Wedding photography shot list template

This is the shot list we work from: the detail and creative frames that are easy to forget once the day is moving. It is not the family photo list and it is not the timeline. Those are separate documents. Mixing them is how a shot list reaches 200 lines and stops being read.

Copy it, cut what does not apply, put the couple’s own must-haves at the top, and give a copy to your second shooter with their lines marked.

The template

Getting ready

1. Wide of the room before it fills up
2. Dress or suit hanging alone in window light
3. Hair and makeup, close on hands and the mirror
4. Stepping into the dress or buttoning the shirt, with whoever is helping
5. Parent helping: zipping, pinning, tying
6. Shoes going on
7. Jewelry going on: earrings, watch, cufflinks
8. Gifts and letters being read
9. Toast with the wedding party, dressed
10. Reveal to parents or the wedding party
11. Full-length portrait, dressed, before leaving the room

Details

12. Invitation suite flat lay with the rings and a ribbon
13. Rings alone, macro
14. Dress from the back: the buttons and the train
15. Shoes, both partners
16. Bouquet and boutonnieres
17. Perfume, cologne, tie, watch, cufflinks
18. Vow books
19. The heirloom or borrowed item the couple named
20. Ceremony site empty, wide, before guests
21. Arch, aisle, programs, signage
22. Reception room empty, wide, from the door
23. Place setting, menu, favors
24. Cake and dessert table
25. Sweetheart or head table
26. Bar and the signature drink sign

Ceremony

27. Guests arriving and being seated
28. Partner waiting at the front, or both partners entering
29. Wedding party processional
30. Flower girl and ring bearer
31. Partner walking in, from the front
32. The waiting partner’s face during the walk in
33. Handoff at the altar, and the parent’s face
34. Wide of the whole ceremony from the back
35. Officiant and couple, close
36. Readings and any unity ritual
37. Vows: each face, and the listening face
38. Ring exchange, tight on hands
39. The kiss, and the second kiss
40. Recessional, wide and tight, guests cheering
41. Couple alone in the first minute after walking out
42. Signing the license

Couple portraits

43. Full length, both to camera
44. Full length, walking toward camera
45. Walking away, looking at each other
46. Close, foreheads together
47. Partner 1 alone, three-quarter and close
48. Partner 2 alone, three-quarter and close
49. Rings on hands
50. Veil or jacket in wind or backlight
51. One wide that shows the venue or the landscape
52. Sunset or blue hour frame

Wedding party

53. Full party, formal, to camera
54. Full party, walking and laughing
55. Each side with its partner, formal
56. Each side, one loose frame
57. Partner 1 with each attendant
58. Partner 2 with each attendant
59. Partner 1 with Partner 2’s side, and the reverse
60. Children in the party first, then release them

Reception

61. Grand entrance
62. First dance: wide, close, the parents watching
63. Toasts: the speaker, the couple reacting, the room
64. Parent dances
65. Cake cutting
66. Bouquet and garter toss, if they are happening
67. Open dancing: wide with the lights, tight on the couple, the grandparents
68. Table photos, if requested, with the couple at each table
69. Night portrait outside, one setup, 10 minutes
70. Exit: sparklers, bubbles, or the car

What is not on this list

Family photos. They need real names and a fixed order, and they get read aloud by a wrangler. That is a different document: the family photo list template.

The couple’s must-haves. A grandmother’s hands, the dog, a tattoo for a parent who has died. Collect those separately with the must-have moments list template and paste them above line 1.

The order of the reception. The shot list says what to photograph, not when. The timeline does that.

The FOCL app keeps the same split: Family Photos is one list and Shot List is another. The help article on the difference explains why.

The rules

• Shoot the details in the first 45 minutes. Ask the couple to put the rings, invitation suite, jewelry, shoes, perfume and vow books in one box before you arrive. After the first hour, people need you, and the details do not get a second turn.
• Assign every line to a shooter. The list earns its keep as instructions for the second shooter: ceremony lines split into front and back, getting-ready lines split by partner. If you shoot alone, it is a memory aid, and you read it 3 times: on arrival, 10 minutes before the ceremony, and before the grand entrance.
• 70 lines fits 8 to 10 hours. For 6 hours, cut to about 50: lose most of the getting-ready section and half the details. The 6-hour wedding timeline template shows where the time goes.
• The list is not the day. Nobody chases line 47 while a grandmother is dancing. The list catches the frames you would otherwise forget. The candid work between the lines is where most of the gallery comes from.
• Keep the empty-room frames. Ceremony site empty, reception room empty from the door. The planner and the florist will ask for them, and you cannot go back for them once guests are in. See sharing wedding photos with vendors.
• Delete what the couple is not doing. No garter toss means no garter toss line. A list with dead lines gets skimmed, and a skimmed list misses the live ones.
• One list per wedding, not one list forever. Save the master, copy it for each couple, and edit the copy.

Questions to ask the couple

1. Which heirlooms or borrowed things are part of the day? Name them, and tell me who will have them when I arrive.
2. Is there a first look, and does anyone else get a reveal: a parent, a sibling, the wedding party?
3. What happens in the ceremony, in order? Readings, a unity ritual, a cultural element, a song.
4. Which reception events are happening: cake cutting, bouquet toss, garter toss, anniversary dance, a private last dance?
5. Is there an exit, what kind, and at what time?
6. Do you want table photos during dinner? Say yes only if you will walk the tables with me. It takes 30 minutes.
7. Who is the one person, other than the two of you, that you most want in the photos?