Family Formal Shot List for a DFW Wedding

Short answer: family formals take 20 to 30 minutes at the weddings I shoot, and I tell couples to build a list we can get through in 15 to 20. We go largest group down to smallest. And I call the names out myself, so nobody in your family is stuck standing next to me holding a piece of paper. I send you my family formal shot list template about 2 to 3 months before the wedding, and we fill it in together on our planning call.

A family formal list is not a wish list of every person you love; it is the shortest possible set of groupings that covers the relationships you will actually print.

How long do family formals take at a wedding?

The honest average across the weddings I shoot is 20 to 30 minutes.

What I recommend, though, is that you build a list you could finish in 15 to 20 minutes. Not because I am trying to rush your grandmother, but because every list grows on the day. Somebody wants one more with the cousins. If your list is already sitting at the ceiling when we start, there is nowhere to put the extras except into your cocktail hour.

What order should family formal photos go in?

Largest group to smallest. Always, at every wedding, and it is not a stylistic preference.

The reason is mechanical. When you start big and work down, every transition is people leaving the frame. People leaving is fast; they just walk off. When you start small and build up, every transition is people being found, and finding people is where the 20 minutes goes.

So in practice the shape of it runs something like this:

• Everybody, both families together with the two of you.
• Both immediate families with the two of you.
• One side’s extended family, then that side’s immediate family.
• Then the smaller ones on that side: with both parents, with mom, with dad, with siblings, with grandparents.
• Then the same pass on the other side.
• Then just the two of you, which rolls straight into your couple portraits.

Who calls out the names during family formals?

I do.

I call the names myself. I have the list, I know the order it needs to go in, I know which grouping is coming next and who is already standing in the right place, and I can see through the viewfinder who is missing.

What I need from you is not a caller. What I need is the list, filled in with real first names, a couple of months ahead of the day, so that when I say a name out loud the person it belongs to actually turns around.

And if your family speaks Spanish, I speak Spanish. I can run a 30 person family formal in Spanish and keep up with a fast conversation with a grandmother while I do it. That is not a service line on my pricing page, it is just true, and at a lot of the weddings I shoot it is the difference between 20 minutes and 40.

What actually makes family formals run long?

Two things. Not the list length, not divorced parents, not the size of the family.

• A missing grandparent. Somebody’s grandma went to sit down, or went to the restroom, or got walked out to the car, and now the biggest grouping on the list is on hold while three people go look for her.
• People wandering off. The ceremony ends, cocktail hour opens somewhere nearby with a bar in it, and half of the extended family photo is now holding a drink in another room.

Both of those are fixable with one sentence. Have whoever is running your ceremony say, right at the end, that family staying for photos should stay put in the ceremony space, and that cocktail hour is open for everyone else. It costs nothing and it is worth more than any shot list formatting.

How do family formals work with divorced parents?

Better than couples expect, honestly.

Divorced parents have never actually been a problem for me on a wedding day. Not once in a way that cost us time or a photo. What I do is simple: I split the groupings. Some with mom, some with dad, and we do not force a frame that nobody in it wants. On the day, families are generally cordial with each other; whatever the history is, it tends to stay parked for a few hours because everyone is there for the same reason.

BUT, I do need to know in advance. Tell me on the planning call how you want it split, and it becomes a non-event. Tell me during formals and I am guessing in front of an audience.

When do I get the shot list template?

I send it about 2 to 3 months out. It is a real template, the same one I use at every wedding, and it comes with the timeline work we do together, usually alongside your planner if you have one.

We talk it through on the pre wedding consultation, which runs 30 to 60 minutes on Google Meet or Zoom. If the list is too long, I will tell you it is too long and show you which groupings are already covered by a bigger one. That conversation takes about five minutes and saves fifteen on the day.

Where do family formals fit in the wedding day timeline?

Right after the ceremony, in the ceremony space, before anybody moves.

The only buffer I ask for in the whole day is 15 minutes before the ceremony to get set up. After the recessional we go straight into photos: family first, then the two of you, then the wedding party if you are up for it. There is no dead zone built in and there does not need to be one. The only real downtime in a normal day is about 10 minutes before the reception opens, for bustling the dress and lining up the entrances.

If you want the whole day laid out, I wrote that one here: wedding day timeline, hour by hour.

Should I do family formals before the ceremony instead?

You can, and a first look is what makes it possible.

I recommend the first look with your partner anyway, for a different reason: it gets your couple portraits done early and leaves room for newlywed portraits after the ceremony, when you are both relieved and loose. Once that first look is on the timeline, moving some of the family in front of the ceremony becomes an option rather than a scramble.

Worth knowing what actually gets printed, too. The frames my couples put on a wall are almost always the portraits right after the first look and the sunset portraits. Family formals are not usually the wall; they are the album and the parents’ house, and they are the photos that matter most to the generation above you. Both things are true at once, which is why the answer is a tight list rather than no list.

Do I need a second photographer for family formals?

Not for the formals specifically. A second photographer is for the main part of the day, and where it really earns its keep is when getting ready is split across two locations. It adds 100 to 200+ images to your gallery.

It is included from Estate up, and the pricing for all of it is on the pricing page, all of it, because you should not have to book a call to find out what something costs. I recommend 10 hours of coverage; 8 can be tight, and about 30% of my couples book 8 and do fine.

Frequently asked questions about family formals

How much time should I budget for family photos at my wedding?

Twenty to 30 minutes is the real average at the weddings I shoot. I recommend building a list you could finish in 15 to 20, because lists always grow on the day. The extra room is what keeps family formals from eating into your cocktail hour.

Who should call out names for family formal photos?

I do. I have the list, I know the order, and I can see who is missing from the frame. You do not need to assign a coordinator, a sibling or an uncle to read names. What I need from you is the filled in list a couple of months ahead, with real first names on it.

What order do family wedding photos go in?

Largest group to smallest, every time. Starting big means every transition is people leaving the frame instead of people being hunted down, and leaving is fast. We finish on the two of you alone, which rolls straight into your couple portraits with no gap.

How do you handle family photos when the parents are divorced?

I split the groupings, some with mom and some with dad, and we skip any frame nobody wants. It has honestly never been a real problem at a wedding I have shot. Families tend to be cordial on the day. I just need to know the split in advance rather than during formals.

When do you send the family formal shot list?

About 2 to 3 months before the wedding. It is a real template, the same one I use at every wedding, and it comes as part of the timeline work we do together, usually alongside your planner. We go through it on the consultation call and cut anything that is already covered.

The short version

Fill in the template I send you, keep it to something we could finish in 15 to 20 minutes, and ask whoever runs your ceremony to tell family to stay put. I will do the rest of it out loud. Your grandmother will be in the photo, the list will not eat your cocktail hour, and you will be holding a drink while your guests wonder how that went so fast!!!

I am based in Denton and there is no travel fee anywhere in greater DFW, so wherever your venue is, this is the same conversation. Let me know if you want to look at dates. If not then no worries!