Picture of all your guests?

sarah0725

Did you have your photographer take a picture of all your guests? Did you do it at the ceremony or reception? What were the logistics? How did you let everyone know it was happening? How did you get everyone in the picture without anyone wandering off? Are you glad you did it? Did your photographer stand on top of something and shoot down or did they just get really far away? How many guests did you have? Can you PIP?

I've been thinking about this idea. We're only planning on having 85 guests or so, so it's conceivable that a picture like this would work. I'm not sure of the logistics though, and I'd like to see some examples to see if I like them.

ricksang

We did not but I think it could happen. You should do it early before people get drunk.

Are you still going to steampunk? I hope so!

katiewhompus

We tried but it was a giant clusterfuck. After the ceremony he called everyone inside to gather for a big group photo, but people didn't want to squish close enough/ fit in the frame/weren't paying attention. I have the photo somewhere on my photobucket but it would take a few hours of searching to find it.

sarah0725

You bet we are! FI definitely can't complain that our wedding isn't going to have enough nerd cred, because I also approved his selection of a passage from "The Courtship of Princess Leia" as a wedding reading.

Becky&Chris

We are planning on doing it because the venue we are most likely selecting has a good spot for it (there is a window in the house on the property where the photog can take the picture looking down on the crowd). They showed us a lot of examples of the group picture and it looks really cool there. I think I might even get a huge matted frame that everyone can sign and then have the group picture blown up and placed in the frame after the wedding.

I'd definitely say do it as soon after the ceremony as possible because at FBIL's wedding they had the ceremony at a different location than the reception and it was a mess trying to get everyone together at the reception site to take the picture. I'm pretty sure some people were left out.

ETA-I was even thinking about putting something in the programs about it so that I don't miss anyone.

ricksang

I can't wait to see wedding pictures! I am kind of jealous.

katiewhompus

Ok, I need to look through these pictures again. There are a bunch on the site I don't remember seeing/saving before!
Maybe that will be my summer project "Finally finish wedding album"

rhodesign

The way I've seen it done is to do it with table visits, but since we didn't do formal table visits, we didn't get shots of everyone. By the time the reception was going strong I didn't want to take anymore pics myself, so I let him off the hook.

felicity and reverie

I believe that Sun did a photo with all of her guests. But I think she also said it is pretty common in Australia to do that. You could check out her bio. I don't know when they took the photo, but I would think you could stick it in between the ceremony and reception, maybe during the cocktail hour.

deepcovejackie

That's a great idea.  We'll be having a DW with around 40 people so its totally do-able.

sarah0725

I thought Sun did it... I'm hoping she catches this post when she's on later while I'm sleeping and shares her photo.

I kind of like the idea because it's always fun to sit down with a grandma and a reunion photo and try to pick out all the people. I want to be that grandma someday.

thesuninherhead

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_picture-of-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:fdbdbbd2-5392-4139-8acd-81672c103faaPost:f00df585-b482-41cc-a62f-dbc3a2e7e138">Re: Picture of all your guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]I believe that Sun did a photo with all of her guests. But I think she also said it is pretty common in Australia to do that. You could check out her bio. I don't know when they took the photo, but I would think you could stick it in between the ceremony and reception, maybe during the cocktail hour.
Posted by felicity and reverie[/QUOTE]
<p> </p><p>Actually, it wasn't me that did it, but lots of the weddings I've been to. Our photos weren't really posed like that as our photog's style was more photojournalistic, but almost every wedding I've been to has done one of these. Basically, after the ceremony the celebrant/officiant makes an announcement that there'll be a group photo that all guests are asked to participate in if they can move over to x place where the shot will be taken. </p><p> </p><p>Here's the outcome of some of those I've been in:</p><p> </p><p>
<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '3ad2a6da-b380-4df3-8780-4f0433edac4e', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/10/7/3ad2a6da-b380-4df3-8780-4f0433edac4e.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p>
<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '74c56dc6-6867-4188-84bd-4511dad4ffd9', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/4/4/74c56dc6-6867-4188-84bd-4511dad4ffd9.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p>
<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '17148663-071a-4cf8-a30c-1e8c65573aca', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/7/3/17148663-071a-4cf8-a30c-1e8c65573aca.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p> </p><p>The photogs often ask for guests to wave and cheer while the bride and groom kiss... I've no idea why. 
<a href="#" title="Click to view a larger photo" onclick="return gSiteLife.LoadForumPage('ForumImage', 'plckPhotoId', '25a88673-dde9-40c2-97a0-ec79b89f7516', 'plckRedirectUrl', gSiteLife.EscapeValue(window.location.href));"> <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/images/store/5/7/25a88673-dde9-40c2-97a0-ec79b89f7516.medium.jpg" alt="" /></a></p><p> </p><p>Personally, they feel a little cheesy to me... but they're also very popular here, so I guess there's many people who don't share that opinion!

</p><p> </p>

her982

We are doing ours during cocktail hour. Our cocktail hour will be in a mezzanine type area and the photographer will stand above us on a balcony. We'll have about 120 people. 

