In my experience as a professional wedding photographer, I would say that the people who are usually forgotten about when it comes to wedding photos are the individual shots of the parents of the bride and/or groom.

Lots of photographers will definitely include the parents in the photos with the bridal couple, but most won’t think to inquire about capturing group shots of the parents with all their brothers and sisters who are atttending the wedding.

While you’re getting these photos taken, remember to capture the entire core family in the photos and be sure to include any parents/grand-parents of those brothers and sisters that are there.

Weddings are the most perfect place to take these kind of family photos, it is a special day which brings family and friends together to share a common interest. Everyone in the families has gathered for the big event, many times from far flung regions of the country.

Your wedding may well be the first time all the siblings have gotten together in years. And it may be many years in the future before this such a gathering happens again.
If the opportunity to take these group photos is passed over because nobody thought much about the importance of this fleeting opportunity, then those photos may end up never being captured. These photos often turn out to be the most important and most appreciated of all the photos I take regularily at the wedding.

Other important people that most photographers will probably overlook photographing for you at the wedding, unless you give them your written photo request list, are the bride and/or groom’s god parents, high school friends, youth camp friends and groups of the bridal couple’s co-workers.

With these special family photos you have to specifically ask for them to be taken, or they just won’t be done!I’d be willing to take a bet that less than 5 percent of professional wedding photographers today know to get these photos for you.
 
The one thing no professional wedding photographer can do is look at a room full of total strangers and figure out how they interlock with each other just by looking! We send each bride a list before the wedding requesting exactly this kind of information, so that we don’t end up missing anyone of importance.

Remember, wedding photographer’s arent psychic’s. We can’t read your mind when it comes to who among those present on your wedding are of importance to you and need to be in a group photo with you.Make sure that your wedding photographer is thoroughly armed with this often information, so that they will get these photos for you.

You might also help make getting these photos easier for your photographer by asking someone(like your best man) to make sure that the people who are going to be photographed in the special group photos are told to stick around for the photos being taken when the other groups are done…either before or immediately after the wedding ceremony.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can pull these groups together at the reception, because getting them all together at the same time at the reception is one of the most difficult things someone will have to do on your wedding day. Rather avoid doing these photos at the reception altogether, if possible and get them done early in the day.

Lastly, make sure the best man informs all the people to be included in your photos to stay in the room the photos will be taken until all the groups are done. If one person slips off because they think they are done being photographed and it turns out that they are needed for an additional last-minute group request, everything grinds to a halt photo-wise, until someone tracks them down and brings the back.

Hope this helps in making your big day unforgettable!!

Riani