Extended family photos?

llinds7277

Okay ladies, need some advice.. My Mom and I were talking about the photo list, and she wants to take pictures with all of our extended family (so one picture with my Mom's whole side, one with my Dad's side, one with my FI's Dad's side and then FI's Mom's side). I don't know if I've ever seen someone do this, so I'm not sure how to go about doing it. I personally think it would be a little difficult to get everyone together for each picture, and also, we're only having 100 people so that's practically the whole wedding. Any thoughts? Thank you!

raspberrytart

I don't see anything wrong with the request--I'm sure there will be plenty of people that are rarely seen at other times, so I understand wanting a photo.

If you decide you want to do this, the trick will be organization.  Make sure people know that their presence is required at a certain time (or directly after the wedding, before drinks are served, etc.).  The less time people have to wander off, the better.  Assign one or two people to be in charge of gathering stragglers; don't take this on yourself.  If circumstances allow, you can perhaps have the two groups get ready at the same time, so that you and your spouse can snap a few photos with one group and then run over to the other one.

The other trick is the size of the group--getting everyone close enough together to all be in the shot yet also where you can see every face.  A good place is a staircase (so that people can be on different levels) or have the photographer stand on a balcony and shoot down while everyone looks up (height makes little difference in this situation).  Hopefully your surroundings allow you to be creative.

mpatt2122

My cousin just did this at his wedding. Right after the ceremony the announced if the brides family could please stand in one area and the grooms family stand in another area. The bride and groom then took a few pics with the family's then everyone went inside for the reception. It took about 5-10 min to take the pics.

fallbride1109

We did it for my DH's side of the family.  His family hadn't been all together in over 15 years and didn't know when they would be again so we made sure to get a formal portrait with them.  I am not sure how my IL's gathered everyone together--I think she just rounded them up and then got my photographer (who I had told about this in advance).

But yeah if you can organize it beforehand, even better.

Tanq&Tonic

We did something similar.  We asked family to join us 30 minutes before the ceremony so we could take portraits.  I didn't wait for stragglers so not everyone is in the pictures.  I wouldn't force it on all 4 sides, but maybe you can offer to each of the parents whether they wanted to do something.  Maybe your mom is the only one.

We also wanted 1 photo with ALL of our guests, so we printed the post-ceremony photo session in the program and had our DJ/MC announce for the guests to please gather at the "hill" for a group portrait once the recessional music ended.  Worked great