Christening photo ideas, and how to collect everyone's photos

A christening is a short service, a long party and a baby who sets the schedule. The photos that matter are a mix of the formal (the font, the godparents, the family in their best clothes) and the ordinary (a grandparent's face, a toddler cousin under the table), and they're taken by everyone in the room on their own phones. This guide is a shot list for the day, a few tips for photographing a baby, and a way to collect every guest's photos afterwards so the album isn't just what one person managed to take.

Before the service

• The outfit. The gown or outfit laid out, especially if it's a family one: the detail of the lace, the bonnet, the shoes. If it's been worn before, a photo next to the old photo of the last baby who wore it.
• Getting ready. The baby being dressed, which is rarely calm and always worth a photo.
• The family arriving. Godparents with the baby, grandparents, the whole party on the church steps while everyone's still tidy.
• The details. The invitation, the cake before it's cut, the candle, any gifts that have arrived, the order of service if there is one.

Take these on the morning, before the baby is tired and before anyone has spilled anything.

During the service

Ask first. Many churches are happy for photos during a christening without flash, some ask that you wait until after the service, and a few have a parishioner who takes photos for families. The minister or the church office will tell you, and a quick word before the service saves an awkward one during it.

Where photos are allowed, the moments to look for:

• The welcome at the door, if the service has one.
• The parents and godparents making their promises.
• The water: the moment of the baptism itself, from the side so the minister's hand and the baby's face are both in it.
• The signing of the cross, and the lighting of the candle.
• The baby's face during all of this, which is the photo everyone wants.
• The congregation: the grandparents' faces, the older cousins, the friends who travelled.
• The minister with the family afterwards, and the certificate.

One person taking photos near the font is plenty; a crowd of phones around a baby in a white gown is the one thing the minister will mind.

After the service

The group photos, while everyone's still together and before the party scatters them:

1. The baby with both parents.
2. The baby with the godparents, then with each godparent.
3. Each side of the family, then both sides.
4. The grandparents with the baby, and the great-grandparents if you're lucky enough to have them.
5. The siblings and the cousins.
6. Everyone, from a step or a low wall so the back row shows.

Do these outside the church door or at the party venue in open shade, not in bright sun (squinting) and not in the church porch (dark). Five minutes is enough if someone has the list and calls people over.

At the party

This is where most of the photos get taken, by everyone, and where the best ones are candid:

• The cake and the cake cutting, the baby's reaction to the cake, the baby asleep through the cake.
• Guests holding the baby in turn: a photo with each person who asks for a cuddle is a lovely set to look back on.
• The cards and gifts, and the baby with a favourite one.
• The buffet, the table, the decorations, if you've gone to the trouble.
• The older children playing, the grandparents talking, the toast if there is one.
• A photo of the baby with each guest, taken at the same spot with the same background, makes a page of its own in the album.

Photographing a baby

• Work round the sleeps. Plan the group photos for right after the service while the baby is awake, and expect the party photos to include a nap.
• Get down to their level. Photos taken from an adult's height look like photos of the top of a head.
• Natural light. By a window or outside in the shade; no flash, which startles babies and flattens faces.
• Burst mode for the moments that last a second: the smile, the yawn, the reaction to the water.
• One toy, held just above the camera, gets the baby looking the right way.
• Keep the sessions short and stop when the baby has had enough. The best photo is usually one of the first three.

Collecting everyone's photos

Twenty guests means twenty phones full of photos you'll never see unless you ask, and the WhatsApp group sends them compressed and out of order. The easier way is a page where everyone puts their photos from the christening and the party, in one place, in full quality:

• Set up an event on DropSnaps before the day and put its QR code on a card at the party: on the cake table, by the door, on the buffet.
• Guests scan it with their phone's camera and add their photos and videos from the browser, with no app to install and no account to create.
• Everything lands in one gallery, sorted by the moments you set up ("The service", "Group photos", "The cake", "Family"), and shows on a live wall at the party if you'd like one on a tablet or a TV.
• Afterwards you download every original in one go, and guests can keep adding for weeks, when they finally go through their camera rolls.

It's free for up to 50 photos, with paid plans for video and bigger families. The event photo sharing guide covers the set-up for any family event, and the QR code guide explains how to print the code, which works the same for a christening.

A guest book of wishes

A christening guest book is a lovely thing to keep for the child: a few lines from each guest, to be read at eighteen. Put a book and pens by the cards, or a sign with the QR code so guests write their wish on their phone, with a photo of themselves holding the baby if they like. Prompts help the people who don't know what to write: "Something I hope for you", "A piece of advice for when you're older", "What I remember about the day you were christened". The guest book prompt cards work for a christening as well as a wedding.

A short checklist

1. Ask the church what's allowed during the service.
2. Give one person the group-photo list and the job of calling people over.
3. Photos of the outfit, the cake and the details in the morning.
4. A QR code card on the cake table and by the door, so every guest's photos reach you.
5. A guest book or a card with the code for written wishes.
6. Group photos straight after the service, outside, in the shade.
7. Download everything afterwards and make the album while the day is fresh.