Behind the Frame Monday: Embracing the Chaos

Family portraits can be one of the most stressful elements to the wedding day, but it most certainly doesn’t have to be.  The best way to turn the process from a headache to a pleasant time is to create a shot list with your most important photos and really give some thought to what you’ll want in your album or you want to frame.  Having an endless list of combinations where you play the wedding hokey-pokey (putting one person in and taking another out) gets super tiring for both you and your guests.  At the same time weddings are all about family and it’s a wonderful opportunity where everyone is together and dressed up nicely so you definitely want to get some nice photos.  So make a list, pick your priorities and trust your photographer when they recommend how much time you need for that list.  And the most important factor, which is true for the whole wedding day, is to embrace the chaos! Not everything will go 100% the way it was planned, and often my favorite moments happen when they go a little awry.  Taking pictures with a group of adults who may wander off to say hi to someone or get a drink is hard enough, but add in children or pets and things may get a little crazy.  However when you react to it well and live in the moment rather than live in the desire to get the perfect picture, you may end up with an even better picture.  This is one of my all time favorite flower girl photos from a lovely intimate wedding in Brooklyn.  Neither flower girl had any interest in being photographed and both wanted to run around and play in their dresses.  The bride just laughed it off and this funny moment of one of the girls twirling and the other trying to make a break for it captures the joy and the chaos of the moment.  So to brides, keep an open mind and laugh it off, and to photographers, keep on clicking away because those in between moments can be pure gold!