That smiley royal wedding kids photo was achieved with the help of a magic word

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If you were wondering how the royal photographer managed to get (almost) all Meghan and Harry’s page boys and bridesmaids looking at the camera and brimming with happiness at the same time, the answer is … Smarties!

Pro moves

Photographer Alexi Lubomirski told news service Reuters the photo session was not only adorable and wildly successful – with the shots beloved by many across the globe – it was also remarkably speedy, with just 25 minutes allocated to do six different set-ups.

Luckily Alexi is a total pro at the whole royal happy snaps thing. In fact he is the very same guy responsible for Meghan and Harry’s romantic engagement photos. It’s not surprising he was called in to reprise the role and summon up more of his warm and intimate captures.

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It has been an incredible honor and privilege to document the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's inspiring journey of love, hope and family; from the engagement photos, all the way through to the official wedding and family portraits on Saturday. This has been a beautiful chapter in my career and life, that I will happily never forget. Thank you to everyone at @kensingtonroyal and @theroyalfamily

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“Who likes Smarties?!”

Alexi’s wedding photos have a formal edge to them, but also manage to feel candid and relatable. Pretty much everyone is smiling and the poses are relaxed, even though they’re mindfully composed.

Alexi said getting the little members of Meghan and Harry’s bridal party to behave on cue was all down to one familiar trick.

“[The children] were being bribed with one Smartie here, one Smartie there,” he revealed.

“As soon as the kids came on to the set, I immediately just shouted out, ‘Who likes Smarties?’ and then everybody, hands up, smiles; even some adults put their hands up, so that was our magic word of the day.”


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The behind-the-scenes situation was apparently a lot like your regular wedding, give or take a tiara.

“Some parents were trying to wrangle their children, other uncles and aunts were talking to their nephews and nieces. It was a family, that was essentially what it is.”

Feel the love

And family was what he was aiming for in the captures of this special day.

“One word that I really kept throwing around in my head was ‘familial’,” Alexi told Reuters, “because when we did the engagement pictures and you got the sense that they were together, that black and white picture when they were really embracing and hugging, and you felt that love.”

Of the latest informal shot of Harry and Meghan snuggled on the steps of Windsor Castle, Alexi said it was a candid and happy accident after a series of more formal shots.

“It was just one of those magical moments,” he explained. “She just slumped in between his legs. And there was this moment where they were laughing, because they were joking about how they were exhausted and finally it was over.”

Alexi’s brilliant final image (above) certainly captures all those wedding day feels.

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