I searched under "groups", "formals" but found nothing on this exactly. Perhaps as it's so basic... I wonder how many groups you to limit per wedding? I've heard of one photog allowing just 6, which seems kinda low. I usually do around 10 - I've never specified a number, just given advise examples and expressed the importance of keeping this to the essentials because of quality of time.
Today I got a list of 32 different groups. So I think I might have to start specifying an actual number
For me it differs...standard would be 6. Other times a few more. 32 is extreme! Did maybe 12-15 at one wedding last year (not normal for me though), but bride was super organised & had everybody ready & all I did was arrange each group & shoot it, no need for finding people!
You're being paid for the time regardless. I think what you really need to get across is that each group shot takes time to set up and get done and that you're not responsible for rounding up Aunt May, Grandma Janice and the cousins from South Carolina. But if the couple and the family has that time, why not. If you have the lights up already, it isn't too much more trouble.
I average 8-10 formal groups per wedding, but the actual number for you will depend on your shooting style and the expectations of the couples who have booked you. Meeting and managing client expectations in this area is vital, so communicate with each couple on this issue.
For my style I've found over the years that concentrating on 8-10 important groupings provides the right balance between getting the important group shots for my couples (and more often their families,) and not letting this part of the day chew up hours and hours of their afternoon.
If this happens you'll start to see the stress and 'angst' in the faces of those people who've been kept hanging around all afternoon.
After 10 years I'm finally in a place where I believe that I've got the balance right for my style and for my clients expectations.
It depends. I've done anywhere from 4-5 to 20 different groupings in a wedding. I just inform the B&G that the more time we spend on group formals means there is less time for just B&G photos. I also tell them that during the reception they can just grab a couple people & we can get some group shots that way.
It's different for every couple, the only thing we 'limit' it to is recommending to the couple that we keep it to the bare minimum of people that are really important to them, not every aunt and uncle and cousin who wants a shot alone with the B&G, because nobody wants those pictures and it's a miserable waste of time for the B&G and they want to hurry up and get to their cocktail hour. Generally speaking we do ~10 groupings in about 10-15 minutes assuming we don't have any people missing. We're pretty quick and have a list of exactly who will be in each shot.
25 groups at my last wedding --45 minutes --2 cameras--my lights and poppers-- no pod --I read their list off my iphone and called out the next group shot -- and they did this 2 hours before the wedding which I was thankful for because after the wedding it is really hard to do more than 10 because the smell of food is overwhelming...
it is what ever they want though but 25 with my lights is the most I've done -- and with setup I'd be asking for 1 hour for that
but I work hard to get a 1.5 hr cocktail hour for both inside family shots (up to 10 groups) and outside wedding party photos -- dozens of creative shots in separate park or garden -- it is hard to get this timing though
We remind them that we are there to shoot their wedding activities and not a family photo session.
With reminding them that it is not a family photo session we let them know if the more group shots they want the less time for photographing everything else.
-- it is hard to get this timing though