Why is it so stressful picking outfits for photo sessions?! As a photographer who frequently gets her own family photos taken, I totally get it! That’s why I created this post to help the reduce your anxiety around outfit coordination for your next photo session.

1. what to wear

What to wear: We love solid earth tone colors. Patterns are not the enemy, however a bold pattern will steal the show. What this means is in every photo, your eyes will gravitate first toward the loud pattern, not the connection between you. When picking solid earth tone colors, we love dark browns, ivory, rust, camel, muted mustard, sage, clay, deep forest greens, or muted rose colors, to name a few. They all photograph beautifully. One of the biggest tips when dressing families is to dress mom first. Then once you’ve got mom’s outfit picked out, move onto the others and coordinate based off of mom’s color palette. We don’t want matchy matchy but we do love color coordinating. Another way to describe this is to google “earth tone color palette” and then use that as your guide. Another tip is to mix textures. So if mom’s dress is a smooth fabric, pick a corduroy romper for baby and a ruffled dress for older sister. A fun way to add some variety to your gallery is to bring a wide brim hat for mom. That way we can do some with and some without so you get both looks.

Colors not to wear: I’m never going to tell you you can’t wear something. You do you. Here are some suggestions for those wondering what doesn’t always photograph well. Blue jeans. Not my favorite because too much blue can make your images color balance look off. Light wash denim is okay, it sort of acts like a neutral. If you’re wondering what to dress dad in instead of blue jeans, I highly recommend any tan, olive or earth tone pants. Also I’m not a huge fan of shorts at a shoot and would pick pants hands down every time. If you’re taking photos at a grassy field, I would shy away from bright white. It tends to absorb the color of whatever you’re surrounded by. So neon green grass will bounce off of the bright white fabric and make everyone’s skin tones look kinda funky. Can we make it work? Yes, absolutely. I’ve done it before and will do it again. So if you have your heart set on bright white, no worries. I gotchu. Dressing everyone in black is another color that is hit or miss. If it’s one person in black pants, that’s going to look completely fine. Dressing in all black or multiple family members in black tends to hide you/your bodies. I’m not afraid of bold colors (think deep jewel tones). My main tip with those colors would be to limit to one family member.

How to dress the kids: Little girls in flowy dresses is so much fun. Just make sure to dress them in neutral undergarments and for babies/toddlers in diapers, add a bloomer to cover it up. Sandals are perfect. Little boys in overalls gets me every dang time. So adorable. For shoes, white shoes or brown loafers always look great.

2. what to bring

// extra outfits just in case (babies spit up, things happen)
// make-up for touch-ups
// oil blotting sheets if you’re like me and oily AF
// dogs or pets
// any props that are sentimental to you
// for toddlers, if you have a special toddler chair you want to bring we can certainly get a few photos with them in it
// for babies that can’t sit up yet, bring a boppy/breastfeeding pillow and a neutral swaddle blanket to cover it

3. what to leave in the car

// hair ties
// apple watches, garmins, etc
// gum
// wallet or anything else in your pockets

When you book a photoshoot with Rachelle Welling Photography, you will never have to stress about styling your session. You have access to this amazing and personalized styling service, which designs a wardrobe that allows you to feel fantastic for your photos. Most importantly, styling your session comes at no extra cost to you. This service is invaluable and we want you to get excited about dressing up for this special day! You can find access to the styling service and login credentials in the email you receive right after booking.

PRO TIP: After your photo session, make sure to download all of your photos. Then when it comes time to think about holiday cards, you can utilize Adobe’s Text On Photo feature. It’s a free photo editing tool available to customize images using a wide array of options for social posts, headers, logos, events, seasons, and more. You can also add animations, shadows and outlines, and other details to make your image pop.