How to Dress for Family Photos

Photo by Candid Chic Photography

One of the most requested posts from you guys is how to dress for family pictures. Well, this year I got my stuff together, and we actually had professional photos taken. Yay me (one must celebrate small successes -ha!)! So now I can finally post about it because I’ve  recently been through it! But even if you aren’t getting professional photos anytime soon, Thanksgiving is a great time to take some sort of family photo, so here’s my advice on dressing you and the family for pictures.

First, start with one outfit  or piece you love.  For instance, this year I knew I wanted to wear a cream sweater and white jean combination because I was inspired after I saw it on Pinterest (post here). But your jumping off point could be anything, like a sweater for one of your kiddos. You just need somewhere to start.

Then start looking for color combinations that will look good with your first outfit. For instance, I started looking for what looks good with cream. I kept my eyes peeled, and I found it while sitting at church. There was a guy sitting in front of me with a navy and cream sweater! BLUE AND CREAM! You can also find lots of color combination inspiration on Pinterest. Just type “(your color choice) color scheme” into the search bar.

After deciding on my color combination, I used shopstyle.com to look for shirts for the boys. I simply typed “cream and navy sweater” in the search bar. I ordered the boys different sweaters so they wouldn’t be matching (my personal preference, nothing wrong with matching), and I went with a different color blue altogether for my husband. But, I still wasn’t sure how it would all look, so I made a collage of it. I know, but I couldn’t help myself. -ha!

Now, if you don’t have lots of time to prepare and you don’t want to purchase new clothes, you can still do this using what your family already has in their closets. Simply pick your jumping off point and find your color combination. Then start pulling from everyone’s closets and lay it all on the ground to see how it goes. In fact, I wasn’t sure which pants I liked better for the boys, so I texted these two pics to my sis.

One last tip:  If this stresses you out and is going to make you so frustrated that you won’t look like the wonderful happy person you are on picture day,  SKIP IT! Wear what you want and get your photos in black and white.  Sometimes I think those are the best photos anyway. You get to see everyone’s true emotions with no distractions.  All that really matters is that you feel like yourself and that you are not stressed.

That’s it guys! I hope you found this helpful.  Here’s to happy picture taking!