How to Style Your Family for Your Photo Session
You booked your family session! Now comes the question almost every family asks:
“What in the world are we going to wear?”
Choosing outfits doesn’t have to be stressful. The goal isn’t for everyone to match perfectly. It’s to create a look that feels like your family, photographs beautifully, and lets the connection between you be the thing that stands out most.
Here are a few of my favorite tips for putting everyone’s outfits together.
Coordinate, Don’t Match
Gone are the days when everyone needs to show up in matching white shirts and jeans.
Instead, think coordinated.
Choose two or three main colors and work different shades and tones of those colors throughout everyone’s outfits. Neutrals like cream, beige, camel, soft gray, and denim are wonderful starting points. From there, you can bring in muted blues, greens, rust, blush, or other colors that fit your family and the season.
The goal is for everything to look like it belongs together without looking like you bought five versions of the exact same outfit.
Start With One Outfit You Love
If staring at everyone’s closets at once feels overwhelming, start with just one person.
I often recommend starting with Mom’s outfit. Choose something you feel beautiful and comfortable in, and then build the rest of the family’s wardrobe around it.
For example, if Mom is wearing a flowy cream dress with a subtle floral pattern, you might pull one of the softer colors from the pattern for Dad’s shirt and choose complementary neutral tones for the kids.
Suddenly, instead of finding five separate outfits, you’re building one cohesive look.
Think About the Colors in Your Home
Here’s something people don’t always think about when choosing outfits: where are your photographs going to live?
If you’re planning to frame your family photos or create a gallery wall, take a look around your home before choosing your color palette.
If your home is filled with warm woods, creams, tans, and earthy colors, warmer neutrals and muted earth tones will probably feel right at home on your walls. If your home has cooler grays, blues, whites, or softer coastal tones, you may want to incorporate some of those colors into your session wardrobe.
Your outfits absolutely do not have to match your couch but thinking about your home’s overall color palette can help your finished artwork feel like it was made for the space rather than competing with it.
After all, these photographs aren’t meant to live on your phone forever. They’re meant to become part of your home.
Add Texture and Layers
Texture is one of those little things that makes a surprisingly big difference in photographs.
Think chunky knits, linen, denim, corduroy, lace, flowy fabrics, or a soft cardigan. Layers like jackets, sweaters, vests, and overshirts can also add dimension without making an outfit feel busy.
For little ones, overalls, textured sweaters, sweet dresses, and simple layered pieces photograph beautifully.
Patterns Are Welcome. Just Keep Them Simple.
You don’t have to avoid patterns completely! A subtle floral, plaid, stripe, or other understated print can give you a great starting point for your entire family’s color palette.
The trick is not putting everyone in competing patterns.
If one person is wearing a patterned piece, let that be the star and pull colors from it for everyone else.
I usually recommend skipping large logos, characters, words, neon colors, and extremely bold patterns. They tend to pull your eye toward the clothing instead of toward the people wearing it.
And I promise the people are the good part.
Comfort Matters More Than You Think
This one is especially important for kids.
If your little one hates the adorable sweater you picked because it’s itchy, there is a very good chance we’re all going to know about it. 😂
Choose clothing your family can actually move, cuddle, sit, play, and be themselves in.
The same goes for adults. If you spend the entire session adjusting your dress or worrying about how something fits, it makes it much harder to relax.
Choose pieces that make you feel comfortable and confident. Your photos should look like you on a really good day—not like you’re wearing someone else’s clothes.
Don’t Forget the Shoes
Shoes can sneak up on you!
Once you have everyone’s outfits planned, take a look at the whole picture including shoes. Simple, neutral footwear usually photographs beautifully.
And depending on our location and the type of session we’re planning, barefoot might even be perfect.
Lay Everything Out Before Your Session
About a week before your session, lay everyone’s complete outfits next to each other on the bed or floor.
Include everything clothes, shoes, accessories, layers.
Then take a quick photo with your phone.
Looking at everything together makes it much easier to spot something that feels too bright, too busy, or out of place. It also gives you plenty of time to make a small change without the last minute scramble on session day.
Most Importantly, Let Your Family Be Your Family
These tips are here to help not to give you another thing to worry about.
There is no single “perfect” family photo outfit.
Choose colors you love. Choose clothes that feel like you. Let your kids have a little personality. And don't worry about making every tiny detail flawless.
Years from now, you probably won't look at these photographs and think about whether everyone's shade of beige coordinated perfectly.
You'll notice how little your babies were.
You'll notice the way they fit in your arms.
You'll notice those smiles, those personalities, and that season of your family that somehow went by way too fast.
That's the part worth remembering.
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