<p>My wedding was the first glimpse I got of my H’s family tradition to assemble the entire extended family (“his side”) for one tightly-grouped picture of all standing. It takes 20 minutes to gather, but they’re so used to it, they’re disciplied and jump to the call.</p>
<p>Once assembled, they hail the B&G to occupy the front center two chairs (left for them to sit in at last possible minute). Haha, when the photographer says, “tall people to the back” that’s always the in-laws. Children gather in front of the first row of adults, flanking B&G. They have a set of these from every happy family gathering, and they are archival since all are included. Mind you, everybody’s head is the size of a nickel in the photo, but every second-cousin-twice-removed is in it.</p>
<p>At my wedding, my cousins were so impressed watching this, and not to be outdone, they called out for a similar bride-side all-grouping, which we did.</p>
<p>At S’s wedding, he and his bride agreed to a similar all-call for each “side.” ETA: And yes, there were blendeds and ex’es, but they just had to suck-it-up for a few minutes. ONE picture of “groom family with couple” and ONE picture of “bride family with couple.” Deal with it; it’s their day. Anyone gritting their teeth looks like they’re smiling :D</p>
<p>Now I’m only sad we didn’t create an all-call for their own friends, too. </p>
<p>This generally happens in the very last hour of the reception. It takes 20 minutes to pull everyone from bathrooms, position wheelchairs and get every person’s face visible to the professional photographer’s satisfaction. By then, nobody can hold in their stomach any more, so it’s an honest family portrait! B&G are socializing or dancing through all this, until they’re called in at the very last minute, to sit in the 2 (only) front empty chairs. SNAP! and done.</p>
<p>For my D’s wedding in late June, we were able to hire a photographer who gave us a CD of every single photo he took, good, bad, or indifferent. Over 1000 photos. We have all the rights. </p>
<p>The shot list included about ten shots, with varying degrees of relatives. I did gather my sisters for a sisters-only (there are four of us) photo before the wedding. (We were not on the shot list.) My daughter asked a friend of hers to be the herder for the formal shots. She did a great job of gathering everyone as the previous group was being photographed, and the whole thing took less than fifteen minutes.</p>
<p>I’m with musicamerica - we were at a family wedding last week and I told my D that I would be very happy when the time came for her to get married if she just eloped. You can never please everyone. I don’t like what weddings have turned into. We have such a huge family that aunts, uncles, and cousins have never been in the official photos.</p>
<p>Exactly. It will bother my mother if she doesn’t end up with a good family picture.</p>
<p>Also someone else mentioned that the photographer can take pictures of all the families, with or without the bride and groom. That was done before our ceremony - that time when everyone is there, all dressed up with nothing to do. BUT, the photographer did H’s side of the family but not mine. I do still remember that.</p>
<p>It depends. I just looked at my wedding pictures, and they only included immediate family in the group shots. No aunts, uncles, cousin, etc. We just attended a cousin’s wedding and they drew a pretty tight circle on who were the family members in the pictures, but this was a large family, and even with just the siblings, parents and grandparents, it was quite a crowd. </p>
<p>When we had a large family reunion/Birthday party for my MIL, we did include everyone, but the group shots that had too many people made for some very tiny faces. I’m glad we broke everyone into family groups so that there were no more than about a dozen in each cluster.</p>
My only point has been that this should be with the consent of the B&G before the wedding. Someone is paying the photographer (B&G, brides family, grooms family, or a combination thereof) and has instructed them what to be doing the entire time they are there. Simply deciding on your own that the photographer has ‘down time’ and should certainly be able to take family photos is not necessarily the case. Arrange with the B&G ahead of time. Asking the mother of the groom doesn’t count btw, as she is usually not the one coordinating the photographer. </p>
<p>I guess my ultimate point is, don’t undermine the wishes of the B&G on their wedding day, and if you haven’t asked ahead of time, redirecting their staff on that day is what you are doing.</p>
<p>When my niece got married last year she did the family pictures before the ceremony in various locations around New York. Of course, since no one from my family was invited to the photo sessions, there are none of the bride with her grandmother, godfather or only aunt. No candids of the whole three members of her mother’s family, either. But that was her choice. Now that my mother is failing, I think my sister feels badly about that. She did send me the log-in information for my niece’s photographer, so with that information I could have ordered photos. I must say they were the best wedding photos I’ve ever seen.</p>
Odd, indeed. Did H’s family pay for the photographer?</p>
<p>
