & Joe & Josh & Mandy)
Etc.

Start Big
It’s usually easier to start with a big group photo and then have people step out. For example, the bride & groom and the grooms whole extended family take a group photo. Then, the extended family steps out leaving the immediate family, then the parents, and so forth.

Pick a Friend to be Your Wrangler
We all have that one friend that gets things done. Delegate a friend to help wrangle and track down all the family members needed to take family portraits.

Allow for Extra Time
Let your family members know what time and where they should be for family portraits. In fact, I always find it very beneficial to let them know to arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled time so that we have extra cushion time!

Focus on What’s Important
Most importantly, have fun and relax! Remember, you are marrying the love of your life!

Tips and Tricks on how to get your family photos to go smoothly!