Q: What should we wear to our family session?

A: Here are my suggestions:

1. Do not, I repeat, do not go all matchy matchy on me! It looks cliché and never shows individual personalities. And you probably won’t like what you picked in a couple years anyway. This is NOT one of our photos. 🙂
2. DO pick a color scheme. It helps the photo still look uniform. Pick an outfit you love, whether it is for you or your sweet little child. Then take that outfit and use it as your jumping off point. For example, your daughters dress is a floral print with navy blue, pink, and white. Have everyone else wear any or all of those three colors. I would also allow neutral fillers like tan, white, grey, and jeans. (Black should be part of a color scheme. It is, in my opinion, to bold of a color in a photo to be considered a neutral. If one person wears black and no one else does they will for sure stick out). My favorite is when people stick to neutrals and add one color to accent with. As you can see in the photo below they started by picking out a cute dress for their daughter then both coordinated. And I wouldn’t say the mom and dad are matching even though they are both wearing black collared shirts and jeans. The accessories make the difference. 
3. Also choose how dressy or casual you want everyone to be. If everyone is in casual clothes and one person is decked out formal, it just won’t look right. 😉 
4. Accessorize! Just be weary of hats. They can cast a shadow on the face. But if it’s a must we’ll tweak our lighting to make it work. one of my favorite accessories is scarves on the momma and bows in the little girl’s hair. I’ve heard it said, “you don’t have an outfit on unless you’ve got on earrings, a necklace, and bracelets.” I’ve also been told that your wrist is the thinnest part on your body, which means you should bring attention to it!
5. Pick flattering colors:
   1. Black, navy blue, dark brown=slimming 
   2. White reflects very well on skin. Which is really nice when the kids are standing next to you.
   3. Lime green and turquoise I always try to steer clear of. And this is only because it does not at all reflect well on the face and it is hard (if not impossible) to correct that color cast with editing. Translation? Most of your photos will end up being black and white. 🙂
   4. Other colors that reflect well on the skin are pink and tan.
6. Pick flattering patterns and cuts:
   1. V-necklines=slimming 
   2. Horizontal stripes=not slimming
   3. Vertical stripes=slimming and lengthening. 
   4. I think prints can be very cute and very forgiving, but you just want to be careful that it isn’t so loud. You wouldn’t want to distract from your beautiful face. To be safe, I would wear a loud pattern or even a horizontally striped dress (Gasp!) and then a solid color sweater, blazer or jean jacket over it. 
7. ABOVE ALL ———> Show your personality, style, etc.!