Bridal party of 12 - working with 5 pairs

Tomorrow I'm shooting a wedding with bridal party of 12 (5 groomsmen, 5 bridesmaids), and although obviously for shots with the party as individuals, achieving symmetry is not a challenge (5 on each side, staggered or formally placed). But for shots for which I am pairing the groomsmen with the bridesmaids, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about poses that work well with this number. All shots that I have seen drop one couple behind the B+G--not something that works too well, in my opinion.

Any suggestions or examples of shots taken in this kind of scenario ?

I gotta be honest, I don't "pair" the bridal party. 99% of the time, they are not real couples anyways so there is no real need or urgency to pair them up. I just scatter them around. I take absolutely no note as to the official pairings, aside from the BM and MOH. And I don't even pair them either, I just pose them (separately) closer to the couple than the others.

Since you asked for examples...

I basically make no attempts for symmetry whatsoever. Symmetry is very oldschool, and unless the environment is set up perfectly for a symmetrical pose (like shot 5 below), then I don't even think twice about it.

1.

Ditto to what Lloyd said. Great examples by the way!

Thanks very much for the explanation and examples. I'm ready for tomorrow !

Nice stuff, Lloyd!

The wedding went really well. And despite having about 10 minutes with the massive bridal party (turned out to be 7 dudes, 5 ladies), I did manage to get a few shots in. I'll be back to share a few as soon as I'm done.

Looking forward to seeing some pics Christopher.

excellent advice Lloyd and examples.

So here are a few examples of bridal party shots from that afternoon. Do note that I did not really have a lot of time with them (10-15 minutes) and so I didn't exactly get to use even half of what I had planned. We never do, do we !?

Ambient was not ideal here. I shot from a bridge but should have swung more to the left to tamp down the highlighting on some of the folks standing near the back--or I should have moved them.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.christopher​stevenb.com …odes-mill-perth/e61867a2b

IMAGE LINK: http://www.christopher​stevenb.com …odes-mill-perth/e641fb717

IMAGE LINK: http://www.christopher​stevenb.com …odes-mill-perth/e640cf06d

IMAGE LINK: http://www.christopher​stevenb.com …odes-mill-perth/e6cd0366a

Awesome pics mate, you did well !!!

Wow Lloyd!

snakeman55 wrote in post #16109606
Wow Lloyd!

what he said.

great work.

oh! I think I like these photos! great