16 Family Portraits You Want to Make Sure Your Photographer Captures on Your Wedding Day (And the Other Portraits You’ll Want Too!)

It can be a little overwhelming when you sit down to make the list of everything you want to have captured on your wedding day. That’s exactly why we created this post!

Here, we will lay out a list of the portraits you will want to make sure you have with your family members. 

We will check off how to make the most of time for portraits of just the two of you.

We’ll talk about having a blast with your best friends, which will make for the best pictures. 

And we’ll talk about trusting us and your portrait locations so you can relax and enjoy the day!

Armed with all this knowledge, you’ll go into your wedding day feeling confident that afterwards you’ll have all the shots you want, and your memories will be kept forever.

Family “Formal” Portraits

We absolutely love meeting our couple’s families on the wedding day!  

Family formals are normally our first formal interaction with them, so we love to have a game plan for this part of the day, and you will too!  

Eight weeks before the wedding, you’ll receive a questionnaire from us that will ask you to list out the family formals you want us to capture.  Here is a sample family formal list (below) to help you start preparing what shots you need. 

We do have to limit the family formal time to make sure that we have plenty of daylight for your portraits, which we will chat about in a minute!  

However, any large family group shots that we don’t accomplish during family formals, we can be sure to capture at the reception! 

Sample List of Family Formals:

• Bride and Groom with Bride’s Immediate Family- Parents, Siblings, Grandparents, Nieces, Nephews
• Bride and Groom with Bride’s Parents
• Bride and Groom with Bride’s Siblings
• Bride with her Parents
• Bride with Mom individually
• Bride with Dad individually
• Bride and Groom with Bride’s Grandparents
• Bride and Groom with both sets of Parents
• Bride and Groom with Groom’s Immediate Family- Parents, Siblings, Grandparents, Nieces, Nephews
• Bride and Groom with Groom’s Parents
• Bride and Groom with Groom’s Siblings
• Groom with his Parents
• Groom with Mom individually
• Groom with Dad individually
• Bride and Groom with Groom’s Grandparents
• Bride and Groom with all family members, if time allows

Obviously, not everyone’s family looks identical, and we understand this! This list is to give a starting point and ideas to base yours on. 

You may be a same-sex couple, have step-parents in the mix, your grandparents may have passed on, or you may have aunts and uncles you are close to and want an individual shot with them. 

Again, use this list to begin making yours – we’ll discuss every last detail with you when the time comes and make sure you get all the shots you’re looking for! 

If you still need some more inspo for your list, check out The Knot’s suggestions too!

Portraits of the Happy Couple

If we’re being honest, all of the wedding day images are important, but the real favorites are almost always from our time with you!  

These portraits of just the two of you will be the images that you frame beside your bed or over your mantle, and they will also be the images that will fill your album for generations to enjoy.   

These images are always one of our favorites not only because of their beauty, but because this is such a sweet portion of the day.  For this brief moment in time,  you will be alone with each other on your wedding day.  You will have a chance to love on each other and really connect before the craziness begins!  

Wedding portraits are normally done before the ceremony, after the “First Look”. 

We also LOVE  shooting a few “just married” portraits after the ceremony as well! This is when the light is low and golden! If you’re not interested in a first look, we will make sure to include a lot of time after the ceremony for these portraits!   

Portraits with Your Wedding Party

Let’s chat about your wedding party! 

We know from experience that all couples want their closest friends to have an amazing time during their big day, and we will make sure that happens! Wedding party portraits should be a ton of fun but without a lot of the cheesiness.  

After you share your first look, depending on the locations and the timing of the day, your wedding party will join us for portraits! Be sure your groomsmen arrive with boutonnieres on, and your bridesmaids arrive with bouquets!

If all goes well, we will be able to accomplish ALL of your wedding party portraits BEFORE the ceremony.  This means that your friends will be free to mingle at cocktail hour if they wish!  

If there are flower girls and ring bearers involved, they can either join us for the pre-ceremony portraits or we can take one final group photo after the ceremony.  

Trusting ALL Your Wedding Portrait Locations

One of our favorite parts of our job is taking something so ordinary and making it look absolutely extraordinary!  This happens most often when it comes to picking portrait locations!  

If there is one thing that we love and appreciate about our couples, it’s that they trust us!  Sometimes we select portrait locations that most people wouldn’t consider “attractive.” 

Our encouragement is to just trust us!  You don’t have to worry about a thing!  Trust our locations, enjoy flashing your gorgeous smile, and we promise you—you’ll LOVE the results! 

If you love getting wedding tips and tricks like these, make sure to follow us over @jrphotony on Instagram. You can also comment here and let us know how your portrait list is coming along! You may just give another couple the brilliant idea they were looking to add to their list!