A First Holy Communion involves a surprising amount of planning. The dress or the suit, the church arrangements, the lunch, the relatives travelling, the gifts. Among all of that, the photography tends to slip down the list until the last few weeks, by which time the easy decisions have become harder ones.
This is a brief guide to thinking through the photography in advance: when to start planning, what photographs to think about, and how to use the only day in the year your wider family will all be in the same place.
Plan in February, not April
Communion photography decisions are easier the earlier they are made. In February, photographers still have slots either side of the May communion weekends. By March the choice is narrowing, and by April you are picking from what is left, often at less convenient times.
The advantage of planning early is not just about availability. It gives you time to think about which photographs you actually want, work out who needs to be in them, and decide where the sitting will take place without making the choice under pressure. Most of the regret around communion photographs comes from decisions made in a rush.
Decide what photographs you actually want
Most families know they want photographs of the day, but have not thought through which ones specifically. A few minutes spent on this changes the day’s outcome.
The single photograph most families end up framing is a formal portrait of the child in the communion outfit, taken in proper light, against a clean background. That is the keepsake. Everything else supports it.
Beyond that, think about who else needs to be in the photographs: with grandparents, with parents, in a whole-family group, in a sibling photograph, and with the godparents if they are involved. Most of these are easier to organise in a planned sitting than on the morning of the ceremony.
There are also photographs you do not particularly need. A long sequence at the church door rarely produces images that get displayed. Photographs of food and table settings at the reception are nice to have but not essential. The phones can handle the candid moments of the child being congratulated, which captures the spontaneity without using up planned sitting time.
Where the sitting takes place is your choice
This is the decision parents put off longest, but it should be made first.
The church door is the default, by which I mean the place where photographs end up being taken because no one planned anywhere else. It rarely produces the keepsake portrait. The morning light is what it is, the child is preoccupied with the ceremony itself, and the doorway is usually full of other families doing the same thing.
A planned sitting in a different setting, in the days before or after the ceremony, gives you control over the light, the timing and the pace. It is also less of an ask on the child. A short fifteen or twenty minute sitting when they are fresh and calm tends to produce better photographs than ten minutes in a crowd at the church.
Where that planned sitting takes place is your choice. The studio is the most predictable. Home gives the photograph a more personal feel. Both work. The mistake is leaving the decision to the morning of the day.
Use the moment the wider family is gathered
A communion is one of the few occasions in an Irish family’s year when the wider family is together in one place, in their best clothes. Grandparents have travelled, cousins are in town, and aunts and uncles are gathered for the lunch. That is rare, and worth planning for.
A formal family group portrait, taken between the ceremony and the lunch, is the photograph many families end up grateful for years later. Particularly with grandparents getting older, the photograph of the wider family becomes more valuable each year that passes, and the communion is one of the few windows when getting everyone in one frame is actually practical.
If you would like one, it is worth a word with the photographer in advance so the timing is built into the day’s plan rather than left to a frantic moment between courses.
What works on the day, and what does not
A few things tend to catch families out, and they are all avoidable with a bit of forward thinking.
Children get tired quickly. Communion day is long, and the energy drops off after lunch. The formal portrait is best done either in the days before the ceremony, while the child is fresh, or in the calm period straight after the ceremony before the lunch has begun.
May weather is unpredictable. Photographs that depend on bright light or warm temperatures are a gamble in an Irish spring. Anything important is safer indoors, where the conditions are controlled.
The transition from church to lunch is where photographs get forgotten. There is usually a window of forty minutes or an hour where everyone is moving from one venue to another. If you want a group photograph done that day, this is the time to do it, but only if planned.
And the child’s mood matters more than people expect. A child who has been on display all morning may not want to sit for a long sitting afterwards. A short, calm sitting in the days before tends to produce better photographs than a tired sitting on the day itself.
Booking
You can read more about our First Holy Communion photography on our communion page.
To book a sitting or to talk through your plans for the day, call us on 087 099 3990 or get in touch through our contact page. February and March are the best months to book for a May communion.