My only concern with this was that my photographer would be out-going, loud, and commanding enough to get it to work. I put on my must have pic list a few candid shots of cocktail hour from the balcony, that way everyone will still be corralled in the same area and she might inadvertently capture all of our guests.

MarriedInAFever

We're getting an old photo booth where all the guests can have pictures made and then we get an album with all the pictures. We snagged it for a great price through Groupon.

dmiller9274

We are planning to do it.  My FBIL did at his wedding.  The photographer got a huge ladder and called everyone out to the dance floor.  It's a great pic, everyone smiling and having a good time....I'll try to see if I can find it.  When I booked our venue, I asked if they had a ladder that we could use.  She said that normally they don't keep it in the ballroom, but she made a note for maint to leave one in the office the day of our wedding so we will have it.  If you ask the venue ahead of time, maybe they will try to accommodate however you want it taken.

sarah0725

Thanks guys! I'm going to think about our ceremony and reception venues a bit and brainstorm about where we might be able to do it.

And Sun, thanks for all your examples! I know it's sort of cheesy, but I like it because it's old-fashioned, and also because it's something that will probably matter a lot more to me in 40 years or so.

BecW2be

We did it with FI's family. Our photographer did a great job of getting us with almost every guest in the receiving line, and then all the English family went to the front yard for a traditional wedding shot before loading up on the bus (I don't have a pro pic of that one on this computer) for a non-traditional one. My side wasn't really into it, so I didn't push, but I would have like to have one with all the guests.

sarah0725

Bec, I'm wondering if your photographer used some kind of special lens for the top picture. I like it!

BecW2be

I think so. She did the same thing with the professional bus shots. She was awesome!

sarah0725

I'll have to talk things over with our photographer and see what we can do.

I was just looking at pictures of Lucy from last summer, and it looks like they have some risers set up right in front of her - so maybe I could get all the guests standing in front of Lucy! That would be awesome.

You can see them behind us on the right, but in front of Lucy:

raynes

We got one!  I think it was pretty impromptu, but our recpetion venue was set up perfectly for it.  Some people had already left, but most were still there.

The photographers assistant captured pics as everyone was streaming in too, they're neat to see!

LesPaul

Yes!  So glad we did.  We were married at a B&B with a nice terraced patio outside.  We also needed to clear the room so they could switch over from rows of chairs to tables and chairs for the reception, so we asked everyone to step out onto the patio after the ceremony for a group photo.  The photographer knew I wanted this ahead of time, so he was set up across the street (actually in the middle of the street) for the shot.  We had ~85 guests, so the crowd was manageable.  No one minded, and we had a little receiving line as people went back into the house after the photo to start the reception.

526SadieSadie

I love the idea of the big group shot, but I think our particular group is too large to accomodate in one shot.  Our photog is with us all day though so she's going to be walking around the room taking all kinds of candids of our guests, which is more of what we wanted, and we have a photobooth

mk_2006

I'm a lurker (and late to the party) but we did a group photo.

We actually did it at the very end of the ceremony. The officiant said something about the photo being a gift to us, and asked everyone to please stand up, turn around and smile. The church we got married in has a balcony, so the photographer was up there with a camera on a tripod, snapped a couple of photos, gave the thumbs up, and then the officiant announced us as Mr. and Mrs. ____ and we went right into the recessional.

It worked out really well for us because we had two photographers...I don't think the way we did it would work very well if we only had one photographer.

It's pretty cool because you can see all the guests faces and the wedding party is kind of blurred in the background.

ETA: We had about 150 wedding guests.

september's bride

My stepbrother and his wife had a group picture (125 people) on the steps of their church. They had an insert in the program that said, "The new Mr and Mrs Lastname would love to capture the joy of this day in a group photo on the church steps immediately following the ceremony. We hope you'll join us for this very special moment."

It was something like 98 degrees that day, so they served lemonade and punch on the front lawn so that the guests didn't pass out, and the photographer got everyone lined up and photographed in about ten minutes. It was easy, and they have that big picture in their living room. It was a lot of fun, actually.

morainemom

We did this for my daughter's wedding. We had 172 people.
Ths is something that I really wanted!  It turned out great.

We had a note in the program asking the guests to remain outside after the bubble exit from the Church.  The photographer had everyone organized in just a couple of minutes.  She was up on the Church steps and we were down on the ground.

I had copies made for each family/guest.

PIP:

thesuninherhead

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_picture-of-guests?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:fdbdbbd2-5392-4139-8acd-81672c103faaPost:a0f72247-be49-45dd-951e-13de40a6bb8f">Re: Picture of all your guests?</a>:
[QUOTE]I had copies made for each family/guest. PIP:
<p>Posted by morainemom[/QUOTE]</p><p> </p><p>I just received another yesterday, enclosed in a TY note from my BIL and his new wife, which was taken just after their ceremony. They <em>do</em> make good TY card additions.</p>