How to Style Fall Family Photos

*This post is sponsored by Nordstrom and ShopStyle

I write and love putting together this post every single year and this one is no different! It’s a post all about how to plan, style and nail a successful Fall family photoshoot from start to finish. What to wear, how to coordinate and how to pose for Holiday Card worthy images that you’ll treasure forever…plus a peek at our 2019 Fam Photos!

This year I knew that I wanted to center our theme around red because I loved our 2017 photos so much and they were also centered around red. See them HERE. I love how festive it feels for the season and I also think our family wears it well 😉 I saw this red dress, instantly fell in love and knew I wanted to center our photos around it. P.S. That’s my number one tip–Choose YOUR outfit first and then plan everyone else’s. It’s so important for mama to feel beautiful and confident in her outfit and it will make a difference in the entire experience.

After selecting my outfit, I try to find the girls’ outfits! I typically go with a small print that may coordinate mine and Dan’s outfits and almost always start with Mini Boden. Their prints are outstanding, the quality is great and I typically splurge on 2-3 of their outfits for the girls per season, as they always continue to wear them to Church and special seasonal occasions. I also love that their size ranges go from infant to big kids and cover both boys and girls, so they make it veryyyy easy to find matching or coordinating outfits for your kids. Shop their full assortment HERE.

I pulled out the pretty blue in the dress and used it in Dan’s shirt. If wearing a gingham or check, the key is to keep it small so as not to really distract in the images. His favorite dress shirts are THESE and THESE. We kept it simple and paired it back to his favorite AG chino jeans and dress sneakers (more of an investment, but he’s worn them a TON).

P.S. I did find that this dress is a TRUE small (size 2-4) with very little give due to the lining. I’m wearing a Small here, but would have been more comfortable in a M.

Quick Outfit Tips:

-Choose YOUR outfit first. Yes, that means you Mom! Find something that you feel confident and beautiful in and center everything else around it. You’ll be surprised how much of a different this makes.
-Choose one to two key colors, the choose coordinating patterns and neutrals to pair back to them.
-Stick with small prints and patterns. You don’t want them to overwhelm the frame.
-Not a bad idea to think about your home decor colors when choosing colors. For these, I’d likely have to get them printed in black and white because these colors are really too bold to enlarge and frame in our home.

Quick Posing Tips:

-Be upfront with your photographer about the look you want and make sure that your visions align
-Choose 3-4 key poses that you like and practice them ahead of time so that you can collectively nail it when it’s GO time.
-Once you get the posed photos that you want, it’s time to act silly! Laugh, joke, say “poop” and “fart” and make your kids giggle, run, chase them, spin them, give them piggy back rides and totally have fun—these lifestyle images are always my fav.
-Make sure to grab quick individuals of each of your kids and sneak away for one with your husband, too!

Some of my favorite photos are unexpected, last minute and of us just being—US. It’s so easy to get stressed for family photos, but the magic happens when you just let go a little and let everyone just have some fun. I hope that these ideas helped and that you have an awesome Fall Family Photo Session!