What Family Photos Should You Capture at Your Wedding?

(Updated: 10/07/2026)

What Family Photos Should You Capture at Your Wedding?

You absolutely don’t need a giant family photo list just because weddings are “supposed” to have one.

But the handful you choose can become some of the most important photographs in your gallery.

When I was a kid, I used to crawl under my parents’ bed, pull out their shoebox of wedding photos and go straight to the family portraits.

“Who’s that? Who’s that?”

Those photographs became little pieces of our family history.

So yes, I think family photos are worth making. I just don’t think you need to spend half your wedding standing in one spot while somebody works through every possible combination of relatives.

The trick is choosing the people who matter, getting everyone organised beforehand, and then getting you back to your guests — and your canapés.

How to plan your wedding family photos

1. Start with a short family photo list

Every family looks different. Yours might be traditional, blended, chosen, gloriously complicated or some combination of all of the above.

There is no universal list you need to work through.

Think of this as a menu, not a checklist.

A good starting point might be:

• Couple + one partner’s immediate family

• Couple + the other partner’s immediate family

• Couple + each set of parents or parent figures

• Couple + both sets of parents

• Couple + siblings from each side

• Couple + grandparents

• Couple + children or stepchildren

• Couple + any chosen-family people who are especially important to you

From there, you might add:

• Each partner individually with their parents or parent figures

• Each partner individually with siblings

• Three-generation photographs

• Extended family

• Separate combinations for blended or separated families

• Important friendship groups

• A photograph with one particular aunt, godparent, family friend or other person you’d genuinely be sad not to have

You can mix, delete and rearrange as much as you like.

The question I’d ask is:

If this photograph didn’t exist afterwards, would we genuinely miss it?

If the answer is no, you probably don’t need it on the formal list. There are plenty of other opportunities to photograph people throughout your wedding.

Use names on your list

This tiny thing makes family photos much easier.

Instead of: Partner A + Mum + Dad + siblings
Write: Alex + Priya + Joan + Michael + Sophie

Your photographer can call actual names, and whoever is helping gather your family has a much easier job. Especially when there are partners, step-parents, blended families and several people called Uncle Dave floating around.

2. Tell your photographer about family dynamics

You absolutely do not need to give your photographer the complete family history. But a little information beforehand can save some very awkward conversations in front of 40 relatives. Let them know about anything that might affect how your family photographs are organised, such as:

• Parents who are separated and would prefer not to be photographed together

• New partners or blended-family combinations

• Estranged family members

• Parent figures or chosen family whose relationship might not be obvious

• Grandparents or guests who can’t stand for long

• Anyone who needs easy access, seating or additional time

• Young children who are likely to run out of patience quickly

It means your photographer can quietly organise things in a way that works for your actual family, rather than trying to figure it out while everyone is standing there.

If somebody will struggle with waiting around — small children very much included — I’ll also try to photograph them early and release them.

Go forth. Sit down. Find Grandma a drink. Let the four-year-old escape. 😂

3. Tell your family when photos are happening

Family photographs become much quicker when everybody knows they’re expected. If we’re doing them straight after the ceremony, tell the people on your list beforehand and ask them to stay nearby.

Because otherwise Uncle Steve will absolutely choose that exact moment to:

• go to the toilet

• find the bar

• have a very important conversation with somebody he hasn’t seen since 2004

…and suddenly we're all waiting for Steve.

Your celebrant can also make a quick announcement after the ceremony asking immediate family to stay close.

I also recommend nominating one person from each side who knows everybody. They can help locate the next group while your photographer keeps photographing. It is significantly easier for your cousin to spot Auntie Judy in a crowd than it is for me.

4. Keep the list realistic

Every extra combination takes a little more time. One more photograph never sounds like much. But one more photograph, followed by another five “while we’re here” combinations, can quietly turn into a substantial chunk of your cocktail hour. And there are guests to hug. Drinks to drink. Canapés to eat.

So prioritise the photographs that actually matter.

If aunts, cousins, friendship groups or other guests want extra photographs, they don’t necessarily need to go on the formal family list. They can grab me later during a quieter moment at the reception and I’m very happy to photograph them.

