Extended family sessions have quickly become one of my more popular packages. After the pandemic, preserving family memories has taken on a whole new meaning. These portraits are more important than ever to document your growing family’s story. When planning an extended family session, there are a few tips to keep in mind.
Planning an Extended Family Session: Availability
Probably the most challenging aspect of booking an extended family session in Connecticut is finding availability. If you have any interest in booking this type of session, reach out sooner rather than later. Booking an extended family session during the busier seasons may be more of a challenge than you expect. This is especially true if you reach out with less than six weeks notice. Most photographers will book their weekend schedules up to six months out, especially for September and October. If you are hoping to plan an extended family session for then, it’s best to reach out as soon as possible.
Extended Family Session Goals
Extended family sessions are so special because you truly get to witness and capture the bonds between the different generations. When you are planning your extended family session, be sure to be clear on what you are hoping for from your session. Do you want just one family portrait that you can hang above Grandma’s mantle? Or are you looking for a bunch of candids with a variety of family groupings? The sooner you are clear on your goals, the better your session will match your vision.
The next step is to make sure that you communicate your goals clearly with your photographer. When you work with me, I will ask for a point person to fill out a questionnaire so that I can be prepared for your extended family session. This questionnaire will help me to plan for posing and to make the most out of our time together.
Planning Your Extended Family Session: Communication
As your family photographer, my job is to communicate clearly with you about our expectations for your extended family session. As you can imagine, the bigger the family, the more expectations there are. On the day of your extended family session, you will be at ease knowing that I will use my teacher-voice and help your portraits to be as successful as possible in matching your vision.
Planning an Extended Family Session: Coordinating Your Wardrobe
For any portrait session, the second question I am always asked is “What do we wear?” If you are interested in using the Sharon Leger Photography Client Closet for your extended family session, please reach out as there are some extra considerations that I can explain to you. As with all of my portrait sessions though, I will provide you with a prep guide to think through outfit coordination. I will work with you the whole way to make sure that wardrobe coordination happens across families. This is especially important for extended family sessions as you will want each individual family to coordinate with the larger extended family.
The Day of Your Session
On the day of your extended family session, you will have a clear understanding of where and when we will meet. To start your session, I will introduce myself to your family as the photographer and lead chaos coordinator. Every family will be given explicit, clear directions and we will start having fun immediately. With my seamless posing workflow, we will achieve the images your family is hoping for to share with generations to come.
My favorite part of being a photographer is being able to preserve memories for families for years to come. Extended family sessions are such a great way to celebrate your family and preserve it in this fleeting moment of time. If you are looking to book an extended family session this year and would like a custom quote, please reach out. Not ready for a full extended family session yet? Check out some recent family portraits and let’s chat about how we can work together to celebrate your growing family.
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