Motherhood and Kids

What to Wear for Family Photos in the Fall

 

Fall is here and the holiday season is upon us, which means many families will be taking their family photos.  Read on for my tips on what to wear for your next family pictures!

This season is a perfect time to update those old outdated family pictures with some new portraits, and get your holiday card photos.  I absolutely love the outcome of family photos, but the process can be a doozy.    I love documenting our growth and getting dressed up together as a family, but trying to wrangle kids is not an easy task.

Taking family pictures with a toddler can be quite a battle.  Not to mention a pre-teen that believes he has a million better things to be doing.  With blogging you would think I would be a pro with family photos, but it is actually quite the opposite. Now the boys I feel mentally prepare themselves to haze me the entire time we are taking photos.

 

Styling a full family can be difficult. Especially when you have boys, I swear it is so hard sometimes to find coordinating cute outfits for boys.  With the family photo sessions getting ready to happen for so many of you I thought I would provide some tips that helps me with planning the family outfits.

Quick Tip: I got almost all of our outfits from Walmart‘s order pick-up.  This is a game changer.  If you do not feel like having to go search through racks of clothes, consider ordering online and then picking up in the store.  Walmart also offers grocery order pick-up that can be done in the designated grocery order pick- up area.  Save yourself some time and try grocery pick up. 

Shop the our family photos outfits by clicking the pictures below. 

My Dress, Calvin’s top, Cameron’s top, Cyrus’s top , My shoes, boy shoes

Tips for styling and coordinating your boys for family photos in the Fall

• Pick a common theme you want for the shoot. Example, for fall consider doing fall hues such as rust, navy, browns.  Holidays you can never go wrong with any red. I even love season buffalo plaids.

•  My boys grow so fast I typically do not spend a ton of money on their clothes. Not to mention, Cameron comes home with a hole in his pants pretty much weekly.  Cameron is approaching men’s size clothing so it is important that I get the most bang for my buck.  I got the boys looks from Walmart. I simply searched their fall style category and was able to get coordinating looks.

• Plan and shop early.  You are not the only family taking pictures or coordinating for a holiday.  In the past I’ve needed a bow-tie for my Cyrus that tied in all outfits together, but by the time I went to purchase it they were sold out everywhere.  Couldn’t even get it online (tragic news of course LOL).  Due to that I’ve learned to always buy the boys outfits early.

• Primary and Secondary policy: When I style my boys it typically involves a certain print.  Personally, for me I think it is a bit over powering to have all boys wearing a shirt with a certain print.  Example: I will have one of my sons wear a shirt with plaid as primary, and the other with accent colors of print (I.e. Suspenders or Bow-tie) as secondary.  I rarely have them completely matching.  It can be a bit overkill.  So I pick 1-2 of the kids in a particular print and then will just keep the other boys in the same color scheme.However, if your children are closer in age I love the twinning look.

• Oh and if you are like me and buy children’s clothes one size bigger because they grow quickly, for this occasion buy true to size.  For pictures you want them to look tailored and finished.  No long shirts or pants rolled at the waist. I typically get TTS when shopping for family photos.

Tips for styling the parents for your next family photos:

•    The boys in most cases carry the pattern, myself and my husband will bring simplicity to the coordination and wear solids typically.  We will each be in opposite colors of our chosen scheme.  That way it doesn’t look too matchy.

• After I figure out what the boys are wearing I then get to focus on myself next.  Family pictures and/or holidays are an opportunity for you to glam it up a bit. I search for big skirts or flowy dresses.  Skater or A-Line silhouettes are a favorite. For me personally, that shape allows me not to worry about if a stomach roll is showing or anything in between.  Maxi dresses are great too! I rarely pick fitted dresses, because when I am worrying about getting my kids to smile the last thing I want to do is also worry about sucking in.

•  Makeup- I usually keep my makeup more natural, personally I don’t want to look too overdone for family portraits.  I made the mistake one time and got a black smoky eye that was too over the top I felt for pictures.  I ended up washing it off to get something more natural.

• Accessories:  Keep your accessories classically simple.  I normally stay away from overpowering jewelry for pictures. I don’t want any one item to take control of the picture.  Not to mention, in many of our pictures I am holding my toddler, and I am almost positive he will grab a hold of any over sized jewelry.

• For my husband I try to keep him pretty simple.  He doesn’t like anything too over the top.  Rick is all about comfort so I like to keep his simple, cozy, and affordable. I like to pick slim fit for Rick’s pictures in photos, although I know he doesn’t prefer it, but it gives it a more tailored look.

•  Blazers and cardigans are a go to when styling my husband for pictures. I feel suits look a little stiff for our pictures, so I try to find a middle of casual and dressy.

Find an awesome photographer that does great with kids.  That makes all the difference in your photos.  It is a tough task trying to get to younger kids to smile for a camera.  Choose wisely and find a photographer that also knows how to pose a family.  Nothing I can’t stand more than seeing an awkward family photo.

I never know how my kids will cooperate for photos, so it is important that I have a photographer that is patient and gets that.

Make sure to try on all the outfits prior to the day of the pictures/event! I made the mistake of not putting the kids clothes on until we were preparing for the pictures.  I found out one of their pants were way to large. I then frantically had to run around for a replacement, which in turn made us late for our shoot.  Try on everything, you want no surprises!

ALSO, if you have a toddler or baby I’ve found that morning photo shoots have the best cooperation from my toddler.  Cyrus is most pleasant right after breakfast, and not yet too busy.  If you are coordinating your outfits just for a holiday or celebration, make sure to take pictures before the event.  Guarantee if you wait too long your kids will manage some way to get stains on their clothes!

Most importantly just relax and know that even if you don’t get all kids looking at the photo that is ok. Rarely are all my kids looking at the same time. I’ve actually found the best family photos are the less perfect ones!

Good luck on your family styling!

*This post on what to wear for family pictures is sponsored by Walmart, all thoughts and opinions are my own