I know there are some types of conversations that are difficult (but important) to have. Whether your parents are still best friends or are barely civil to one another, you’ll definitely want to plan for pictures with your family in advance.

Trust me, your photographer will THANK YOU if you communicate these small details in advance. By the time you’re taking family portraits on your wedding day, you’ve already passed the message (and avoided an awkward moment!).

Here are some of my best tips on planning divorced family photos on your wedding day.

The bride and the groom should take pictures with each parent, including their new significant other if they are in a relationship or remarried. If you’re inviting step-siblings, include them here too.

If your parents are friendly to one another, you can have:

New Spouse – Biological Dad – Bride & Groom – Biological Mom – New Spouse 

On the other hand, if your parents are a little less friendly, you may want to skip the combined family pictures and instead focus solely on taking photos with each individual family.

Next, you could also do combinations of sets of parents:

Bride and Groom + Mom & New Spouse 

Bride and Groom + Dad & New Spouse

You can also do individual photos like:

Bride + Mom

Bride + Dad

Groom + Dad

Groom + Mom

Maybe you’d like to include combinations such as:

Bride + Step Mom

Bride + Step Dad

Bride + Biological Mom + Biological Dad

Bride + Biological Mom + Step Dad

Bride + Biological Dad + Step Mom

Important note: if you’re adding in all these additional combinations, you must allow enough time for these photos to be taken!

Talk to your photographer in advance and communicate these small details so you can avoid awkward moments during your wedding. Let your photographer know which family shots are important to you and what are the combinations you’d like.

Now, I’ve created this complete checklist that you could use on your wedding day so you can save time + get faster to the bar!

CLICK HERE if you’d like to download a FREE Formal Family Shot List for Your Wedding!