Which pictures are important to you? What will help you remember your day the best? Did you provide your photographer with such a list?

I have not had a wedding yet, but I saw one of the most beautiful pictures the other day. It was a picture of the bride and groom under the veil kissing. It was so beautiful.

I did give my photographers a Must Have Shot list

Mom putting on my veil
me pinning her corsage
me putting on my dress
FH and his guys getting ready
FH reading the letter I wrote for him that day.
fh and i under my veil
us looking into each other's eyes
us and the kids
the family shots and any pictures we wanted of us with friends and family, not in the bridal party...
i did opt for a lot of candids though instead of posed shot.

Here's a shot list I found- I have a modified version that I provided to my photographer but this is the one I used:

Wedding Date ____/____/____ Photographer Start Time __________
__ Mother/Man of Honor adjusting veil
__ Bride putting on garter
__ Bride in dressing room with mirror
__ Corsage being pinned on mother
__ Corsage being pinned on father
__ Portrait of mother and bride
__ Portrait of father and bride
__ Brother and bride
__ Group Shot of Bride, Man of Honor and Best man
__ Individual shots of Bride with Man of Honor and Best Man
__ Bride leaving hotel with parents, Man of Honor and Best Man
__ Father helping bride into car
AT THE CEREMONY LOCATION PRIOR TO CEREMONY
__ Groom photographs
__ Best man adjusting groom's tie
__ Groom and best man handshaking
__ Groom and groomsmen handshaking
__ Groom with grandfather
__ Bride and man of honor
__ Bride with parents
__ Bride and mother
__ Bride and father
__ Bride kissing father on the cheek
__ Bride and mother with father looking on
__ Bride's mother on usher's arm
__ Groom's mother on usher's arm
__ Grandparents accompanied down the aisle
__ Other people accompanied down aisle
DURING THE CEREMONY
__ Bridal party coming down the aisle
__ Bride being taken down aisle by brother
__ Father and Brother giving away bride
__ Shots during the ceremony itself
(These can also be taken as setup shots after ceremony)
__ Time exposure of overall area during ceremony




AFTER THE CEREMONY AT CEREMONY LOCATION
__ Bride and groom coming down the aisle
__ Receiving line right after ceremony
__ Best man signing certificate with bride and groom looking on
__ Man of honor signing certificate with bride and groom looking on
SETUP POSES IN THE CEREMONY LOCATION
With most of your formal poses 2-4 shots should taken to help eliminate blinking and assure a good smile.
__ Groom kissing bride at the altar full length
__ Groom kissing bride at the altar 3/4 pose
__ Groom kissing bride at the altar tight head shot pose
__ Groom putting ring on bride's finger
__ Bride putting ring on groom's finger
__ Bride and groom's hands with rings and flowers
__ Bride and groom with officiator
__ Bride and groom and bridal party with officiator
__ Other missed shots during ceremony
__ Bride flowers around her
__ Bride, Best Man and Man of Honor
__ Groom with Best Man and Man of Honor
__ Bride and groom at ceremony location in silhouette
__ Bride and groom on the Overlook of ceremony location
__ Bride and bridemaids on the steps of the ceremony location
__ Groom and groomsmen on the steps of the ceremony location
__ Group shots back inside ceremony location
(Use ceremony location altar/steps, etc. as a studio)
__ Bride and groom with bridal party standing
__ Bride and groom with bridal party sitting
__ Bride and groom with bridal party
(alternating male and female)
__ Bride and groom with all of the Brides family
(as big as the bride would like to go)
__ Bride and groom with brides immediate family
__ Bride and groom with bride's parents
__ Bride with her parents
__ Bride with her mother
__ Bride with her father
__ Bride and groom with all of the groom's family
(as big as the bride would like to go)
__ Bride and groom with groom's immediate family
__ Bride and groom with groom's parents
__ Groom with his parents
__ Groom with his mother
__ Groom with his father
__ Bride and groom with both sets of parents
__ Bride and/or groom with special family members
(e.g. favorite uncle, best friend, generations photograph, etc)
__ Bride and groom leaving inside of ceremony location
__ Getting into car or limo
__ Shot through the sun roof of the limo
__ Shot while seated in limo
__ Wide shot of ceremony location/ceremony site and limo
__ Mood shots in and around the ceremony location/grounds and/or
on the way to the weddings reception site.
OUTSIDE SHOTS
__ Outdoor shots of bride and groom
__ Outdoor shots of wedding party
__ Shots of groom and best man
__ Shots of groom and groomsmen
__ Shots of bride and man of honor
AT THE RECEPTION
__ Receiving line (If not taken earlier)
__ Wedding cake (prior to being cut)
__ Guest book
__ Guests signing book
__ Wedding Favors
__ Gift table
__ Introduction of the wedding party
__ Wedding party toasting bride and groom
__ Close up of bride and groom toasting
__ Close up of bride and groom at head table kissing
__ Group shots of guests at their table during the meal
__ First dance
__ Parent dance
__ Bride and father dance
__ Groom and mother dance
__ Parents dancing
__ Bridal party dancing
__ Guest dancing
__ Bride showing rings to bridesmaids
__ General dancing shots (wide and close up)
__ Flower girl and ring bearer together
__ Candids of guests and bridal party as conditions permit
__ Bride and groom posed in front of the cake
__ Cutting the cake
__ Bride and groom feeding cake to one another
__ Bride faking the bouquet toss
__ Bride throwing the bouquet
__ The catch of the bouquet
__ Groom taking off garter
__ Groom and garter
__ Groom throwing the garter
__ The catch of the garter
__ Group shot of bride and groom with the recipients of the
bouquet and garter
__ Guest leaving
__ Posed departure shot of bride and groom
(kissing, waving, etc.)
__ Getaway car
__ Bride and groom leaving reception area (birdseed, rose pedals)
__ Bride and groom in car as it goes in to the distance.

