Family Photos 101 | What to Wear + Tips and Tricks

*This post was written in partnership with Nordstrom. All ideas, content, photos, and clothing are my own. Thank you for supporting brands who value Style Your Senses!*

I mentioned this over on Instagram, but today’s post has been the most requested of the season! Today we are are talking all things Holiday family photos…what to wear for them and a few tips and tricks to pull them off without a hitch! If we are being honest, the thought of wrangling up your family in matching outfits to haul off and take family photos feels a lot more daunting than it does fun. Today I’m here to help! Some of you know this, but before blogging I dabbled in photography and during the Holidays I was always booked solid family sessions, so I’m speaking from at least a little bit of first hand experience. I have a ton of tricks to make the whole process easier and loads of outfit inspiration to make planning for a cohesive look easy and fun!

First, I will warn you that this post is loaded with photos of my little family, so thank you for indulging me! I loved the way that my bright and bold vision for these came to life behind the lens of my ever talented friend Ashley! The post is loaded with tips and then at the end I’m sharing 3 mood boards with different outfit inspiration for the entire family.

For our outfits, I wanted bright + bold against a very clean background. I wanted the red to really stand out, for a modern take on a classic Holiday color. I started with Landry’s dress and really built our outfits by pulling colors from the darling pattern. Lawson’s dress coordinates perfectly and Dan’s shirt was the perfect color blue check. I knew that I wanted to wear a solid color to balance out their patterns, so a red bell sleeve it was! It’s cohesive but not boring and bold without being overwhelming. Here are the details:

What We’re Wearing:

Dan: Puffer Vest | Plaid Button Up | Dark Wash Jeans (currently on sale) | Similar Boots | Belt

Me: Red Bell Sleeve Tunic | Dark Wash Skinny Jeans | Booties | Earrings | Similar Necklace

Lawson: Stripe Dress | Tights | Headband | Metallic Shoes

Landry: Printed Dress | Tights | Metallic Shoes

Tips for a successful family photo session:

Choose your outfits based on a variety of factors.

-What kind of Christmas card do I plan to send out? Rustic? Bright? Neutral?

-Do I plan to hang some of these photos in my home? If so, which room? Keep this in mind when choosing colors.

-What type of backgrounds will I be photographed in? Does your photographer have a set location or do you get to choose?

Start with the kids.

I find it much easier to start with the kids outfits. Since they are smaller, you can use their outfits to infuse pattern and pull out solid colors to then find clothes for yourself. Nordstrom had the absolute best selection of clothing for the girls! I loved these Mini Boden outfits because not only are they so stinkin’ cute, but they coordinate SO well together. There are quite a few brands in their kids assortment that have great coordinating colors and patterns, to make sibling dressing super easy. A few of my favorites are: Tea Collection | Tucker and Tate | Peek 

Layers, Layers, Layers

Layers are a great way to add texture and depth to family photos. They add lots of warmth and give all the cozy vibes. Consider faux fur vests, puffer vests, light scarves, denim jackets, or sweaters layered on top of pattered shirts. This is also a great way to break up and tone down patterns or a good way to add some texture and interest.

Set expectations with yourself and your photographer. 

This is important. Make sure that you understand how long the session is and how many (if any) digital images you’ll receive in return. Purchasing digital images (to create Holiday cards with) after a session can get pricey, so make sure that you are prepared ahead of time. Also, make sure that you can both agree upon a location and time that suits your family  (i.e. a session around nap time is never a good idea). It’s always helpful to discuss your vision for the photos and overall expectations with the photographer ahead of time so that she’s also prepared.

Set expectations with your husband and your kiddos

Some times the husbands are the hardest ones to get on board. I’m sure that they would rather being doing almost anything else than smiling for photos, so it’s good to start talking it up early 😉 Tell them how long the photos will last and what you need from them during the session. This may sound silly, but my husband always plays clueless if I don’t fully prepare him.

Come up with “incentives” AKA a little bribery never hurt anyone.

There’s nothing wrong with a little bribery, friends. Reward everyone with a fun meal out after the photo session is done or have special treats for the kids on hand to reward immediate good behavior. I used to bring smarties in my photo bag and dish them out to the kids when they followed directions.

Bold Lip + Bronzer

Alright mamas, these are the tricks for looking awake, alive and beautiful in photos. I am a big fan of a spray tan before photos, but if you don’t have time for that, opt for a great bronzer and a bold lip.  Slight contouring of the face along with a bold lip really set off your features for the camera.

