What to Wear for Fall Family Photos | Making the Process SO MUCH EASIER! | Family Photographer Glastonbury, Connecticut

Well, I just finished the bi-yearly task of changing out my family’s closets from warm weather clothes to cold weather ones. And it got me thinking about what we would wear in our upcoming yearly family portraits. Well, clearly nothing that we currently owned was going to work, so a shopping trip was in order. Now for me that means shopping with four kids in tow, so I’m not going to more than one store because the kids won’t last and neither will my patience.

I was fortunate that I could outfit all of my kids in one place, in a span of 30 minutes, and know that we would have adorable outfits to complement the fall foliage in this year’s photographs. So I thought I’d pass along a few tips on what to wear for family photos so that you won’t be so overwhelmed with tons of options.

First and foremost, the obvious! Steer clear of clothing with large logos, popular characters or writing on them. All of those things are like having a huge spotlight on that part of your photo saying, “Hey, notice me first!” Whether we like it or not, if there is writing on a shirt, you are going to read it. And I promise you that in 20 years, the sassy saying your kid thought was so funny on his favorite t-shirt will make him hate that photo because it embarrasses him.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the important stuff. COLOR! We have amazing colors to enjoy in our landscapes every fall, and we all dream of having our gorgeous family photographed among them and it hanging on our wall for others to Oooh and Ahhh over. But if you stay safe and dress everyone in something neutral, you run the risk of just blending in. Yes, white shirts and khakis are timeless, but Yawn! Now, throw some selective pops of color on your family and Wow! So whether you are shopping in your closets or in your favorite kids’ store, pick out one color that you are really drawn to and then make sure that color appears in each person’s outfit somewhere. The rest of the colors in everyone’s outfits should run in the midtones; medium blues, greys, browns, black. The pop of color could be in their shirt, socks, necklace, etc.; you get the picture. This will draw everyone’s eyes to the adorable people in the photo, and that really is your goal here.

The next things to consider are the details. Things like jewelry (my favorite!), scarves, and shoes all take a part in making your look come together. My favorite rule is everyone has the option of one piece of bling. Most Dads forgo this option, Moms choose a cool necklace or scarf and sometimes the kids twinkle-toe shoes hit this button for them. Fortunately there aren’t many mistakes you can make here. But there are two very important rules. 1) Less is more. You want people years from now to wonder how long ago this image was taken because you look so good, not look at it and say something like, “Ahh, the 80’s”. 2) No white shoes unless you are on your way to the church.

Now decide whether you want a casual or dressy feel to the photo. The choice is yours and both can give you amazing images. Just make sure you are all on the same page. Having your little princess in ruffles and lace next to your little gamer in blue jeans and flannel is going to make the photo seem disjointed and your family seem like they aren’t really all together.

Finally, pick out clothes that you think you look good in! How you feel about yourself in what you are wearing will show on your face as well as everywhere else, so make sure your outfit makes you smile. You don’t want to have to wrestle the kids into outfits they don’t like either. Comfortable, well fitting clothes will provide you with the best pictures of your family because smiles won’t be hard to come by (and any bulges you aren’t fond of will stay well hidden!)

Oh, my last tip. . .shop for the kids first, then Mom, then Dad. The best options for kids can be hard to find, especially when you are shopping for several of them. But there are so many options for women that you can just grab one of the kid’s items and take it with you to help you match colors. Finally, Dad’s stuff is easy after all the hemming and hawing you just had to do over everyone else’s outfit.

I’ve added a few photos to highlight the options that I mentioned throughout this post. If you’d like more ideas like you see in the above photos, head over to Pinterest. They have thousands of these on their site.

I do hope all of this was helpful to you. In the end though, the most important thing you can do is to find a photographer whose style you love and schedule that yearly portrait. Your kids will thank you for it years from now when they are showing the photograph to their kids.