I’ve seen it all from names scribbled on a piece of paper to printed lists with a shorter backup plan if short of time.
Here is my advice: Get your toastmaster in the bright red uniform to announce and co-ordinate with a couple of close family members beside him who can help (it’s great to use a couple of cousins for example)
- Make sure guests know in advance if they are in photos – it avoids confusion on the day
- Have group photos also as numbers – so if your university friends are group 6, the toastmaster can read the number as well as names
- There are many different ways to get the photos done quickly but call out more 2-3 groups at once, so when one group is done, the other is ready to go
- Consider getting the big/wider friends groups done first rather than family. For example, if you get a large group of 12 friends done first (and they know they are the first group), they are very unlikely to miss the photo and there will be far fewer people hanging around
- Give the photographer the list in advance – if he knows the plan he will help save time and co-ordinate much faster