Coastal Rose Studio
Three generations of a family on a Charleston porch
Society Street studioFall reunions booking now

Charleston reunions

Everyone came to town.
Get one picture with all of them.

The reunion took a year to plan and will be gone by Sunday. We photograph three generations across Charleston - the beach at Sullivan's Island, the alleys downtown, the porch where it all started - at the pace of the slowest grandparent, with shade and chairs always in the plan.

  • ◆Reunion-day logistics planned to the half hour
  • ◆Chairs, shade, and snack breaks built in
  • ◆Groupings organized before anyone gets restless
  • ◆Same-week sneak peek for the group chat
Hold a date View packages

The reunion problem

Everyone is here, and nobody is looking at the camera

Reunion pictures fail for predictable reasons: the light is wrong, the toddlers melt at the wrong moment, and the plan asks the grandparents to stand in the sun while nineteen cousins are rounded up. The fix is not a louder photographer. The fix is logistics.

We plan reunion days the way a wedding is planned - a timeline to the half hour, groupings decided in advance, chairs and shade wherever they are needed. Then the photography is the easy part, which is the point.

The studio

Reunion-day regulars

Yvonne Dupree

A Charleston native who has photographed the same families at the same porches for decades - and now the grandkids of her first clients. Times groupings like a short-order cook with a light meter.

Ben Whitfield

The toddler whisperer. Gets the two-year-old's attention with a duck call he is not proud of but which works every single time.

Maya Chen

Builds the half-hour timeline for every booking, maps the shade at your location by hour, and keeps the day moving so the pictures happen before anyone melts.

Ginny Ash

Assembles the reunion album every family orders and none regret. Numbers the copies so the fighting stays civil.

Packages

Reunions, by the half hour

The Quick Gathering

$32590 minutes

Small groups

Up to eight people, one location downtown or one beach access. Twenty edited images - the everyone-shot, the siblings, the grandkids.

The Reunion Half-Day

$8904 hours

Most booked

Two locations, up to twenty-five people, every grouping on Maya's timeline. Sixty edited images and a 12x12 reunion album.

The Porch & Beach Day

$1,400full day

The whole weekend

Sunrise beach session, midday rest, golden-hour porch portraits. All edited files, a 16x20 framed piece for the host, and the album.

The Heirloom Reunion

$1,900weekend

Three generations, done right

Friday evening headshots of every branch, Saturday groupings, Sunday goodbye shoot. Two albums, three framed prints, all files, and Maya on site all weekend.

All prices USD. Travel beyond Charleston County quoted at the IRS mileage rate. A $100 scheduling retainer holds the date and comes off the package price.

How it works

From inquiry to delivery

01

The planning call

Family tree, headcount, who will not stand next to whom (there is always one), and the must-have groupings - before the day, not during it.

02

The timeline

Maya sends a half-hour-by-half-hour plan with shade maps, bathroom stops, and snack buffers. You forward it to the family; order is thereby established.

03

Reunion day

We work the timeline. Chairs appear, groupings assemble, the duck call deploys as needed. You enjoy the reunion; that part is also the plan.

04

Sneak peek & album

Five edited images within 48 hours for the group chat. Full gallery in three weeks; the album proof a week after that.

Reunion days

La pratique, en vrai

The porch grouping, 6:40 pm

Chairs first, everyone else around them.

The secret to reunion photography is not the camera. It is the chair placement, the shade map, and the half-hour timeline. The photography is the easy part, and we keep it that way on purpose.

Client stories

What our clients say

« "Twenty-six people, two locations, one grandmother in a wheelchair, and Maya's timeline ran like a train schedule. The picture of all of us on the porch is now my phone lock screen and my sister's, and probably yours too if you ask." »

Patricia R.
reunion host, 61 (Mt. Pleasant)

« "My parents' fiftieth, all four kids and nine grandkids. Ben got the two-year-old to look at the camera exactly once, which was all anyone needed. The album settled the who-gets-copies argument before it started." »

David H.
oldest son, 55 (Atlanta, GA)

« "We have had reunion photos before - blurry, sweaty, someone always blinking. This time we got frames. The difference was the chairs, honestly. And the duck call." »

Rosa L.
cousin-in-chief, 49 (Charleston)

// Before you book //

Frequently asked questions

Twenty-five comfortably in the half-day, forty across the full day with two photographers. Beyond forty, call us - we have done reunions that required radios.
Neither the plan nor any picture requires it. Seated portraits with the family gathered around are our most-requested grouping, and chairs are on the equipment list.
Charleston answers this question for us occasionally. Indoor porches and the studio are the backup, and full reschedules are free with 24 hours notice.
The Reunion Half-Day and up include a framed piece for the host. Additional prints are ordered from the gallery by anyone in the family, separately, no coordination required.
The Heirloom Reunion includes a headshot of every adult who wants one. Families use them for everything from church directories to, in one case, a city council campaign.
Reunion season here is April-June and September-November. The good dates go three to four months ahead; May sometimes sells out by Christmas.

Hold a date

Tell us the headcount

How many people, from where, and the weekend you are thinking about. We will tell you honestly whether the plan fits the light.

TEL (843) 555-0163
Hours Mon-Fri 9am-5pm ET

メール [email protected]