Wedding Photography in Mundhwa, Pune

The one day everyone is there

A wedding is the only day the whole family is in one place, and most of it gets used on everything else.

Which is why the group photographs so often end up rushed at the end, from whoever has not yet left, in the worst light of the day.

The families who get them properly are the ones who put them in the schedule as a fixed item rather than as something to fit in.

Twenty minutes, at a named time, with a named person responsible for gathering people. That last part matters more than anything we do.

Without somebody whose job it is to find the relatives, a photographer spends the twenty minutes searching rather than photographing, and the list does not get finished.

It is also worth accepting that some combinations will not happen. A list of forty groups is not a list, it is a wish; twelve gets done.

It is worth accepting that the photographer cannot chase people.

A photographer sent to find a great-uncle is a photographer not photographing anything, and at a wedding there is always somebody who cannot be found.

That is why the named gatherer on each side matters more than any equipment or technique decision made on the day.

Families who appoint one usually get their whole list. Families who do not usually get about half of it.

It is also worth telling that person the list in advance rather than handing it to them on the day.

Twenty minutes is enough time to photograph twelve groups and nowhere near enough to work out who is in them.

It is worth telling the gatherer which groups matter most, in case there is only time for some.

A prioritised list survives a compressed twenty minutes. An unordered one produces whichever groups happened to be nearby.