"Hey, you're needed for photos!" postcards

crystalandjustin28

With every wedding I've been in, I was always very annoyed by the inevitable hunting down of certain family members needed for pictures after the ceremony. Everyone's time is wasted while someone looks for "uncle Bob", who has wandered off. I swore that I would not let this happen at my wedding. So as I pondered possible solutions, I heard about a reminder postcard. About a week before the wedding, you can send a little postcard to the family that is needed for pictures, asking them to remain in the ceremony area after the wedding for pictures. I think this is brilliant! But I can't find any examples of the wording online. Partly because I have no idea what to "google" for something like that. Anyone have any examples?

Thanks!

hz80408

Interesting idea.  I've never heard of it, but you could easily make something in Powerpoint, etc and upload to Vistaprint for postcards.

Can you just have your officiant announce something at the conclusion of the ceremony? "Smith, Johnson and Reed family members, please come to the front for pictures"?

Even if you send the postcard a week ahead of time, people may still forget in the chaos of everything.

BreePax

I like this idea. It makes being in a photo like an "official duty". People are less likely to forget when they feel they have a job to carry out. 

I would probably use wording that fits with the theme of the wedding. But, I think a simple, "Don't forget! We want to see your smile. Meet the bride and groom at the back of the church immediately following the ceremony," would suffice. 

Milsey32

You could easily create your own, but there's the possibility of it getting lost in the mail or whatever if you do it 1 week before the wedding. I would have the officiant make an announcement, as well as spreading the word before the ceremony so people are reminded before and after

mica178

It's a cute idea, but I have found that word-of-mouth direction right before the ceremony ("Hey!  Please meet us all in the arbor after the ceremony for the family picture!") works too.

raspberrytart

As a wedding photographer, I have also been really annoyed by this.  I had one bride get mad at me because I didn't tell her family beforehand that we were doing photos (although I had no idea who her family even was, and I arrived at the ceremony with her).

I have found that the biggest deterrent to getting everyone together is cocktail hour.  The ceremony ends, and everyone makes a mad dash to get drinks.  Then everyone is in line at the bar, talking, and drinking, and it takes forever to get everyone gathered back together.  I know that you don't want to inconvience your other guests, but if people know that the bar isn't going to be open for another 15 or 20 minutes, they're more likely to stick around and take the darn photos.

I'm torn on whether or not a reminder card will be effective.  Family members know they're supposed to be in the photos, but everyone seems to think that things can wait for them.  It would be interesting to see if it works.

futuremrsburrow

I really like this idea! I had never thought of something like that,I'd be interested in hearing how it works.

MyNameIsNot

Rather than do another mailing, I'd be more inclined to enclose a note to those people in the actual invitation.  I would hand write on a nice card "Bob and Sue, we plan to do some family photos after the ceremony, and we'd like you included in them.  Please stay in the church (or whatever) after the recessional so that we can find you."  

But really, we didn't run into any of this.  Maybe we just didn't include much extended family in our formals, but all we needed were parents, siblings, and grandparents.  They were all at the rehearsal, so we just told them then where to be.  And actually, now that I think of it, all those people did their photos with us before the ceremony, not after, so we told them to go to the photo location and when to get there.