After you’ve chosen your family photographer and booked your family portrait session, the next big task is to coordinate outfits. This can definitely be a daunting task. This is the most common concern that moms have when booking their sessions. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you style your family.
Tip #1: Dress it up!
Have you been eyeing a gorgeous dress, but just never had an occasion for it? This is your chance to do it up! Remember: there’s no such thing as “too dressed up”. Don’t be afraid to have some fun! The more confident you feel in your outfit, the more you are going to like your pictures.
I always tell my clients, dress like you’re going to a wedding. Those are the pictures you’re more likely to want to share with friends and family and display in your home. For mom, a dress might be the way to go. For dad, a blazer, sport coat or jacket has a flattering effect for men. You can’t go wrong with a dress shirt, slacks and a blazer.
Tip #2: Choosing Colors to Coordinate Outfits
When choosing colors for your outfits, I recommend selecting lighter, neutral tones and more muted shades. Bright, bold or neon colors are distracting and take the focus away from where it should be: YOU! You can never go wrong with light neutral colors like cream, taupe, camel or light gray.
You also want to make sure that you are choosing a color scheme when you coordinate outfits. You do NOT want to match. For example, you may choose navy blue and cream as your color scheme. Dad may wear a cream sweater, your son may wear a navy polo with dark jeans. You will wear a cream dress with a statement necklace and your daughter wears a gold, sequin dress with navy flats.
When you look at this outfit on camera, you will see an X – neither color is represented too much on the top or on the bottom. By doing this, you have created a cohesive look without all wearing white shirts and jeans (please don’t do this!). I share more of this process with you in your client prep guide that you will receive after booking your family session.
Tip #3: Accessorize!
Once you have done the hard work of choosing outfits, now comes the fun part: accessorizing! You want to be very careful with this, it is definitely a fine balance and you can always ask me for feedback if you feel like you may have overdone it. But one way to really make your wardrobe pop is to add a few fun accessories – a statement necklace, a bow tie, a hat, a scarf. This is also a cost-effective way of adding a little something to simple outfits so that the simple outfits can be reused and reworn on different occasions. Again, you want to make sure that you are walking a fine line here and not going overboard with accessories, but this can be a nice touch that really helps to customize your session.
If this process intimidates you, feel free to reach out at any time during the process for help and feedback. I am happy to help you work with any budget to find the look that you are going for, without breaking the bank or stressing you out. I have received great feedback from clients about the prep guide that I will send to you after booking your session. It walks you though every step of the process and I am always here as a resource as well.
