Deciding on the list of formal group photos for wedding photography can be a very tricky thing…
Put too few groups on the list and you risk not getting pictures of some people (and you risk those same people being upset they were left out!). Put too many on there and you will spend your entire day posing for formal group photos rather than enjoying yourself.
You have to strike a balance between those two extremes, to keep everyone else happy, but at the end of the day, it is your day and you have to keep yourselves happy first.
So, with that in mind, here is a fairly comprehensive list of groups that you could go for…
Key Groups
Bride and Groom (obviously!)
Bride and Groom + All Bridesmaids (incl. Chief Bridesmaid)
Bride and Groom + All Groomsmen (incl. Best Man)
Bride and Groom + All Groomsmen + All Bridesmaids + Flower Girls + Page Boys
Bride and Groom + Bride’s Parents + Groom’s Parents
Bride and Groom + All Guests
Additional Groups
Bride + Chief Bridesmaid Bride + All Bridesmaids
Bride + All Bridesmaids + Flower Girls
Bride + All Bridesmaids + Other Female Friends
Groom + Best Man Groom + All Groomsmen
Groom + All Groomsmen + Page Boys
Groom + All Groomsmen + Other Male Friends
Bride and Groom + Chief Bridesmaid
Bride and Groom + All Bridesmaids + Flower Girls
Bride and Groom + Best Man
Bride and Groom + All Groomsmen + Page Boys
Bride and Groom + All Bridesmaids + Flower Girls + All Groomsmen + Page Boys
Bride and Groom + All Bridesmaids + Flower Girls + All Groomsmen + Page Boys + Bride’s Parents + Groom’s Parents
Bride and Groom + Bride’s Parents
Bride and Groom + Bride’s Parents + Bride’s Immediate Family
Bride and Groom + Bride’s Parents + Bride’s Immediate Family + Bride’s Extended Family
Bride and Groom + Groom’s Parents
Bride and Groom + Groom’s Parents + Groom’s Immediate Family
Bride and Groom + Groom’s Parents + Groom’s Immediate Family + Groom’s Extended Family
Bride and Groom + Bride’s Parents + Groom’s Parents + Bride’s Immediate Family + Groom’s Immediate Family
Of course, this list could go on and on and on and on into infinity with different combinations, but this gives a good starting point. It is definitely important that you maintain a realistic view of how many groups that you're going to have, and how long you want to spend shooting formal groups.
Groups can be difficult to organise, as people may wander off, head stright for the bar, or just generally get caught up in enjoying the day post-ceremony and forget they have a role to play even after the ceremony.
My personal preference (and the general trend at the moment) is to shoot fewer formal groups as wedding photography moves towards a more informal reportage-style photojournalism - people will be captured informally throughout the day in more natural circumstances, and this seems to be preferred by brides at the moment.
Of course, it's your day so you have to do what you want. A checklist document containing the above wedding groups is available for download at the following location:
http://wwww.keepshootingphotography.co.uk/Wedding_Photography/resources/formal-groups.pdf
Hope it helps...
Chris at Keep Shooting Photography - Making Beautiful Photography Affordable
http://www.keepshootingphotography.co.uk/
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