6 Things You Need Your Groom To Do For His Getting Ready Photos

Compared to the bride and their bridesmaids on the wedding day, the guys have it easy. They wake up, they eat, shower, shave, dress, and maybe slather gel on their hair if they’re feeling fancy. Then off to the ceremony they go. No stress with hair and makeup and no fussing with a big white dress. For the wedding photographer it should be a quick coverage. Painless.

From my experience, because men supposedly gets ready quicker than women, I found in my early years of shooting weddings that men tended to be more relaxed in the timeline. If I was scheduled to cover their getting ready photos for 45 minutes, what happened was they did their own thing for the first thirty minutes — drank beer, played video games, hung out, etc. The actual getting ready part happened in the last fifteen minutes. Because guys supposedly get ready fast. For the most part, they do. It’s just that, it doesn’t leave room for portraits of the groom and his groomsmen before the ceremony. That’s ok if you want pure photojournalistic photos. Having the creative portraits of the groom and his groomsmen during the Groom’s Coverage will allow you more time for the family formals and portraits after the ceremony. However,  if you do want some creative portraits of the guys, your wedding photographer will need more time.

Normally, my Groom’s Coverage takes between 1-1.5 hours and includes the following:

–          Candid shots of the groom and his groomsmen as they get ready

–          Portraits of the groom on his own

–          Creative group portraits of the groom and his groomsmen

–          Portraits of the groom and his immediate family before the ceremony

To make this part of the wedding easy for both the guys and your wedding photographer, here are six things you should get your groom to consider.

1. If the guys need to shave, do so before the photographer arrives. And before they wear their tuxes.

To be honest, I know it’s part of the wedding story but shaving…is not really that exciting. If they have that taken care of before the wedding photographer arrives, it leaves time later for the photographer to do creative portraits  And I know it’s common sense but if they remember to shave before wearing their shirts, the likelihood of them donning blood stained shirts on your day will be nil.

2. Have the bouttonieres for the guys as well as the corsages for the groom’s family delivered to them before the wedding photographer arrives.

I’ve had occasions where I had done portraits of the groom and his family without realizing that they were not wearing one of the most important details in the wedding. Their bouttonnieres. Because it wasn’t delivered beforehand. If the floral décor in your wedding is important to you, you should make sure that it gets there for the photographer to document. It would be a shame to spend money on those beautiful things and not have them photographed for your album.

3. The guys should be wearing just their pants and shirts on by the time the wedding photographer arrives.

Having the guys already partially dressed by the time the photographer arrives not only saves time but also sets them in the mindset to stick with the timeline. Your photographer can start the coverage shooting the guys help each other with their ties, pocket squares, and bouttonnieres.

4. Find a room with windows that allow natural light.

Photography literally means writing with light, and great photos are made by taking advantage of good light. A seasoned wedding photographer is able to photograph in any lighting situation. But if you want to make it easier for your photographer, or if you’ve hired a photographer who is not that experienced for budgetary reasons pick a room that has at least one large window for the guys to get ready at. This is also important because of point #5.

 5. Clean up the clutter.

Once you’ve figured out which room has the best natural light, they can at least make an effort to keep that room clutter free. Clutter is very distracting when it comes to photography and it limits your photographer basedon the types of compositions they can make (because they need to avoid having it in the frame).

6. Inform the groom’s immediate family that they should be there with the groom as he gets ready with his groomsmen.

Without the people that helped raise your groom into the man that he is now, you probably wouldn’t be  marrying him, right? I believe that your groom’s relationship with his family should be documented the same way as a bride’s would. That’s why I ask for the groom’s family to be present at this time, already dressed in their wedding getup. Aside from the candids, having the groom’s immediate family there allows me to take their portraits before the ceremony. It’ll make the family formals for after the ceremony shorter because the groom’s side and the bride’s sides will be done before.

As a side note, before I leave the groom’s coverage for the bride’s coverage, I always, always, ask who has the rings while everyone is around just so they are all aware of who has them. And that it won’t be forgotten.