5 Tips for What to Wear for Family Photos

What to Wear for Family Photos

Let’s talk about it. That is the question I get the most — what to wear for family photos? This is ALWAYS the hardest question to answer. If you find yourself scrolling through Pinterest boards at 1 am, this one is for you!  Here are my 5 tips, that can help while you put together your family’s outfits.

1. Decide on a color palette.

Deciding what colors you want to wear is the best place to start. One easy search on Pinterest is, “Fall Color Palette”, or whatever season you are dressing for. This will give you an idea of what colors work the best together. My favorites are: gray, white, beige, olive green, and navy blue (think earth tones). Neutral colors photograph the best!

2. Start with one piece and build around it.

Mom, try to find your outfit first if you can, then build the rest of the outfits around that one! We always seem the hardest to dress! Now, if you happen to find your daughter’s dress first, that is okay too. Either way, start with one outfit first! That makes the whole process a lot easier to tackle. Avoid busy patterns and designs, they take away the focus on you and your family.

3. Coordinate outfits instead of matching.

When you have everyone match tends to look dated in family photos, and your pictures seem to lose dimension.  Choosing neutral colors with different patterns and textures will photograph best. Remember, avoid busy patterns. Adding a pop of color is perfectly fine too, but you’ll want to be careful with what colors you chose.  Avoid colors that are “hot” or “neon”. They leave a color cast on the skin that is hard to edit out.

4. Consider your location of your family photos.

If you are doing your family photos in a field of green grass, choosing a solid green dress might not be the best idea. The location has a darker background, neutral and jewel tone colors stand out better. The background is lighter, choose colors like navy or gray.

5. Make it a memory.

Make this a memory! One that your whole family can look back on and remember how much fun they had. Your family won’t look back and remember their outfits. They will remember playing peak a boo with you or playing games with their siblings. These moments are precious with your little ones. Don’t stress over having everyone’s outfit perfect. Be present at this exact moment. They are only little once.

Bonus Tip: Make sure everyone is comfortable.

This is the one thing people forget about when picking out their outfits. It does not matter if you think that it will look good, no one likes to be uncomfortable. Try on your kids clothes ahead of time to make sure they fit and aren’t “itchy” or “too tight”. Make sure everyone feels confident in what they are wearing. Stay away from anything that is clingy or under dressed. The last thing that you want is someone’s outfit to mess up your family photo session.
By no means are these rules for any session. These are only my suggestions that I know photograph well. I have a Pinterest page where I have pinned outfit ideas for every member of your family.

Also, when you booked a session with me for family photos, I send you my custom family guide. It is a magazine style guide that I made to help ease the stress of planning for your session. It goes over how to dress each member of your family, even dad. I even have my families send me photos to help them with deciding what looks best! I love helping families pick out colors and what to wear to their sessions. This is just one of the things that I do for my families when they book their family photos with me. This blog post can give you some insight on what it is like to work with me.