Free wedding shot list templates
Four printable PDFs, built from the shots couples actually regret missing. Download what you need, print it, hand it to your photographer three weeks out. No email, no signup.
The complete wedding shot list
Everything from the first detail shot to the getaway car, organized by part of the day. Two pages. Start here if you only download one.
Family formals shot list
The twenty minutes most likely to go wrong. Group-by-group order, a place for real names, and how to handle divorced and blended families.
Getting ready shot list
Details, hair and makeup, getting dressed, and the moments people wish they'd planned for. Plus the room setup that makes all of it work.
Reception shot list
Empty-room details, the scheduled moments, and a running order to fill in with your DJ. Built around the ten-minute window before guests walk in.
How to actually use a shot list
Hand it over three to four weeks out
Not the night before. A photographer who gets the list early can build the timeline around it. A photographer who gets it at 8am is being handed a problem.
Mark ten must-haves, not forty
The shots you'd be genuinely upset to lose are the ones worth planning the day around. Everything else is a prompt list. A photographer working through 200 checkboxes is a photographer who isn't watching the room.
Use real names
“Aunt Susan” means nothing to someone shouting into a crowd of 140 people. This matters most on family formals, which is why that template has a name table at the top.
Give it to more than one person
Your photographer, your coordinator, and whoever is wrangling family for formals all need the same list. That's where printouts start to fail.
When the printable stops being enough
A PDF is fine until the list changes — and it always changes. A grandparent can't stand for long. Someone's flight is cancelled. The ceremony moves indoors and the golden-hour window shifts by twenty minutes. Now the copy in your bag, the copy your photographer printed, and the copy your coordinator has are three different lists, and nobody knows which one is current.
Shot List Planner keeps one list that everyone works from. Build it online, share it with your photographer and your coordinator, and change it the morning of the wedding — everyone sees the change, with no reprint and no “which version is this one.”
Common questions
Do I need a wedding shot list?
For family formals, yes. That's the one part of the day that can't be recovered if it's missed, because the people are gone. For the rest, a short list of must-haves is more useful to your photographer than a long list of everything.
How many shots should be on a wedding shot list?
Ten to fifteen must-haves, plus a longer prompt list your photographer can work from. Anything longer than that stops being a plan and starts being a script.
When should I give my photographer the shot list?
Three to four weeks before the wedding, so it can inform the timeline. Send changes as they happen rather than saving them for a final version.
How long do family formals take?
About twenty minutes for a standard set of groups, if the groups are ordered so people can leave as they're finished and someone who knows every face is calling names. Longer if either of those is missing.
Are these templates free?
Yes, all four, with no email required.
Build your shot list free
No account needed to start. Add your shots, flag the ones that matter, share a link your photographer can check off on their phone.
Free forever. The paid tier lives inside Seat the Day.