I provided my photographer with a MUST HAVE list, but alot of the pics she took were pretty standard so she knew what additionals we wanted

We gave our photographer a photo list, but we didn't harp on it because he knew to take the "usuals". It was the "not so usual" pics that we added to the list.

Word of warning with these lists:

After talking to many renown photographers, many of them appreciate the list, especially if its something-not "usual", but they rather you let them use their creative eye, and trust them to give you the vision you want, using their expertise. But this only comes with lots of dialogue and review of their previous work. Make sure you and your photographer develop a relationship, so that things are "natural" and fun.

Many of the photographers almost "recoil" when a couple hands them a long list. The idea is Yes...you are paying them big $$$ for the pictures, but what you really are paying for is a natural talent and eye. You can give anyone with a good camera, and mediocre skills a photo list, and that person can set everyone up in the right arrangement, but its the photos you get from when your were not looking, precious moments when you were thinking, and praying and crying and living that were not arranged...

Sure, you can ask him to catch you while you are hugging your mom, but if you are hugging her, while crying the ugly face, and he snaps the photo, you are not going to appreciate getting that weird picture back. So definitely be flexible, and trust your photographer. Plus why let him spend time chasing poses from the list when he can be catching those precious moments....Plus, there needs to be as little drama as possible, so he can relax...If you are making ugly faces, and fussing a lot about this or that, he is going to be hard pressed to catch precious moments.....

Finally, If you do not trust his eye, and are not sure he will capture your moments without such a long detailed list, get another photographer!

I will be using this for samples for our photographer, it has great information

http://www.theknot.com/co_profileview.htm?profilename=nyc3/19/05

I did not provide our photographer with a list. My uncle, who over the years has become a professional photographer, did our photos so I just trusted his eye. I've seen his work, and knowing what he is capable of, I handed my trust over to him. He pretty much covered everything I would have asked for, and even included some shots I never would have considered doing!

I do have a list for my photographer. It's not very long, I'm afraid as I've used this particular photographer on lots of occasions and he knows his stuff!!!. I'm just leaving it up to him because my clients always give him wonderful praises afterwards. He did say that we'll have to sit down and discuss it though. I think that my list has only 12 items that are very special to me.

However, the list that Akitten has provided looked very much like my list did and then, when I decided to go with the photographer we've booked, the list was no longer needed really.

We did give a list to both our photographer and videographer. I found samples in a wedding planning book and modified the lists to our wedding. Our photographer used it as a guide especially for people not to miss like my grandmother and other special guests. But he was used to taking photos at our venue for many other weddings so he already had knowledge of what were great photos to get. I also indicated times on our lists so that we knew what had to be done at certain times and wouldn't run over the time for which we booked them. We had to be budget conscious afterall. You also don't want to look back at the photos of your wedding day and regret not asking the photographer to take certain photos.

We gave our photographer a list as well. She used it as a guide as well. It just helped things to flow very smoothly, while allowing us to get the kind of pictures we truly wanted. I must say, she did an awesome job.