I received a number of emails this week all pertaining to one thing: Formal Group Pictures. Some emails were light-hearted and funny, others filled with dread and disdain. One emailer even asked if I took any formal pictures at all, and it made me crack up. The answer is yes. Yes, I take formal wedding group photos….but I hardly blog them because I don't feel the photos are truly reflective of my ability as a photographer. Truth be told, just about anyone can line up a group and snap a photo, so I don't really showcase them since they're not overwhelmingly unique.

I, however, wanted to show a few samples of my formal photos because a few readers asked about them. So much so, I'm wondering if a group colluded and planned to email me all in the same week! 😉 My goal as I shoot wedding formal pictures is to keep things as fast and fun as possible. No one wants to spend all of cocktail hour standing around for 13 combinations of group pictures. No one. Trust me. I try to breeze through family photos in 25-30 minutes, and bridal party photos in 25 minutes. Keeping things professional, fun, and quick has been a huge base for wedding referrals from bridal party members…which is something I totally cherish. Basically, people just want to have fun and if they're stuck waiting in a church for 10,000 photos to be complete, it makes me look bad. I'm just sayin….

Here are a few samples of my wedding formals…like I said, they're nothing too special, but I wanted to reassure my readers, that I'm not THAT diva to not shoot formals! 🙂

Here are a few from Alicia's and Steven's Wedding in Pasadena…

Here are a few from Heather and Marc's Huntington Beach Hyatt Wedding

While I'm shooting the traditional group wedding photo…

…JD is off to the side getting a different angle…

Here are a few from Blake and Brittany's Wedding…

While I was shooting these formal pictures…

…JD was capturing this awesome photo…

Here are a few from Joanna and Cooper's Santa Ynez Wedding…

Happy Friday!