Try lots of different poses.

Aside from thinking my little crew is pretty cute, that’s why I included so many photos in this post. I wanted to give you lots of inspiration as to which *poses* to try with your own family. Depending on the photographer, some are great at suggesting poses and some not so much, so you might have to take the wheel a bit according to what you like. I try to stick to the 50/50 rule…have 50% of the images look a little more posed (like you were told to be there and smile) and the other 50% look natural (like you are just interacting, laughing, walking, etc as a family). An easy tip would be to pull up this post to have on your phone during the session so that you always have a new pose to try.

Choose a location that offers a background to compliment your vision or one that offers multiple back drops.

Like I mentioned, for ours specifically I knew that I wanted a clean white wall so that our outfits really popped. I can totally see our photos going well with a holiday card like THIS and that’s exactly what I’d envisioned. Last year, we went a little more rustic and took our photos at the pumpkin patch (see them HERE). Generally, it’s a good idea to choose places that offer a pretty backdrop, but still keep the focus on your family. It’s already hard to focus a camera on so many people at once, so having a clean background makes things a little easier.

Worry about the lighting.

Lighting is SO important. I’ve noticed that some photographers will cram sessions throughout the day and that’s not always a good idea. Lighting is not ideal from 11-4 especially and shadows are terrible. Unless it’s a totally overcast day or you will be in complete shade I would avoid this timeframe all together. My ideal time in the Fall is from 4-5:30 p.m. depending on if the time change has happened yet. This light is really the best for natural, beautifully lit photos that make for healthy skin tones and true color saturation. These photos were taken last weekend (10/1) at 5:30 p.m.

Branch off a allow time to take individual pics, pics with each parent and some silly pics to capture personalities

These always end up being some of our favorites. It’s so important to capture individual images with each child and these also make for such cute images to frame or include in a gallery wall.

Kids: Make sure that their hair is out of their face for the most part

Maybe I’m just speaking to this because of Landry’s curls that tend to fly every which way, but I think that it’s always easier to have kids’ hair out of their face for the most part to make things a little easier. I’ve braided Landry’s for the past two years, but would also fix it half up or even in a head band. You never know what the Fall winds bring…so just a quick tip to make things a little easier.

Can we talk about these matching shoes?! I’m dying y’all! I even said that I would never be one of those matchy matchy moms…bahahah well consider this me eating crow because I LOVE IT! For whatever reason, the product image doesn’t update for the baby sizes, but this is what they look like. Each gal will get SO much wear out of these neutral kicks this Winter!

A few more tips:

Moms: give yourself time to get ready! You’ve put so much effort into pulling together these photos, so make sure that you allow yourself enough time to get ready and feel confident as well. Heck, you should totally treat yourself to a blowout and a makeup application…you deserve it!

Relax!

Try to enjoy the time with your crew! No matter how terrible you think that things are going, you are bound to get a few good images…so just try to relax and smile through it!

p.s. My top is actually a tunic, so it can be worn both ways! It would also be great with leggings and boots and a long vest layered over. It’s a fun and inexpensive top to have on hand as the Holidays roll around. These are also the jeans I won’t shut up about. You need them. Period. 

Here’s an example of how even a slight change of a background and lighting can change the feel of an image. Here we stepped off of the fully shaded white wall and onto the side of the building that had direct backlight. It completely changed the look and feel of the image. It’s great to have some variety and play around with backgrounds and lighting!

I truly hope that these tips and tricks were helpful and give you some piece of mind when booking and going to Holiday photo sessions this year! Now, here’s more outfit inspiration with easy, cohesive looks for the entire family.

*Each board is shoppable by simply clicking on the item that you’d like more info on*

This outfit scheme is great for photos at a rustic barn or a natural landscape. It’s layered and cozy with lots of on-trend colors. It looks very “Fall” but doesn’t scream “HOLIDAY,” which makes the photos easy to frame and display around your home all year long. 

These outfits are perfect against a beautiful Fall foliage background! Think yellow and orange leaves against the purple and teal! I broke up the kids’ patterns with a sherpa vest and added pops of animal print and metallic for some extra interest. 

Here’s another board similar to the outfits that we are wearing, but I added an easy outfit if you have a little dude. I would add a vest for him and you have a great, bold scheme

**If you enjoyed this post, I’d love for you to pin it onto one of your Pinterest boards! 

Thank you again to Nordstrom for sponsoring this post!