How To Choose Outfits for Family Photos

What to Wear for Family Photos

One thing I love to do is document seasons of life and watch our family change and grow. I usually try to find a photographer to capture our family in specific life stages whether it be a maternity or newborn sessions, milestone birthdays or updated family photos for Christmas cards or frames around the house. Although I love getting family pictures to remember each season, sometimes it can be a somewhat challenging endeavor with two kids. Here are my top tips on what outfits to wear for family photos and how to make the photo shoot a success. That way you will enjoy the process and cherish the family photos for years to come.

When I was speaking with my mother-in-law, showing her our family photos from this fall, the first question she asked was, “How did you come up with and coordinate all of your outfits? I just can’t see it in my head unless its laid out and I can copy it.” I then realized that there is a process to create our overall vibe & coordinated outfits. I wanted to share my process with you to give you some inspiration when choosing family outfits.

RELATED: Mommy and Me Spring Photoshoot

You can shop our outfits here!

Shop Audrey’s Dress here — John William’s shirt here

Use code “DOROTHY15” for a discount at Babyshop

How to Choose Family Photo Outfits

Choose Photographer, Time & Location First

The photographer, time and location are the biggest decisions that will impact the overall look and vibe of your family photos and determine what you will wear. When choosing your photographer, look through their social media or website and determine which one will fit within your budget and desired asthetic. Together you can choose your location and time of day for taking the photos. Natural lighting always does best in my opinion. Shooting early in the morning when the kids are fresh or right before sun down usually works better for our kids. That also just so happens to be when the lighting is best and you aren’t fighting against direct sunlight casting shadows on your face or giving a harshness to your photos.

Once you have the photographer booked, time and location nailed down, its time to pick out your outfits!

Start with an item or color scheme

For our family photos I picked out my dress first and then had everyone else coordinate based off of the colors. I love the navy, burgundy, hunter green color palette of this dress and I added a hint of mustard in there, too. After I decided on my dress, I shopped online to find these outfits in the specific colors for my kids. I found simple coordinating pieces in solid colors for the kiddos, and all of the items I chose for the kids mix and match with eachother, which I thought was so cute. Click to shop Audrey’s Dress & John William’s shirt (Use code “DOROTHY15” for 15% off). We found both of Tyler’s tops at Kohl’s (which has proved to be our favorite place to shop for him lately) and picked styles that I knew would get a lot of use this fall.

I recommend starting with a color scheme based on the season or choosing your own outfit first and getting the color inspiration from there. I don’t necessarily want all of us to match, but I do want a few specific colors distributed throughout the group so that no matter who stands by whom, we’ll all coordinate naturally!  Here are some examples of what I mean.

Stick to a classic silhouette

Stick to a classic and timeless silhouette and avoid flashy trends that will quickly go out of style. Depending on the location for the photos, you’ll determine how dressy or casual you want the photos. For a dressy option find something like this a-line dress that is flattering to most body types. Choose something that makes you feel confident and beautiful. You want to feel comfortable and not have to keep adjusting or pulling at your clothes.

RELATED: My Favorite Dresses and Why I Like them So Much

Keep it simple

Don’t be afraid of patterns like florals or plaid, but just make sure to keep it to a minimum. Too many patterns can be “too busy” and detract from the photo. Keep in mind what colors look good on everyone when pulling the outfits. You don’t want to get your photos back and see that the color totally washes out your kid… or the patterns you chose were too obnoxious. 😉

Below I linked some examples of some mommy and me items that coordinate very well together if you need to “see it.”

Examples of casual family photos

Our family had the opportunity to take photos for our local Explore Branson website to share all that Branson has to offer for families in the fall. We went to two local pumpkin patches and chose much more casual outfits for everyone to run and play. For these photos, we started with choosing a color scheme and chose items in our closet we had that coordinated. I laid out all of the options on the bed and grouped the items based on how well they went together. I recommend just playing around with different combinations until you settle on one look/color scheme that would look good on everyone.

Shop our casual outfits below!

Hope this gives you some great outfit ideas for your family photo shoot. In my next blog post, I’ll be sharing my top tips on how to have a successful family photoshoot. I’ll be including pose ideas and easy ways to get the kids to smile for photos! Be sure to subscribe to my blog to get my latest posts right to your inbox!

Also linked some other options all under $100 that I think would be perfect for family photos below!