It would have been the perfect opportunity furing the “getting ready” photos. A photo of the mom and grandmother with the daughter getting ready would have been lovely!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>8X10s for the wedding party members? (What did they end up doing with them? Seems kind of large to me, and not something I’d hang on my wall or keep on my dresser!)</p>
<p>No…I paid the photographer. I guess he just forgot to do my side, and being the bride and all, I didn’t remember. We did have a family picture taken at the front of the church after the wedding. [Note: This is the guy who photographed the entire ceremony and took all the pix at the church afterwards with his fly down, so it really didn’t surprise me when we got the proofs that he had forgetten to take a chunk of the pictures.]</p>
<p>Sometimes a family member or even a non family guest will ask the photographer to take a special pose, of the family itself at the wedding, or with the bride and groom. Most of the time, the photographer will acquiesce. I went to a wedding last year where the groom’s family was from over seas, from Australia to Europe to Africa as well as members in this country. I believe that they did do some special picture taking sessions since it is so rare to have them all here, and the bride’s family was more than happy to let them take some non wedding family photos as well as wedding shots. They were not as interested in family pictures as their (the bride’s ) family gets to gether often and they have a number of such photos.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread, but my DH and I were not in ANY of my brother’s wedding photos. And I am his only sibling. In fact, I really don’t know if my parents were in any, or if so, how many. Never saw any wedding photo except one taken by a friend of theirs at the reception.</p>
<p>My brother and his wife are odd ducks, but that doesn’t excuse their behavior back then. Well, at least they are consistent.</p>
<p>To get back to the OP’s question, it appears that there are all sorts of ways that this is done, but it wouldn’t be at all unusual for the posed wedding pictures to include only the wedding party and the immediate family, and for all other guests (including extended family) to be captured in candids (or shots of the table, if you had a meal, for example). If this is typical for the photographer that was used, then I don’t think there was necessarily any snub at all.</p>
This should all be arranged through the B&G before the wedding. The family knew well in advance they were coming from overseas and a picture would be nice. It’s a lovely idea. Arrange it with the B&G so it can be worked in. At the wedding you were at this must have worked out nicely. At mine, not so much. My MIL commandeered the photographer at the reception for just this purpose, overseas family photos. My photographer missed the cutting of the cake, bouquet, etc., because he was getting wonderful shots of my MIL’s extended family. No one could find him (she’d pulled them into a room in the officer’s club I was not familiar with), and we were on a strict time schedule to move along as there was another reception right after ours.</p>
<p>Simply ask ahead of time…in our case it would have worked out fine to have gotten extended family shots at a beautiful outdoor location after the actual reception had ended right next to the club, and not have my photographer miss any part of what he was hired by me to do. No one asked prior so I was not afforded the opportunity to coordinate this properly.</p>
<p>Zoosermom, I was thinking YOU must have some great stories!</p>
<p>I have an 8x10 of one brother’s wedding - just him and bride - it’s a great picture they look so happy and relaxed. I don’t have any of the other brother and I was in the wedding party for that one. I think that’s more because my sister-in-law really didn’t like them. There *are *pictures of me!</p>
<p>My wedding photographer took spectacular shots, but when we reviewed the proofs and selected the pictures for the album there seemed to be less than we expected and also fewer family shots than I thought. And he let my mother leave her sunglasses on in several of the pictures Well, we made the best of it, ordered/received the albums, and lo and behold, THEN he finds an additional roll of film he’d shot that we never saw. Well, he had the decency to print and send us the proofs at no cost, but the albums would have had other photos if we’d seen these sooner.</p>
<p>Oh, and as for relatives who decide to ask the photographer for other family photos of their family, it happened at our sons bar mitzvah receptions too. But I dont think any major important photo op was missed. Thats awful, blueiguana!</p>
<p>Of course. I have wedding photos from my Ds’ weddings, framed, in our home, and even one from my own wedding. Also keep in mind that noone is looking at the pictures ‘a week or two after the wedding’. It takes months before you get the photographer’s photos.</p>
Well, we made the best of it, ordered/received the albums, and lo and behold, THEN he finds an additional roll of film he’d shot that we never saw. Well, he had the decency to print and send us the proofs at no cost, but the albums would have had other photos if we’d seen these sooner.</p>