5 Top Tips for Perfectly Styled Family Pictures (From Mom of 3)!
As a mom of 3, I know family photos aren’t cheap and they sure as heck are NOT easy. I hope my top 5 tips for perfectly styled family pictures will help you easily achieve the look you’re dreaming of!
As a mom of three crazy kiddos, I’ve had my hands full planning baby announcement photo shoots, maternity shoots, newborn pictures x3, family pictures where I was randomly pregnant, etc. I honestly love planning out our family outfits for these photo shoots and I think I’ve got a great process at this point. I hope this will help anyone who struggles with picking out outfits to achieve perfectly styled family pictures!
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Perfectly Styled Family Pictures are 100% Worth the Money
Brief soapbox moment here. I’ve had people comment on how often we get family pictures done (I’m not gonna say it’s my husband but I’m also not going to NOT say it is). Part of the frequency of our photos is that I’ve gotten newborn pictures done with each baby and I’ve had 3 babies in less than 4 years. So obviously that works out to once-ish a year. But here’s why I think its worth the money and emotional distress of trying to get toddler to cooperate: You will NEVER regret getting these pictures taken in 15 years. Your kids are these tiny, sassy creatures for such a short time. I love being able to look back at these pictures to remember the joy these littles bring me and so many others.
Bonus Tips: How to Make Family Pictures Less Miserable
If you have tried taking pictures with children under the age of 10, you know how trying this can be. The pure sweetness you see above was SURELY temporary and you can believe me, I was ready for a drink after this shoot. However, after doing quite a few shoots with toddlers and infants I’ve come up with a few things I swear by.
HERE are My Top 5 Secrets for Perfectly Styled Family Pictures:
- Start with an item of clothing with a busy pattern or bright color. That item is going to be more of a “centerpiece” and the other outfits need to blend well to not compete. For example: I found the adorable floral one piece in the picture below for my daughter. It has a busy pattern so the rest of our outfits are more neutral in order to blend. My son is still rocking stripes and my husbands shirt brings in texture, but her outfit is definitely the centerpiece that guided my other selections.
2. Bring in as many textures as you can! Adding different textures of fabric in your clothing really brings more interest into photography. For example: In the above picture, my daughters outfit is corduroy, my baby has on a muslin shirt and my husband is wearing a sweater top. The variety makes it look a lot more interesting than if we were all just wearing plain cotton.
3. Working from your centerpiece item, come up with a color scheme for your photos. This is remarkably similar to picking a color story for your home. You want all the colors to ”go” but they shouldn’t be matchy-matchy. In the boards I put together at the bottom of this post, you’ll see some great examples of this.
4. Mix florals, stripes and checks. Mixing patterns is possible as long as the patterns don’t clash. Clashing is basically where one pattern is competing to be the star with another. So for example, if someone is wearing a bright pink floral, someone else could rock a striped shirt if it’s gray but should probably avoid a bright yellow floral.
5. Pick outfits that make you feel comfortable. Wearing something that you have to adjust constantly or that you feel self-conscious in is the surest way to end up looking constipated in pictures. HA. Plus you want to feel happy and beautiful when taking your pictures because that will shine through!
Examples of Perfectly Styled End of Summer Family Photo Shoots!
I tried to do these with a variety of boy/girl combos in mind. If there is something specific you are looking for, please leave me a comment! I’d love to help. I also tried to link items that are in stock but some things may be sold out. Again, if there is something you have in mind, please reach out and I’d love to assist.
Option A – Romantic Summer
These outfits speak out-in-a-grassy-meadow vibes. I envisioned an older girl wearing the pink linen dress, toddler girl in the one-piece and baby boy rocking no shirt and overall cords. Dad would have the linen shirt sleeves rolled up and mom’s dress is BUMP FRIENDLY.
- Dad: Abercrombie Linen shirt, Abercrombie black Jeans, Amazon Black Chelsea boots
- Mom: Abercrombie Burgundy Dress, Gorjana gold necklace, Abercrombie mules
- Girl A: Jamie Kay one-piece, Jamie Kay ballet flats, Jamie Kay linen bow
- Baby Boy A: Corduroy overalls, booties
- Girl B: Jamie Kay Linen Dress (similar), Jamie Kay ballet flats, Jamie Kay headband
Option B – Yacht Club Casual
These girls outfits are a beautiful mix of flowy and feminine while mom and dads read chic and posh. All of the girls outfits are from my absolute favorite kids store of all time Dannie and Lilou. (Bonus: it’s a female run, Ukrainian business. As if you needed a million more reasons to support this small business!) I made this board girl-heavy but a tan, blue or yellow striped linen shirt with jeans would pair well for a boy!
- Dad: Abercrombie Sweater polo, Abercrombie tan pant, abercrombie leather belt, madewell veja shoes
- Mom: Madewell denim dress, Madewell mules, Gorjana gold necklace
- Girl A: Dannie and Lilou liberty print romper, Jamie Kay ballet flats, jamie kay muslin bow
- Girl B: Dannie and Lilou rainbow dress, target sandal, Jamie Kay linen bow
- Girl C: Dannie and Lilou peter pan romper, Jamie Kay headband, Jamie Kay ballet flats
Option C – Cool For the Summer
I still consider myself a boy mom even though I now have two girls and only one boy, but I had him first! My biggest gripe with boys clothes is the lack thereof. It seems like there is never as many cute options as there are for girls. Zara baby has my favorite boys clothes. I really wanted to throw together some super cute outfits for moms of boys and I think all of these are perfect.
- Dad: Abercrombie striped linen shirt, abercrombie bootcut jeans, abercrombie leather belt, madewell veja shoes
- Mom: Madewell jumpsuit, madewell hair bandana, Gorjana gold necklace, madewell sandal heel
- Boy A: Zara Bandana top, shorts, Zara Sneakers
- Boy B: Zara overalls, Zara T-shirt, Zara sandals
- Boy C: Dannie and Lilou romper, booties
Option D- Cottagecore Aesthetic
If you are as obsessed with cottagecore aesthetic as me, then you know anything long, flowy and floral are huge selling points. These outfits read casual to me while still being timeless and beuatiful. Mom’s dress appears to be bump friendly, too!
- Abercrombie Striped shirt, abercrombie bootcut jeans, madewell veja shoes
- Madewell chambray dress, madewell sandals, Gorjana gold necklace
- Dannie and Lilou floral dress, Target sandals, Jamie Kay linen bow
- H and M overall set, booties
- Dannie and Lilou gingham romper,Jamie Kay linen bow, Jamie Kay ballet flats
Option E – Target Picks (Affordable)!
This board is a collection of some beautiful Target outfits that have much friendlier price-points. You can easily create a beautifully styled shoot without spending a fortune!
- Dad: Goodfellow chambray shirt, Goodfellow flat front shorts, Goodfellow white sneakers
- Mom: Green Maxi dress, gold layer necklaces, white platform heels, turtle claw clip
- Baby girl 1: Baby floral romper, Green Sandals
- Baby boy 1: Quincy Mae Romper, Tan sneaker
- Older girl: Floral yellow dress, Pink mules
- Toddler boy: Denim set, leather sneakers
I loved putting these boards together and I hope they help you achieve perfectly styled family pictures. Let me know which one is your favorite!