Posing for family formals — can they be stressful? Yes. But that doesn’t mean you can’t handle them with professionalism and grace. That’s why we’ve put together a few posing techniques for you try out for your next session when it comes to posing your bride and groom with their families!
Also, when posing for family formals, know that some of the tips we shared with you on posing the bridesmaids and groomsmen work just as well with the family photos, especially with smaller family groups.
6 Posing Techniques for Family Formals
1. For starters, when posing for family formals, strive to pose your families in front of a simple background. And if you are shooting outdoors, try blurring out the background to ensure the focus is on the bride, groom, and their families.
2. When shooting indoors, seek a background that has complementary colors to the main colors the bride and groom selected for their wedding.
3. Definitely try to get some generational family photos when posing for family formals. For instance:
- Bride, Mother of the bride, Grandmother, & Great Grandmother, all leaning in on each other (like the bridesmaid photo below)
- Great Grandmother with grandchildren
- Grandmother & Great Grandmother sitting on chairs in front with the bride and her mother standing in the back
4. Speaking of generational photos, when posing for family formals, this is a great one to include! If you photograph the bride’s, mother’s, grandmother’s and great grandmother’s hands either holding hands or close together you can showcase the generations and maybe even with them all wearing their wedding rings.
5. To stay on the theme of being personable, ask someone to tell a funny joke, tell a joke yourself, dance funny, or even make a funny face. Once the family starts to laugh and joke with each other, the images you capture will be candid and genuine.
6. When posing for family formals, put the bride and groom in the middle and then have the family members turn towards the bride and groom and get close to each other, so there are no gaps between each person. Position everyone so that their arms and shoulders are touching one another. Consider asking men to put hands in pockets. AND — most importantly — MAKE SURE faces are not hidden and that you can see every face clearly!
Further Read: A Guide To Wedding Photography Poses
With these posing for family formals techniques in mind, you should be well equipped to handle even the toughest of family formals. So go out there confident and ready to conquer the day! Want more posing tips? Check out these two blog posts!
Posing for Bridal Portraits and Posing Your Couples on the Wedding Day
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