Photo Session, Part One

RZ's family, now Our Family ♥

My family, now Our Family ♥

Our Siblings ♡

Outtake of our Flower Girls ☺

New Mr. and Mrs. ★
(All Photos by Friends)

Our photo session kicked off with family photos at the altar of the church immediately following our ceremony (tip: always check that the church is available afterwards). We chose this time & place because we knew the major players would be at our ceremony & we could capture them quickly & easily before they wandered off in different directions. We decided to include the flower girls in the first session too because we hoped to catch them before they got tired. Sounds easy, right?

Boy, did this require some logistics. RZ & I paraded up the aisle, bright, happy, shiny & freshly married with our bridal party on our heels. Planner extraordinaire Eileen directed us to the small bridal room at the back of the church where we could relax & wait until the rest of our guests boarded the wedding shuttle. We simply couldn't chance getting caught in a long conversation with Aunt Missy & throwing off our timing. It turned out to be a sweet few moments sharing our joy with our bridal party. When the coast was clear of guests, Eileen ushered us to the front of the church where Photographer extraordinaire Tim & the TGP team were set up &, thankfully, our families were waiting.

We'd told our families well in advance to stick around after our ceremony for family photos. We'd repeated this information time & time again as our wedding approached. We included this information on our wedding web site & our wedding day itinerary. Still, you never know who might miss the memo. I breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was present.

Now comes the fun part. RZ & I are positioned at the altar. Tim & his team call out family names from the portrait list we gave them (tip: keep this list as simple & short as possible). Said family members come up as called & pose for photos with us. Well, well. Be prepared for people not listening & coming up as they please &/or not coming up at all. Our families include about 50 people but it seemed like a zoo. One sweet flower girl just wasn't having it. Things get a bit chaotic. I wondered if this was the best idea for the first minutes of our new marriage. Just keep smiling, it will be over soon.

& the treasured family photos will be worth it!

I was a very happy Bride when the family photos were over & we could move on to bridal party photos!!