Tips from the top wedding photographers in Surrey on how to get better group shots

 

Are you one of the wedding photographers in Surrey who want to know how to organise family photos for the wedding day? Below are some of the most common standard shots, as well as some helpful tips to help you plan a successful shoot.

Standard Family Group Shots and Tips to Organise Them on Your Wedding Day - by Surrey wedding photographers

 

We have written a guide to group shots, which may be helpful for all wedding photographers. Group shots are one of the most important parts of wedding photographers' Surrey job. Sometimes there are the only family photos that the bride and groom have. That is why they are so important for the bride and groom and their families. Every wedding album has some of them and they are its essential part. Any bride and groom can hardly imagine that the wedding photographer will not do them properly.

We are not here to tell you why family group shots are important. You should already know how important they are since you're the one who hired your surrey wedding photographer!

These are a few of the many reasons why every couple should ask their surrey wedding photographer to do group shots:

• Family is important, no matter what stage of life you're at
• Eventually, almost everyone will leave your life
• It's a way to show your family that you care
• When people get older, it becomes more important to have a formal photo of themselves. Your parents or grandparents might be interested in one too!
• Photos preserve memories of the past. Although they can be erased, memories that are printed seem permanent and remain as a way to remember
• They'll end up being used in the wedding album.

At the first glance, they seem not difficult to make, but all professional wedding photographers know that it's not true. It is a very responsible task. We will have to remember that we need the shots of the closest family, bridesmaids and groomsmen; further family members and one big group shot of all the guests. Everything seems so easy, but how the wedding photographers will recognise the family of the bride or groom? And this is a potential reason for the misunderstandings.

In order to avoid the wedding photographer should meet with the bride and groom to discuss this matter in detail. The best solution is to ask the bride and groom to assign some family member, who knows everybody and assist the wedding photographers in surrey during group shots by gathering people. It will make the job of the wedding photographers much, much easier.

The best place for a meeting is the venue itself. We can also discuss where the best spots for group shots and bride and groom portraits.

What are the typical family shots taken by your wedding photographer during the day?

 

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to take too many group shots and irritating their families, who want to enjoy themselves and not pose every 5 minutes with a different group. Remember, very few combinations work. So it's better to avoid combinations that don't work as often, and stick with simple ideas for the sake of your time and sanity.

Typically, we recommend 10-15 group shots taken after the ceremony, before people start enjoying their drinks (it will be much harder to get them focused after they had their glass of fizz).

Here are some popular group shots we take when photographing weddings in Surrey:

• Newlyweds and parents of the bride
• Newlyweds and parents of the bride plus siblings
• Newlyweds and parents of the groom plus siblings
• Newlyweds + both parents, siblings with partners and kids
• Bride with her grandparents
• Groom with his grandparents
• Newlyweds with bridesmaids, flower girls, best man, ushers and page boys
• Bride and bridesmaids plus flower girls
• Groom and best man with ushers and page boys
• Other important people

If the couple has a close family member that you want to help with your wedding, they can ask them to accompany the photographer for this part of the day and gather the family members together. Couples should inform everyone that will be in wedding photographs that they will be required for the group photos by a wedding photographer in Surrey. It would be very difficult to start calling people on the spot for pictures. If the couple will suddenly decide to have group family photos at the last minute, you as a photographer might not be sure what to do.

How wedding photographers in Surrey can get brilliant group shots

It is very important when the bride and groom want a large group shot with all the guests. This shot is particularly hard to do because of the space limitations. From our experience, we must say, that the best spot for a large group shot is the stairs. If the group is really large and not all of them will fit on the stairs you can always use the stairs as a ladder and shoot from above. You can also use the advantage of the grounds like in the example below taken in the Woldingham Golf Club wedding venue. You will kill two birds with one stone, first of all, everyone will be in the picture and second, this angle is very flattering. The example is below:

That is why the meeting before the wedding is so important. It is diminishing the stress which is always a part of taking the group shots.

One more very important piece of advice is to always ask the bride and groom for sending the list of the group shots. Such a list will help you plan things accordingly and fit photographing of the group shots into the timeline (the more group shots are planned, the more time you will need).  Additionally, thanks to this list wedding photographers in Surrey will avoid missing some very important shots, which can easily happen, when you rely only on your memory.

Planning ahead for your wedding is important because it's the best way to ensure you are prepared. With this information, you'll know the importance of organising formal shots on the wedding day.

We hope that after reading this article, you will find photographing the group shots less stressful. Please remember that eliminating stress during wedding photography in Surrey will help you concentrate on the actual work - being a top wedding photographer 🙂