Once you have your list, send it to your photographer. I use the actual combinations my couples request when working out how much time we need in the timeline.

5. Choose one good spot and keep things moving

I’ll usually photograph formal family groups in one location with good light rather than marching everybody around the venue. It’s faster, easier for grandparents, children and anyone with mobility needs, and it gets everyone back to the celebration sooner.

And yes — I absolutely take the useful everyone-looking-at-the-camera photograph.

Because even though I adore candid photographs, that beautifully straightforward family portrait is often the one a parent or grandparent prints, frames and keeps for decades.

Traditional photographs aren't the enemy. They just don't need to take over the wedding.

Once we have the useful photograph, there’s often room for the squeeze from Mum afterwards, siblings taking the piss out of each other, a kid doing something ridiculous, or somebody completely losing it laughing.

Those bits matter too.

What if you want more photos with your wedding guests?

This is where it gets fun.

Your formal family list does not need to contain every person you'd like a photograph with. There are loads of ways to end up with photographs of more of your guests without spending an enormous chunk of the afternoon lining everyone up.

Do a reception photo dash

I LOVE a photo dash.

The basic idea is simple: during the reception, you try to get a photograph with as many tables or groups of guests as possible in a very short amount of time. And there are so many ways to do it. The chaos inevitably leads to laughter and hilariously candid moments.

The song challenge

Choose a song and try to photograph every table before it finishes. Your photographer follows you around the room while you race from table to table.

It is chaotic.
It is ridiculous.
People get increasingly committed to helping you beat the song.
Excellent.

For a larger wedding, use two songs so nobody actually has to achieve Olympic qualifying speeds in formalwear.

Let your MC run it

Instead of racing around yourself, choose one spot and have your MC call people in.

That might be:

“Table three — GO!”

or:

“School friends!”
“Work crew!”
“All the cousins!”
“Everyone who knew them before they were sensible adults!”

People pile in, we take the photograph, and the next group comes up.

This works particularly well if you want the energy of a photo dash without physically sprinting around the reception.

Call tables up one at a time

If you want something less chaotic, your MC can invite each table up for a quick photograph at some point during the reception. It still gives you a photograph with loads of your guests, but without turning dinner into a competitive sport.

Grab your photographer during the reception

You can also just… ask me.

Seriously.

If you're talking to a group of old friends and suddenly think, Oh! I really want a photograph with these people, grab me. Those spontaneous little groups are often much more meaningful than trying to predict every possible combination six months beforehand.

There are usually quiet pockets during a reception where these photographs are easy to fit in without interrupting anything.

Take one giant group photograph

If your venue and guest numbers make it practical, an everyone-at-the-wedding photograph can also be fun. The easiest time is often directly after the ceremony, while everybody is already gathered in one place.

Just keep in mind that large group photographs can take longer than they appear to. Getting 100 humans to simultaneously stop talking, face one direction and resist wandering away is quite an achievement.

So I wouldn't do one purely because you think you're supposed to.

If you love the idea, absolutely.
If you don't, delete it.

Let the candid photographs do their job

And finally: you do not need a posed photograph with every person at your wedding to have photographs of them.

This is part of why I photograph the way I do. While you're talking, eating, hugging people, listening to speeches and being gloriously distracted by your own wedding, I'm also watching the rest of the room.

Your grandparents chatting at their table.
Your best friend losing it during a speech.
A parent watching you when you aren't looking.
Your friends crammed onto the dance floor.

The tiny interactions, ridiculous guest moments and things you couldn't possibly see because you were busy living another part of the day.

Formal photographs give you a record of who was there.

Candid photographs can give you something slightly different: what it felt like to have them there.

You can have both.

So, which family photos should you take?

The ones that matter to you.

Start with your immediate family, parent figures, siblings, grandparents, children and chosen family. Add the people or combinations you'd genuinely miss if they weren't photographed.

Tell everybody when they're needed. Give your photographer a little context about your family. Nominate somebody who can find Uncle Steve.

Then get the photographs — and get back to the wedding.

Because family portraits can become incredibly important with time.

But so can the photograph of Mum laughing with her sister, your mates losing their minds during the photo dash, Grandma on the dance floor, and all the other good stuff that happened once everyone stopped looking at the camera.