what to wear for your next family photo session

before a photo shoot, i can almost guarantee that i will be asked "what should we wear?" it's hard. you are paying a lot of money for these photos, you don't want to mess it up with a bad outfit. 

this winter, we decided to have some family photos taken. so i began asking myself, "what should we wear?" here is the process that i followed for selecting outfits for my family of 5 to wear for our photo shoot. and i think our photos turned out really well! 

start with the most difficult person in the family to dress. in my family, that's me! you know...i want something that makes me look 20 lbs thinner. i want something that makes my eyes pop. i want it all. i want to look like a model when i get dressed. and really, you want to pick something that makes you feel great when you wear it. and really, that's the most important thing. so when i began to look for an outfit for myself, i started at least a month before our photo shoot. i looked online to start. i found lots of stuff that i liked, but it seemed that everything i found was either too dressy or i felt like it wouldn't look right on me. i guess i have kind of weird body shape....i have these crazy long legs, which makes dresses and skirts really short sometimes. and it seems that short skirts and dresses are the thing right now, so on me, they are super short....and that's not really the look i was going for. 

so i did some shopping locally, i hit up a nearby khol's and tried on every dress that i liked and that i thought might look good on me. and what i found was a dress that was a little bit dressier than my original plan. but it made me feel the best when i wore it.

see how the blue dress makes my hair really pop? 

next i decided to shop for the girls. since i was wearing bright blue, i didn't want them to wear blue too. i wanted them to wear something that coordinated with my outfit. i went with black, grey and w hite for them. thinking back on it, a red or yellow might have been a good choice for them too, but given the time frame that I was working with and the season, those were the best colors I could find. i did add a little punch of color with their hair bows...a little bit of red!

don't they look cute? if i had it to do over, i think that i would have picked out some different colors for the twins....the grey blends in with the background a little and the skirts are a little too bright for my taste. see how georgia's outfit pops? that's because of the black. eh, oh well, they still look cute and it looks fine for our family shots. 

and last, but certainly not least, the hubs. yes, i picked out his outfit too. he did give me some direction....he didn't want me spending too much. yea, he doesn't much care. and just about everything looks good on him, so, it wasn't too bad. i just had to kind of go for his style....pretty casual. 

i brought in the blue from my dress, the grey from the twins sweaters and the black from georgia's jacket. he was the one to tie everything together. AND i like that his shirt has a pattern. it makes it just a little bit more interesting instead of just a plain blue shirt. and while we were all wearing dresses, he is in jeans and it's fine. 

and then here is the complete vision that i had. i think that they turned out pretty well. 

all of our photos were taken by my friend autumn at www.autumnstocktonphotography.com

and friends, you can get it right too. i've had plenty of clients who have gotten it right.......

my girls and my neices

the bach family

the clark family

the stout family

and these are just some examples. it's rare when i show up to a photo shoot and i'm thinking, "why did they wear that?" here are a few things to think about when you are picking out what to wear for your next photo shoots. 

#1 don't do matchy matchy. it's only acceptable if you have twins....and even then, it might be a good idea to put them in different outfits. and please PLEASE....i beg you, don't have everyone show up in white shirts and jeans. you want similar, but not identical. 

#2 don't have too many patterns. select one or maybe two persons to wear a pattern and have the rest of the family coordinate with them. 

#3 think about your location when you are selecting outfits. if you are going to be in area with lots of trees, a green shirt, might not be the best choice. you don't want to blend into the background :)

#4 don't feel like you have to dress up. wear jeans if you want. you are going to look best in whatever you are comfortable wearing.....well, not whatever, don't show up in yoga pants :)

#5 show your personality in your clothing....are you tres chic? super casual? always classic? show it with your clothing. 

#6 go for a pop of color....a scarf, a hair bow, your dress, a hat....a pop of color will really bring your photos to life. but, don't go overboard....it can be too much sometimes!

#7 make sure it fits properly. with my dress, the belt kept creeping up. it was annoying. and in some of the photos, you could tell that it just wasn't the in right spot. dang it! make sure that your clothing isn't too tight, or too big, that the sleeves fit just right, that the length of the pants is good...you know the drill. you will find this helpful with kids....they grow out of those cloths before you know it! make sure to take a step back and make sure they aren't ready for a flood before the time comes to get your photos taken. nothing's worse than getting your photos back and seeing that little jimmy is ready for some high water with the length of his jeans!

#8 look online....pinterest is a great resource for finding a color palette you like. then go from there. 

#9 remember your shoes.....they will be seen in photos.....sometimes tennis shoes are ok...in my book a pair of converse = good decision while a pair of running shoes = bad decision. go with something more interesting than your everyday shoes. 

#10 no logos or cartoon characters. they distract from the photo. and really, do you want a picture of winnie the pooh or your kid? most people would say the kid :)