What to Wear for Family Photos

One of the questions we get asked often is “what should we wear for our family photos? Should we coordinate?”

Often people have questions on how to hit the sweet spot of coordinated and cohesive but not too matchy matchy.

So we are here to help you hit the sweet spot and create photos that are loved for decades to come.

Be Yourself

The most important thing is to be yourselves, if you never wear a mini skirt don’t go buy one for your photos. Same for kiddos choose things that reflect their personalities and that they will be comfortable in.

Sure those overalls at target might be REALLY cute but if your child has never worn overalls you might not get the reaction you were hoping for.

Take a moment to think about what would truly reflect your family and your style. If you are a more formal family then sure a suit and nice dress might be a great fit for you. But if you would have to go out and but those things than a nice sweater might be more your speed.

How ever I will say one thing to pay attention to is small patterned shirts, if the pattern is smaller than a quarter it tends to strobe and look funny in your photos. Also shirts with words, you can never truly read everything and you end up with “eek ventu” instead of Seek Adventure. While the phrases can be cute and well meant it can distract from the focus.

You Don’t Have to Get Fancy

Honestly not only is plain just fine but it’s Great! Plain nice shirts of sold colors often coordinate better and aren’t distracting from the emotion of the photo. When you share you sweet family photo you don’t want everyone’s eyes to go straight to Johnny’s Monster Truck Shirt! Don’t get me wrong we love a great patterned shirt but it can be easy to over do it.

Now do you have to match? No! Honestly if you stay away from things you would put together in an outfit like Navys and Blacks your golden. Now you can match as much or as little as you like. Do you have matching dresses for you girls ? Great wear them.

The main exception to this is extended family sessions, in these cases it’s always helpful to choose a rough theme, otherwise you can arrive with all types of plaid, checkered, and stripes. You could end up looking like Camilla Cream in A Bad Case of Stripes! Themes could include Pastels, Jewel Tones, Neutral Colors, etc.

Try on Clothes Before Day of

Please, Please, Please if nothing else do this! Have everyone try on their outfit before the day of your session. With family sessions, especially with small kiddos it is important that you can move in you outfit. Can you squat to their level? Can you walk in those heels? Can you pick up and hold you toddler comfortably?

This is also important to make sure everything fits. You don’t want to put all that effort into picking everyone’s outfits and then when your getting ready realize someone’s shirt is too tight or the pants wont close comfortably. Kiddos grow quick and no one wants to try to make a toddler in a tight pants stand still and smile.

Consider the Weather and Season

Here in Wyoming we try and shoot year round, mostly because if we didn’t we could only work 4 months of the year. So when planning your outfits consider the current season. You don’t want to wear a sweater no matter who cute in 89 degrees. And no one want to take their coat off in 35 degree weather especially you precious little ones. So consider coordinating you outerwear such as hats, gloves, scarves, and coats. Or if it is hot choose light flowy fabrics.

It’s About You

At the end of the day this session is about and for your family. This is your session and we are here to help you create photos that you love and share for a lifetime. We are available before and after your session to answer any questions you have.