The Wedding Group Photo List
Most couples need eight to ten group photographs, and each one takes about four minutes once you’ve got everyone rounded up. So you’re looking at roughly forty minutes altogether. Here’s the list I work from, the order I shoot it in, and a few easy things that stop it swallowing your drinks reception.
Group photos are the bit of the day couples worry about most, and honestly, they needn’t be. A little planning beforehand and they’re done and dusted before anyone’s finished their first drink. Here’s everything I’d tell you at our consultation.
How many group photos should you have?
Eight to ten is my honest recommendation. If you’ve got a big family that might sound a little on the low side, and of course you can have more – it’s your day and I’ll happily shoot whatever you’d like. But it’s worth knowing the trade-off before you sit down and write your list.
Every group you add is about four minutes of your drinks reception. Twenty groups works out at eighty minutes, which is most of your afternoon spent standing still while your guests enjoy themselves without you. It’s the one thing couples tell me afterwards they’d do differently. Ten groups covers both families properly and still leaves you plenty of time to go and enjoy your own wedding.
How long do wedding group photos take?
About four minutes each. Not because the photograph itself takes that long – that’s thirty seconds – but because tracking down six particular people among a hundred and twenty guests takes the other three and a half!
So the maths is nice and simple: multiply your number of groups by four. Ten groups is forty minutes, fifteen is an hour. Pop that actual number into your wedding day timeline rather than a vague “group photos” block and everything after it will fall into place much more neatly. I’ve written more about how long each part of the day takes if you’re building your running order.
The list, ready to copy
This is the order I like to work in. It’s arranged so people can slip away as soon as they’re finished rather than hanging around, and so that nobody’s side of the family feels like an afterthought.
- The two of you with both sets of parents
- With one partner’s parents
- With that partner’s parents and siblings
- With that partner’s grandparents
- With the other partner’s parents
- With that partner’s parents and siblings
- With that partner’s grandparents
- The full wedding party
- Bridesmaids, then ushers
- Everybody – all your guests together
You’ll notice I start with the biggest version of each family and take people away, rather than building up. It means grandparents and anyone who’d rather be sitting down with a drink get released first, and they’re always grateful for it.
That last one, the everybody shot, is well worth its six minutes. A bit of height helps – a staircase, a balcony, a slope in the grounds – though we can make it work on the flat too. It’s often the only photograph you’ll ever have with every single person you invited in one frame. I love that one.
When in the day should they happen?
Straight after the ceremony is ideal, while everyone’s still together and nobody’s wandered off to the bar or back to the car. Once guests scatter, that four minutes a group quietly becomes six.
If your ceremony and reception are at different venues, we’ll do them at whichever has the nicer background and the shorter walk. It’s very rarely worth splitting them across the two.
Pick two people to round everyone up
This is my favourite tip, because it saves the most time and costs you nothing at all. Ask two people – an usher, a bridesmaid, a cousin who knows both sides – to be your helpers, and send them the list a week or so before.
The thing is, I’ve never met your Uncle Trevor. They have! Someone who can cheerfully shout the right name across a lawn will save you a good fifteen minutes over the course of the list, and it means I’m not stood there reading names off my phone while everyone waits.
It’s worth giving the people on the list a heads-up too. Anyone who knows they’re wanted for a photograph tends to stay close by after the ceremony rather than disappearing off for a cigarette.
Where group photos happen at your venue
Every venue has one or two spots that really work, and it usually comes down to light and background rather than what looks prettiest to the eye. Part of my job is knowing where those are before you arrive – I’m at your ceremony venue at least thirty minutes early partly for exactly this reason.
If you haven’t chosen a venue yet, my Yorkshire wedding venue pages go through the ones I photograph at regularly, from Bagden Hall to Hazlewood Castle.
What if it rains?
Then we head inside and it’s absolutely fine – this is Yorkshire, we’re all quite used to it. Every venue I work at has somewhere that’ll comfortably take a group of ten, and the bigger ones will take the lot of you.
The only one that really changes is the everybody shot, which needs more room than most indoor spaces have. If the forecast looks grim we can either nip out during a dry spell – there’s nearly always one – or save it for the evening when people drift outside anyway.
If your family situation is a bit complicated
Please just tell me beforehand rather than on the day. Divorced parents, a step-parent who should be in some photographs but not others, two relatives who aren’t currently speaking – none of it is unusual in the slightest, and all of it is easy to handle quietly when I know in advance.
What I’d hate is to call out a grouping in front of a hundred guests and watch everyone shuffle awkwardly. A quick word at our consultation and it simply never comes up. I promise it’s not an awkward conversation to have with me – I’ve had it many times.
Wedding Group Photo FAQs
How many wedding group photos should we have?
Eight to ten covers both families, the wedding party and everybody together. You can have more if you’d like, but each extra group costs you about four minutes of your drinks reception.
How long do wedding group photos take?
Around four minutes per group once you include rounding people up, so ten groups comes to roughly forty minutes. Most of that is finding everyone rather than taking the photograph itself.
When should we do the group photos?
Straight after the ceremony, while your guests are all still in one place. Leave it much later and people scatter, which makes every group take longer to pull together.
Who should be in the wedding group photos?
Parents, grandparents, siblings and the wedding party as a starting point. After that, include anyone you’d be sorry not to have a photograph with in twenty years’ time.
What if our parents are divorced?
Just let me know beforehand and I’ll arrange the list so nobody’s asked to stand anywhere awkward. It’s very common, and it’s all handled quietly without anything being announced in front of your guests.
What happens to the group photos if it rains?
We move indoors. Every venue has a space that’ll hold a group of ten, and I’ll have found it long before your ceremony starts.
Can we change the list on the day?
Of course, within reason. Adding one or two is no bother at all. Adding ten will push everything back, so it’s much better to get the list right beforehand.
Do we need group photos at all?
Not if you’d rather not! Some couples skip them completely and I’m very happy either way. I’d only say that parents and grandparents tend to treasure these more than anyone, and they’re the hardest photographs to go back and recreate later.
If you’ve any questions about your own list, just ask – I’m always happy to go through it with you before the day. You can see what’s included in each of my wedding photography packages, or get in touch and we’ll have a chat.
