Wedding party photos don’t have to be an overwhelming part of your special day. They can actually be quite fun as long as you plan ahead. In this blog post, I will be sharing my tips on how to ensure that your wedding party pictures run smoothly!

First I want to begin by saying, plan enough time in your wedding timeline for this part of your day! I usually advise setting aside about 45 minutes for group photos. To be safe in case anyone runs off and you have to send people to look for other members of the wedding party, probably around an hour and a half would be best. This, of course, will depend on how big your whole wedding party is, for some people they might not need this much time.

Have A Shot List of Wedding Party Photos

The first step in making sure these group photos run smoothly is to have an ideal shot list that you have already gone over with your photographer beforehand. This way they are fully prepared and already have an idea of who needs to be in what pictures.

Inform Everyone Of Timeline + Location

All of your wedding party members should be in the know of your wedding day timeline and the location of every event, especially your picture location(s). This way they can be prepared and know exactly where to go to.

Tell each wedding party member to be at the location you’re taking pictures at 10-15 minutes before they actually need to me

So if your wedding party pictures don’t start until 6:00 pm, tell your wedding party they start at 5:45 pm. This will almost 100% ensure everyone is where they need to be on time and you do not have to send people off to find other members. In the case that you do have to go find people, ushers and bridesmaids are the best at doing this.

Make Sure Everyone Is Ready

This can be a lot on the Bride or Groom to make sure that everyone is ready before pictures. In that case, delegate this job to your Maid of Honor and/or the Best Man. Let them know before the wedding day that they will be in charge of making sure everyone is ready to go when they need to be – hair done, makeup done, all dressed, and they get where they need to go to be ready for pictures.

Prioritize Older Guests

Be sure to take whatever pictures you want with the older people in your group so that they don’t have to stand around and wait for long periods of time. Another option is to have seating wherever you’re taking the pictures at and/or a cool spot for them to wait in.

Plan For Bad Weather

If you are planning to take your wedding party photos outside, you’ll want to have a backup location to shoot at in case of bad weather. This will help things run smoothly and ease your mind in the case that this happens. Another great option is to provide clear umbrellas for your wedding party. These can make for really great pictures!

Now that we have talked about all the different ways you can plan for smooth wedding party photos, let me remind you to enjoy yourself! My biggest wedding tip ever to help take the stress away from brides is to delegate tasks to people. If you don’t want to worry about something on your wedding day, then you don’t have to. Someone in your wedding party I’m sure will be more than happy to help you with anything you need. You plan everything ahead of time to help relieve any stress that you might have on your actual day.