The Wedding Photo Shot List You Actually Need (and the Family Formals List That Saves 30 Minutes)

A long shot list makes a wedding day worse, not better. A photographer working from three pages of "bride laughing with bridesmaids" is looking at the paper, not at you. What actually helps is a short list of the things we cannot guess: who your family is, which details you paid for, and the two or three moments that matter to you specifically. Here is how we ask for it.

What we photograph without being told

You do not need to list these. They are the day.

• The room, the dress or suit, the rings, the shoes, the invitation suite, the flowers
• Getting ready, from the last of the makeup to the moment you are dressed
• A parent seeing you dressed
• Individual portraits and the wedding party on each side
• The ceremony site empty, then filling
• The processional, the walk in, the reaction at the end of the aisle
• Vows, rings, the kiss, the recessional
• Family formals from your list
• Wedding party portraits, then the two of you alone
• Reception details before guests enter: tables, cake, place cards, the bar sign
• Entrance, first dance, toasts and the faces listening to them
• Parent dances, cake cutting, the dance floor from inside it
• The exit, if coverage includes it

The family formals list

This is the list that saves the most time. Write it out with names, not roles, and give a copy to one person on each side who knows everyone and is not shy. We work from the largest group to the smallest so the extended family is released first and grandparents are never standing for twenty minutes.

A typical order for one side, repeated for the other:

1. Couple with partner's full extended family
2. Couple with partner's grandparents
3. Couple with partner's parents and siblings
4. Couple with partner's parents
5. Partner alone with parents
6. Partner alone with each parent
7. Couple with partner's siblings

Then both families together, and a group of everyone in the wedding party with the couple. Ten to twelve groupings is normal and takes about thirty minutes. Beyond fifteen, formals eat the portrait light, and we will say so when we see the list.

Two things to tell us in advance: any family situation where two people should not be placed side by side, and anyone with mobility needs who should be photographed first and seated.

Details worth naming

We photograph details, but we cannot know which ones cost you a month of planning. Tell us about:

• A dress, veil or jewelry that belonged to someone
• A handwritten letter, a vow book, a photo of a grandparent on the table
• Custom signage, a cocktail named after the dog, a family recipe on the menu
• The car, the boat, the bicycle, if there is one
• Anything a guest made

Moments worth naming

Two or three. Not twenty. Examples couples have given us: "my dad has never danced in public and says he will tonight," "my sister is deaf and will sign her toast," "our college friends do a specific song and it will be chaos." These are the notes we read again in the car on the way to the venue.

The list we ask you not to make

Pinterest boards of specific poses. We will look at them and understand your taste, but recreating someone else's photo means missing your own. A dip on a beach at sunset in Santa Barbara does not translate to a barn in Vermont in October, and the attempt costs the light.

A printable version

Copy the family list above into a note, fill in names, and send it with your timeline. If you would like the timeline built around sunset first, our 8-hour timeline post is the place to start, and the month-by-month sunset table for your city is on its location page.