Formal Photographs
It is a very good idea to communicate well with your bride and groom leading up to the wedding day. I always ask them for a wedding time line around a month before the wedding day, because this would then give us enough time to discuss any areas that appear problematic.
The majority of the weddings that I photograph as a Nottingham wedding photographer have anywhere between 70 - 150 guests and I recommend that the reception would allow at least 90 minutes from the end of the wedding ceremony until they start to seat the guests for their wedding breakfast. The venue is also running to a timeline which will have an affect on the rest of the day.
There are obviously weddings that are a lot smaller with just a handful of guests and they wouldn't need 90 mins for the formal photographs and portraits of the bride and groom.
You will be surprised at how long it does actually take to photograph family members on a wedding day. There are always combinations of family members that you hadn't thought of prior to the wedding. You will need to set aside a good amount of time to enable you to capture all of your formal photographs.
It is important for everyone to know where they need to be when doing the family formals otherwise you will be missing people at vital times and this will only delay things. I always take extra copies of the timeline and give one to the best man and one to the chief bridesmaid. It is always a good idea to use the help of the best man and ushers because they can help to organise people and get family members into position for the next photograph.
I always try and get family formals done in 30 minutes or less, if they take any longer than this people usually get restless. You can always take the group pictures of university friends and work colleagues later in the day after the speeches and before bride and groom have their first dance.
I hope this information is useful to you and sheds some light on how I shoot the family formals on a wedding day. I also try and educate my clients well before the wedding so they know exactly what to expect on the actual day.