Planning Your Wedding: Must Have Wedding Photos

Photographs taken to record your wedding day are photos that you will treasure for a lifetime. They will be the very first of your own family photos. Your children and grandchildren will treasure them as heirlooms. Make sure you have a complete list of all the photos you want and have a good photographer take them all.

Formal Portraits

There are specific portraits that both you and your family members will want. You'll need individual photos of each of the bride and groom. Then you'll want photos of the bride and groom alone together. The bride should have photos taken with the maid of honor, her bridesmaids, and her parents. The groom should have photos taken with his best man, the groomsmen and his parents. The bride and groom should have group photos taken with them and their wedding party, both sets of their parents, the bride's parents, the groom's parents, the bride's family and the groom's family.

Pre-Wedding Photos

Pre-wedding photos can be easily done by friends or members of the wedding party with cameras and really don't need to be done professionally. They should include pictures of the bride getting ready and leaving for the ceremony, the groom getting ready and leaving for the ceremony and even the reception site being set up. Sometimes even a photo of a place setting can be a lovely reminder of a wonderful meal shared with everyone you love. The seating cards display, centerpieces, favors and wedding cake photos can all be taken just prior to guests arriving as well.

Ceremony Photos

Many of these can also be taken by an amateur. You can begin with signs directing guests to the wedding, the ceremony site, guests arriving at the ceremony site, the program, special guests being escorted to their seats, parents entering the ceremony site, the groom awaiting the bride, the attendants/bridal party awaiting the bride and child attendants walking down the aisle. The photos that you'll want taken professionally are those of the bride walking down the aisle, special guests watching the ceremony such as elder family members, the wedding kiss, the signing of the wedding certificate, the bride and groom leaving the ceremony location, and the bride's and groom's hands showing off their wedding bands.

Reception Photos

Some great ideas for reception photos include friends and family signing the guest book and guests enjoying a cocktail hour (while the bride, groom and wedding party are most likely posing for group photos elsewhere). The important photos are people giving toasts, the bride and groom sitting together, group photos of each table of guests, the bride and groom's first dance, the bride dancing with her father, the groom dancing with his mother, the bride and groom cutting the cake and finally the bride and groom leaving for their honeymoon.

Hopefully these tips have helped you to select the special photographs that you want taken on your very special day. After all, these will be photos that you will be cherished for many lifetimes.