Since I have a break in between weddings, I thought I would write about something I’ve seen recently. It took a little while for me to notice. It took even longer for me to figure out, with a little help from a client of course.

Okay, so I photographed a couple family sessions in Spring. This is what they looked like.

Absolutely beautiful families, huh?! I think so 🙂 So you notice anything the same about these families? I’m sure by the title of this post, you’re looking at the color. Exactly! Blue. All blue colors. I thought maybe it was just a spring thing until….

MORE BLUE! Even as recent as last week! So I brought it to the attention of my latest family session. I said ‘WOW! Blue must be the color this year!’ to which my client Lindsay replies “The reason I picked it is because I could find everyone something in that color!’ I found that to be such a true statement.

Even in my own search for my family picture attire, I found it EXHAUSTING to find us all something in the colors I wanted. My family and I had our pictures taken in the fall and I was very excited to pick out our colors. I chose grey and a mustard yellow. BUT, one thing that I did settle on (as I stomped my feet in a small four year old tantrum) was that we would all wear jeans. Jeans are easy but…. they are blue! haha

So, when choosing your family outfits, I have a few pieces of advice that I have found out from experience:

1) Choose three to four colors that EVERYONE has to incorporate into their attire. For instance, my family pictures: (I was actually VERY specific on which colors went where.) Grey and mustard yellow for  shirts and accessories. Blue jeans for pants then brown shoes. So those were four colors 🙂 Three works too. These colors can be different patterned shirts, a certain color for shirt and a certain color for necklace/scarf…. you can get really creative with it!

2) Accessories count and they are fun! Especially for the women/girls. Hairbands, scarves, jewelry, etc. Even shoes too! They add so much character and personality to your self in your session. It helps express who you are!

3) Give yourself time! Book your session a month or so out. Give yourself time to look online, look in stores and try stuff on! Do a dress rehearsal and get the family together in their outfits and make sure it all looks good! If you’re making an investment in family pictures, make sure you love how you look!

4) Use the internet to your ability. I LOVE online shopping. I have noticed there is so much more online than in stores. Even better than that, there are online tools that can help you search for a certain style/color of clothing you want. My secret weapon is polyvore.com I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They allow me to choose style, price and color. I can also pull those pictures of the clothes into a collage tool on their site and see how all of our outfits will look together side by side!

5) Lastly, don’t let Pinterest frustrate you. It used to really upset me when I couldn’t find the exact outfit the family was wearing in my inspiration picture I found on Pinterest. I also realized that the women in some of the images were not the same size, hair color or build that I was either. Those things matter when you pick out colors and outfits. Pinterest families started to depress me and I wanted to give up on my search. It was my husband who suggested I stop looking at Pinterest and start USING MY BRAIN thinking about what kind of colors and outfits would reflect OUR FAMILY and who WE ARE. That is what truly matters!

I know that family pictures can be crazy to get scheduled and put together but it’s important that you do it. Every year. You are in charge of documenting your history so that your family that comes after you have left this Earth can see and remember you. It’s so worth it. I promise. I hope that my fragments of advice help you in your search for your family picture attire! Maybe you’ll pick blue also!? ha!

Thank you so much for reading. If you’re ever interested in having your family pictures done by ENV Photography, please feel free to visit www.envphotographyy.com/contact . Get in touch with me and I can answer your questions and even get you booked for a fun and entertaining session. (I promise, they always are. I’m not lying.)

– Becka at ENV