What to wear to your Family Portrait Session

One of the biggest questions I get from my family clients before a shoot is "what the heck do we wear?!" Oh, man - I get it. As one who has obsessively thought about what to wear for my own family photos, I 100% sympathize. Finding attire for family photos can, at times, be a wee bit stressful. It's darn hard. Well, fear not my friends!  I've put together some strategies you can use to make planning your outfits a breeze - or at least a little bit easier.

Rule Numero Uno - Dress to your personalities

Maybe you're a little less country and little more rock-n-roll. Or, perhaps, big bright colors make your heart sing all the songs. Do you love all things modern? Or do blue jeans and comfy tops more your cup of tea? Whatever it is, embrace it! These images will be of you and YOU need to be represented. Don't put your family in outfits that make them feel out of place and uncomfortable. Embrace the personality of your family and dress for it.

Now, the basics - Location and Season

Almost any color palette works well in the studio, but if your session is outdoors or in your home, there is extra consideration on what to wear. Think about where your session will take place and in which season it will be. Spring and early summer tend to be bright and very green so it's a great time for candy colors and soft pastels. In the heat of summer after the trees have dulled a bit (or in more urban areas where muted tones are more prominent) bold colors work great as well as any classic color combos.Jewel and muted tones were made for autumn just as much as Pumpkin Spiced Lattes.

If the session is in your home, consider the colors you have throughout your house and dress to compliments those colors.

If all else, neutral color palettes tend to work well in any season or location.

Speaking of color palettes... 

A color palette will be your friend. If you like to keep it simple (because who doesn't?) the easiest thing to do is pick 3 colors that work great together and use those as inspiration. Neutral colors like grey, black and browns can be used along with pretty much any palette - so add those in as you see fit.

Make sure when you are choosing outfits and accessories that you distribute the color evenly throughout your family. It's also a great idea to split up colors up between tops and bottoms and luckily, we live in an age where you can find bottoms in all sorts colors. Use this to your advantage and have a little fun! Another smart thing to do is to split up the colors between natural pairs - mom and dad, oldest and youngest, ect - that way those natural pairs will look great when posed next to each other.An awesome little website called Design-Seeds is a great place to start looking at color palettes. Color lovers beware, however, it can also be a total time suck.

Your Home is a factor too

Consider where you will display these images and work with the color palette to compliment the colors of your home. It's no fun when you plan your outfits around tones of aqua and realize after the fact it doesn't quite go with your forest green living room.

Still unsure what direction to go? Find the star of the show

Sometimes I find it's much easier if I style around one outfit. For instance, if I score an awesome dress for my daughter, I'll use that as the base of color palette and mood of the entire family's attire.

You don't have to avoid much but avoid these...

Skin tones and cameras do not love fluorescent colors and stark white. As a pattern lover, I'm not going to dissuade you from adding patterns to your outfit selections. That said, be wary of adding too many patterns OR bold patterns that will distract from your beautiful faces.

Last but not least, plan ahead...

I've found that I'm most stressed out about what to wear when I leave it to the last minute. So, don't stress out and don't leave it until the last minute. I'm always here to talk through outfit selections with you (or commiserate with you about the lack of fun options for little boys) and I've created Pinterest boards that may help you in your outfit finding quest: View loads of fun color palettes here...  and family photo outfit inspiration here. I also put together a couple boards exclusively for styling kiddos for both lifestyle and modern studio sessions.

Feeling inspired and a little less scared about what to wear to your family session? Oh, good. Still, need to schedule that family session? Well, I can help.