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Like most post-brides, I have some regrets. One regret is the family portraits, because if I had known the magnitude of what our parents wanted, I would have booked a photographer just to take portraits and have everyone and anyone arrive hours earlier...like at daybreak.
I think given all of the portraits that were crammed in roughly 1-2 hours, our photographer did a great job managing the throngs of people. And I managed to keep my head on straight and didn't yell at anyone. Score!
Here's a sampling of the gazillion family portraits that were taken.
[These bouquets really popped against my sisters' dresses! I loved how they looked juxtaposed to the bright green.]
[My adorable niece, our flower girl]
[My immediate family, parents, sisters, and brother-in-laws]
[My extended family--and believe it or not, this isn't even all of the family I invited. Two large families could not make it to the wedding, so imagine another 30 people on top of this crowd. In order to get everyone together, I got on the mic trying to corral everyone. It kinda sort of worked, but I'm pretty sure my cousins had to go nab people for me!]
[My sisters]
[Sister #2]
[Sister #1]
[Our bouquets all together]
I can't really say I have any tips around how to navigate the family portraits if you have a big family and need the portraits. Every family is different, and I can't really say what would offend and what wouldn't in a general sense, but if I had a time machine, I would have
1. Booked photography for the entire day and had anyone and everyone take pictures early in the day.
2. Brought a bull horn.
3. Made multiple copies of the portrait list and had a few people in charge of rounding up the herds.
4. Remembered to breathe.
Do you have any tips for the family portraits? Anyone else have an insanely large family like mine?
[Photos by Jessamyn Harris and Sheri Tennison Berg forJessamyn Harris Photography]
8 comments:
your family is so cute!! and i agree with your list. my mom had wanted every combination of family portraits imaginable (mom bride, mom dad bride, mom bride sis, etc), but we only took a few. oh well.
I know what you mean about family portraits being a challenge. We made up a list that we gave to the photographer of what shots we wanted, and he totally ignored it. Of course we were too frazzled the day of to remember what photos to get, so we have a ton that are completely lacking (like one of hubby with his family, one of both us of with his family, one of me with his parents, etc). Then we have a ton of with the same people in different poses. Terrible. We are very displeased with our photos/photographers for many reasons, one major one being that they ignored our list completely. We have SO many key moments and photos that are missing. Then my SIL had the gall to complain that she doesnt have a picture of her with her husband & kids (even though there are a ton of her with the boys, and their dad with the boys). I was furious. My husband and I are missing a ton of OUR wedding photos and once again (she was notorious for this during the wedding planning and beyond) all she could thin about was herself.
Okay, your flower girl is so adorable. And oh my gosh...you and your sisters are the splitting image of each other!
you have a huge family! have you figured out how your gonna handle holidays? :)
"Brought a bullhorn." Ahahhahaa!
Your portraits turned out beautifully! I feel you on the difficulty of herding family though. We missed our cocktail hour for posed pictures, and I regret that we didn't give ourselves enough time to calmly take pictures. We were supposed to do some posed shots before the wedding, but due to a hotel mix-up, there was no time pre-wedding. Therefore it was all crammed into the cocktail hour. If I could go back, I would have reserved A LOT more time pre-wedding for posed shots. "Winging it" was not a good idea!
Haha, nice get a bull horn! We didn't have that much family so it was easy. My brother ended up taking a few shots of family later in the day (always have people with SLRs take pictures too!)
Beautiful photos - your niece is adorable!
@honey my heart: Thanks. :)
It's tough pleasing everyone, hopefully your Mom took it well that there were only a few family shots?
@MayLove: That really sucks about your photographer. :(
Luckily our photographer was really good about the list. I think it's important for those looking for a photographer to reiterate the importance of certain shots if they mean a lot.
@buhdoop: She is, isn't she?? Yes, my sisters and I get mixed up all the time. It brings a huge grin to my sister's face, who is 8 years older, when people ask who the oldest is!
@ruthy ann: My mom asked me the same question--I have no idea. I just assumed we'd split up like every year, and she told me it would be nice if we were both present with both families. I guess we have to figure that out soon!
@The Less Than Domestic Goddess: I should invest in one. It would really come in handy. I don't even know where one would buy a bullhorn, but they exist, so they must be available somewhere!
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