1 of 3: How I Picked Clothes for our Family Session | Springfield, Virginia Family Photographer

We recently had our family photos taken while on vacation. As you probably already know I am a photographer in the Northern Virginia area, so I am not usually on the “client” side of family photos. I really wanted to think about the process of styling and choosing outfits and share with you.

For my sessions I usually tell my families to start with mom. I advise them to pick what they have that they feel good in or purchase something if needed. I listened to my own advice and found a dress on Amazon that looked like it would be flattering. I couldn’t tell the exact colors in the dress so I ordered five different patterns. I made sure they were free returns, don’t worry. I looked for something that was flowy, had Spring colors or floral pattern, and I wanted some kind of detail in the dress. Once they came in the mail I could clearly see the colors and it all come together from there. I chose this one from Amazon and then looked at the options I had for the girls that best matched what I was going to wear. 

My four-year-old LOVES kelly green and she already had this simple, solid green dress. I maybe would have chose something with a bit more texture or detail in the fabric, but it was actually hard to find a solid colored dress and the one we had matched nicely. For my two-year-old I borrowed a light blue, almost denim-like dress with crochet around the neckline from a friend. I also had them wear biker shorts under their dresses. In picking their dresses I wanted to keep them in solid colors or very little pattern. I chose my dress to have all the pattern and any other pattern would just clash. Plus I like my kids in simple clothes to keep the attention on their adorable faces. Muted colors, neutrals, and no plain black or white also work well.

My husband likes to be comfortable and I knew it was more important to him than being super stylish. He had a light heather blue, fitted t-shirt and it played nicely with the blues in my dress and the dress on my little one. He wore dark jeans with it and flip flops. He was in his happy place which is what I wanted for comfortable, relaxed images.

Last, but not least: accessories and shoes. I am extremely simple with this part. I chose the girls shoes at the last minute depending on the weather because mid-April can be warm or still slightly cooler. The day of the session was windy and chilly so I put them in their rain boots which they loved. I had brown, pointed-toe flats because they were easy and cute. I literally only wore a necklace from my grandma and that’s it. Told you, I’m simple! I had bows for the girls hair, no ponytails or anything. I wanted everything to be as natural and calm as possible.

In my bag I packed cardigans for them (which we used halfway through the session) and of course some snacks. I can’t wait to share the images from our session!