Generally the bridal couple, bridal party and family formal portraits are shot immediately after the wedding ceremony in the church or wedding ceremony venue. To answer your question... yes, it can be done in an hour. BUT understand it will depend upon two things: how big your "family" is; and most importantly, how well-organized you are as a group. I recommend to my couples that each family's side (bride's and groom's) have an appointed person to "ride herd" on family members during the formal photo process. That means keeping them all close by and ready for photo action when I call their name from the list that you and I have prepared ahead of time. When formal shoots go too long, 99.9% of the time it's due to wasting time trying to find family or bridal party members who have wandered off. Time after time I've stood by my camera and tripod looking at a family group who are all there except one. The clock keeps ticking while we all stand around waiting for that one individual who snuck off for a smoke or whatever... If you tightly control this stuff, your wedding formals will move along at a good pace. If you don't, it will be a time-wasting disaster. I'll need some time to set up my lights and meter the area light, but once I'm ready to go, I'm not going to be your problem when it comes to the time it takes. Having said that, if I do need to meter a second or third time - or take some time to re-pose people, understand that I'm doing it for one reason only - to get you the best photograph I possibly can. Remember, you are paying me to deliver you a high quality photographic product - everything I do on your wedding day is to make sure that happens!!
