Formal photos - cont'd

Kate asked earlier today what the secret is for organising the formal family photos, by which we mean shots like this one from a different Kate's wedding.

Unless you're very lucky, opting out of doing any family formals at all is unlikely to be an option because of the grief you'd get from family members - especially the wrinklies who usually look forward to being included in them. And besides, 10 or 20 years down the road, you may well be glad that you did a few after all.

The first thing to do is simply accept that these pictures will take longer than they should, and the second is to accept that it's no good handing the problem over to your photographer.

Best advice is to assume that the best man and ushers will be of no use whatsoever on the day, and to appoint instead a bossy bridesmaid or girlfriend to be People Rounder-Upper. Somebody who can be really pushy if need be and who's not averse to shouting at people if she has to.

Your People Rounder-Upper needs a list of the formal shots in the correct running order, with names of everybody who's in each shot. Doing a roll-call usually goes down well if it's done light-heartedly, and it also helps if you've primed the people concerned beforehand so they know they'll be needed for a picture.

There are various other ways and means of speeding up the whole process and actually making it fun, but we go through those with our clients on the run-up to the big day, along with all the other hints and tips.

What's a good number of posed formals? That depends a lot on how much time you've allowed for them, how well people co-operate, the weather and the conjunction of the planets, but we're unlikely to be the right photographers for anybody who wants more than 8, excluding the couple on their own.