A wedding photo shot list includes all the photos you want to make sure your photographer will take. Give your must-have wedding photos list to your photographer before your wedding day as you will be preoccupied on the day. The shot list will not only help you but it will make your photographer’s job easier. See more tips on how to plan a wedding.
Meet with the photographer before the wedding to give the shot list and discuss your expectations. Discuss your wedding plans and decide if you will be going to another venue for a photoshoot. If you are going to shoot at a nearby location then decide on it before and check it out. You don’t want to start looking for somewhere to shoot on your wedding day. Discuss the wedding timeline and how much time you have allocated for photos. If necessary, change your timeline or wedding schedule if it turns out that you allocated too much time or not enough time.
Once you have agreed on the timeline, create a printable wedding timeline to share with your family, vendors, photographer, and friends. You can print a copy to send with each invitation or you can make a poster to hang up at the entrance to the venue.
The wedding photo list template is available in Word, Excel, and PDF format.
If there are any photography restrictions during the ceremony if it is being held at a place of worship, then let the photographer know ahead of time.
You might also want to give the photographer a full list of requested photo shots and a shorter list of shots. The full list will include shots that will be taken whether they are on the list or not. The shorter list will include shots that might not be taken if you don’t ask for them. Why separate the lists? Because you don’t want your photographer to be checking the list all night and miss really good shots. If you write that you want a photo of the bride walking down the aisle or not, chances are that any decent photographer will take that shot, so it might be more effective to go with a shorter list as well. You can even ask the photographer to go over the list and mark the photos that you should include in your photo list and then delete the others and provide an updated list. Or you can ask your photographer to go over the longer list the day before and bring the shorter list with to the event.
You can download the wedding photo checklist in any of the following three formats:
Word | Excel | PDF
