Guest photos at the wedding reception

Guest photos are something you probably don’t think about when you look into wedding photography. I almost always will walk around a wedding reception and take photos of the guests.

I’m not sure how many photographers do this, but I do. Here’s why: these guest photos serve as a reminder of who attended your wedding.

The photos are not spectacular. They are simple snapshots of people sitting at their table taken with my camera and flash. Sometimes they are eating or talking with someone. When I approach them with a camera, however, they always are willing to stop what their doing and smile at the camera. Often these people are really happy to comply. I suppose it’s not often that someone asks to take their picture. It can make people feel special.

The way I take these guest photos can vary. Sometimes I will get two people at a time – a couple for example. Sometimes I will ask four people to scoot together to put them in one photo. Sometimes those seated will stand up and move behind others so that the entire table will be in one photo.

I’m not sure how well these photos are received by the brides and grooms, but I suspect they like them. I remember when I got married years ago I had photos of those sitting at the tables and I really enjoyed them. They are especially great when you look at them years down the road. As I said – they remind you who was attending your wedding.

One caveat: I likely will not be able to capture every single people at a wedding. People get up and move from the table so they are MIA when I approach to take photos. I am too busy to promise to come back to that table. Plus, to be honest, sometimes when there are lots of tables I don’t remember which tables I have photographed and which I have not. My task is to move through the room, go to each table, and then I’m done. If someone is missing from the table at that time then they don’t get their photo taken. If one person really wants to have their significant other in the photo, they are welcome to go grab the person and come right back and I will take their picture. It not, I move on to the next group.

These guest photos are part of the reception section in wedding day packages. I think these guest photos are pretty special.