It is still chilly here in Cleveland, but now is a great time to start prepping for your spring/summer family photos. And the most important part of preparing for your session is picking out outfits for the family. The clothing can really make your photos gorgeous or make them awkward. It is so important to choose timeless, flattering outfits. Which makes choosing clothing the most stressful part.
I have been a family and motherhood photographer for about 4 years now. One of my very favorite parts of each session was helping my clients choose their outfits. And after a few years, I’ve learned a few tips and tricks to make choosing outfits and the whole session much easier.
Start With Mom
I always recommend starting with Mom’s outfit and picking the outfits from there. For mom, choose something that mom feels beautiful and comfortable in. From my experience, if mom feels beautiful in her outfit, the session goes well and the pictures turn out amazing.
And don’t feel pressured to wear a dress if you don’t like dresses! It’s pretty popular to wear a dress for pictures, but if jeans and a nice top is more your style, do that!
If you’re stuck on where to start looking for mom, try looking into local boutiques. They usually have beautiful items that are perfect for the season. I also really love Bohme and Abercrombie. At the end of this post I have linked a few amazing options.
Start At Your Own Closets
You don’t need to go buy all new outfits for your family photos. Start in your own closets, especially for the men. If they already have a nice pair of pants or a nice shirt, use them! Save money on clothing where you can, and put that money towards photo prints instead.
Try On Outfits Beforehand
I recommend having everyone try on their outfits at least a week before your session. Especially if you ordered online and weren’t able to try on in the store. Kids grow so fast, and even if something fit a month ago, it’s great to double check. I recommend at least a week before the session because that will generally give you enough time to reorder, alter and make last minute changes.
Don’t Dress Young Kids Until You Arrive
Have your babies and toddlers change once you arrive at your session. If your toddlers and babies are anything like mine, then you know that they’ll are so good at staining clothes and loosing shoes in their car seat. Check with your photographer to see if there is a bathroom or designated area that you can dress them, or plan to change them in the car. Especially if you have a longer drive. You don’t want to spend the whole drive stressing that they’ll mess up the clothes.
Wear What You Feel Beautiful And Comfortable In
Don’t pick a dress or top because it’s trendy. Don’t wear a hat if you never wear a hat or you don’t like how they feel. Make sure everyone feels their best in their outfit. That will come across in your family pictures. I mentioned this earlier in this post, but I just want to really get this point across.
And to go along with that, you can ignore everyone’s advice when it comes to what to wear for your family pictures. I always advise clients not to wear bright red. But if you LOVE bright, bold colors – wear it! They are your pictures that you are paying for and you will be displaying in your own home. Your family pictures should reflect your families personalities and connection, not trendy clothes.
Bring An Extra Bag To Your Session
Once you arrive at your session, pull out this bag and tell every one in your family to put their phones, keys, wallets, hair ties, and smart watches (if you don’t want them in the pictures) into the bag. You probably don’t want to see phone in some ones pocket, or a hair tie on your wrist in your pictures. And even if your photographer is a photoshop master, just make the job easier for them. My clients usually prefer keeping their things in one bag all together so they are easy to find after the session and nothing is gets forgotten or left behind.
Choosing Your Color Scheme:
I always recommend sticking to a more neutral, timeless colors over bright and bold options. Those bold colors can also color cast. For example, a bright red shirt can make your face look red in the photographs. If you’re stuck on what color scheme to pick, go to your living room and look around. This is probably where you’ll be displaying your pictures, right? Choose colors that will match well with your decor so when you get your large prints, they don’t look out of place in the room. And it’s also pretty likely that the color scheme within your home is a pretty good representation of the colors you like and gravitate towards anyway.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask Your Photographer
Your photographer wants you to love your photos. So if you are stuck on outfit ideas, reach out to them. They may already have Pinterest boards and wardrobe guides to help you choose. And most photographers will be more than happy to give you their guidance on what will look good in photographs. If your photographer doesn’t want to help you pick out outfits, run. (kidding, but not really).
Outfit Ideas
If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with where to look for outfits, I’ll link a couple options here to get you started. Each of these items, I’ve either bought myself, clients have bought for sessions and loved, or I have shopped at the store and trust them.
For The Women: Dress | Top | Pants | Shoes
For The Kids: Girls Dress | Girls Set | Boys Top | Boys Pants
For The Babies: Romper 1 | Romper 2 | Cotton Set
If you are still feeling stumped, message me! Seriously, choosing outfits for family photos is one of my favorite things and I would love to help in anyway I can. And last but not least, if you’re in the Cleveland area and looking for a photographer, reach out here! I’d love to help you (and each of my clients gets a personalized wardrobe guide. So basically, I do all the online shopping for you and just send you links. So easy!) I still have some availability this spring and summer.
