Family photograph list

Name people, not vague groups.

✦

“Bride’s family” is not a group. It is four people arguing about who counts, while a photographer holds a light and the light goes. Write the names. Then give each group a person whose job is to find those names and bring them to the spot.

Hand one copy to the photographer and one to the person gathering. The couple should not be the ones shouting surnames across a lawn.

Location for group photographs

Time window agreed with the photographer

#	Names	Relationship	Must-have / if-time	Mobility or timing note	Who gathers them	Done
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Keep formal groups short enough that the couple can still attend their wedding. Every group costs roughly three to five minutes once gathering is counted, and the gathering is the slow part. Twelve groups is a comfortable set. Twenty-two is an hour of your reception.

Before you hand it over

Every name is spelled the way that person spells it.
Anyone recently separated, estranged or bereaved has been considered before the list is read aloud. Tell the photographer privately. A list read out in public is a blunt instrument.
Groups with a person who cannot stand for long are placed early.
Someone who is not the couple, the photographer or a parent has agreed to be the gatherer.
The must-haves are marked, so a running-late day cuts the if-times and not the grandmother.

Gatherer’s name and phone

Groups that must happen even if we are late