Mo+Boy Tie the Knot: Family Portraits

Like most post-brides, I have some regrets. One regret is the family portraits, because if I had known the magnitude of what our parents wanted, I would have booked a photographer just to take portraits and have everyone and anyone arrive hours earlier…like at daybreak. I think given all of the portraits that were crammed in roughly 1-2 hours, our photographer did a great job managing the throngs of people. And I managed to keep my head on straight and didn’t yell at anyone. Score!

Here’s a sampling of the gazillion family portraits that were taken.

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These bouquets really popped against my sisters’ dresses! I loved how they looked juxtaposed to the bright green.

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{Our bouquets all together}

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{My adorable niece, our flower girl; My immediate family, parents, sisters, and brother-in-laws}

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{My extended family–and believe it or not, this isn’t even all of the family I invited. Two large families could not make it to the wedding, so imagine another 30 people on top of this crowd. In order to get everyone together, I got on the mic trying to corral everyone. It kinda sort of worked, but I’m pretty sure my cousins had to go nab people for me!}

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{My sisters}

I can’t really say I have any tips around how to navigate the family portraits if you have a big family and need the portraits. Every family is different, and I can’t really say what would offend and what wouldn’t in a general sense, but if I had a time machine, I would have:

1. Booked photography for the entire day and had anyone and everyone take pictures early in the day.
2. Brought a bull horn.
3. Made multiple copies of the portrait list and had a few people in charge of rounding up the herds.
4. Remembered to breathe.

Do you have any tips for the family portraits? Anyone else have an insanely large family like mine?

*Photos by Jessamyn Harris and Sheri Tennison Berg for Jessamyn Harris Photography