I decided to follow up my original post of "what to wear" with a second post. I had my own family session last year, and as I planned out what we were going to wear I realized that I started with one family member's outfit and planned the rest around that one outfit. This was a great way to start, at least it was for me. At first, our session was to be during Labor Day Weekend at the beach, I knew right away that I wanted to wear my blue maxi dress and coral necklace. From there I picked out a dress for my daughter that was white with blue and orange flowers on it. For my son I chose a light blue polo shirt with navy shorts and for husband a coral polo shirt with navy shorts. Unfortunately, our session had to be postponed (which is why I don't have a photo of these outfits to share) and we ended up rescheduling for the last weekend in September. It was a lot colder and I knew our original outfits would just not work.

Back to the drawing board it was for me. At this point I really didn't have any clue what we would wear but I knew I had time to think about it. A few days later I was shopping in Target when I saw THE CUTEST dress for my daughter that I just had to buy. I decided that this would be the central outfit that I would plan the rest of the session around. Because her dress was denim and creams, I decided to stick to the colors of blue and cream and add in some gray. I didn't want to have to buy all new outfits for the family so I headed into our closets and found all our pieces, which I was very happy with! I chose the rolled up jeans, navy tank and gray sweater for me, a rolled up button down with navy pants for my son, and a gray polo with jeans for my husband. And because this session was still going to take place at the beach I knew our outfits would go well in the environment and I didn't need shoes for us either, which was a bonus.

So my advice is to pick an outfit for one person, could be you, your spouse, your child, whoever, and from there dress the rest of the family around that outfit. Remember you don't have to stick to just two colors, if your daughter starts out with a blue and yellow dress, don't be afraid to add in other neutrals, such as gray, khaki or white, but you can also add in teal, red, pink, etc.

Picture courtesy of Stacey Broggy at Mom2boyz Photography

I get this question A LOT, so I thought I should probably address it on my blog. Gone are the days of jeans, barefoot, and a white top for your photo session. Today's trends are colors & patterns, and not being so "matchy, matchy".

So here are some tips and my opinion on what to wear for a photo session.

Pick 2-4 colors and have everyone wear some variation of those colors.
Layer different patterns or colors, and use accessories. Maybe mom wears a bright necklace, or your little guy wears a really cool tie.
Don't wear something you wouldn't normally wear. You won't feel comfortable and you might not love the look on you in a few months. Stick to what you know and like. If you hate your arms, don't wear a sleeveless top.
If you are trying to coordinate the kids try and shop from one clothing store/designer. Often they have clothes that go together from the same collection.

Here are some examples of families that I have photographed that did a great job of coordinating their clothes.

I love that this family chose navy and yellow, it was so bright and colorful, and the girls' outfits were from Carter's and from the same collection.

This family was doing a session by themselves but also a large group shot. They chose pink as their main color, while her sister's family chose purple and I think they look so great together.

I love that mom was rocking the purple pants, what a great way to pull the color in without having everyone just wearing the same color top. This family really did a fantastic job of coordinating their colors while not having anyone's looks competing. You can see each family had a different color to work off of, but they all worked so nicely together.