Styling outfits is definitely one of my very favorite things to do, I was a fashion major in college and if I had actually been brave enough to move to a big city, being a stylist definitely would have ranked high as one of my dream jobs. Of course being a wife & mom in my hometown, surrounded by our families, is pretty amazing too, plus I still get to have fun with fashion for my babies and the hubs, when he lets me. 🙂
With the holiday season right around the corner and lots of families taking pictures for their Christmas cards, I thought I would share some tips that I try to go by when choosing looks for own family photos! Of course like anything else these are just suggestions & you have to make them work for your own style, one of the many things I love about fashion is that there really is no right or wrong and your own style really should be unique to you.
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| Hat – Cream Sweater – Booties – Denim Button Down – Grey Beanie – Emerald Dress – Plaid Dress – Mustard Vest – Sweater – Mustard Bow |
1 – Choose one look/piece first & then build everything else around it. I typically will come across one piece I love and use that as an inspiration for everyone else’s looks. It’s kind of like decorating a room to me, my mom always taught me to find one piece & then look back at that before you buy anything else – that’s exactly what I do when choosing looks for our entire family. That way everyone is cohesive.
2 – Coordinate, don’t match. I hope I’m not offending anyone here when I say that the days of “everyone wear a white shirt & jeans” are long gone. Nothing drives me crazier! Instead, pick a few colors that you like together and choose everyone’s looks around that. Once you have that color palette, pick a piece (or two) with a print and add solids as well.
3 – Pair neutral looks with fun accessories to add dimension & make it fun! I am all about cream, white or tan pieces (as dangerous as they are, especially with kids), but I think they make the prettiest backdrop to accessories and also are so versatile. Obviously the girls’ looks are easy to accessorize – super cute bows! – but the same can be done for boys, just using scarves, hats, vests, or even a cool pair of shoes.
4 – Stick with looks & styles that you would actually wear in real life. I feel like this is a no-brainer, but I have had to learn the hard way with my husband. While I am all about trying new trends, that is definitely not his thing so after a few years of bringing pieces home & getting laughed at, I focus on classic looks only for him. 😉 There is obviously no point in spending money on clothes you won’t wear again, yet just as important, you want to feel comfortable and like YOU! Especially since you will be looking back on these photos for years to come.
I’ve had a few people email me with questions on looks for their own families (which I take as a huge compliment!), I wanted to put it out there that I am open to doing this for others. It takes me some time, especially since we can’t meet in person, I wish we could! – but we could work it out on a case by case basis. And if you are in the Hampton Roads area & are interested in styling, please email me at abrickner1@gmail.com.
And I can’t resist a couple photos of our weekend, love these little girls of mine!
Hope you all had the best weekend!
XO
XO
Great tips! I was trying to compile some tips just like this for my MOMS Club newsletter… Do you mind if I just copy and paste (and direct them to your blog)? I remember you gave my advice last year for our photos!
Fabulous tips, lady! I love the palette you've shared, so fun and festive. I'll definitely be shooting you an email when I have a lil bambino/a to style :)!
Great tips! We did our photos last weekend and I totally went tulle skirt. It turned out so cute, but I don't know where I'm going to wear it again!
Great tips! I'm starting to think about our upcoming pictures and those were super helpful! Love he pictures from the weekend! Beautiful. 🙂
Good grief you always have the best pictures!! Love them!!
Great tips!! You were such a help to ME for our pics!! I loved your suggestions and also your affirmation in what I had already picked. Thank you again!! 🙂 xo
Thank you for sharing! We desperately need to have our family pictures taken.
Love the photos from your weekend! So sweet!
I always love how you style your family! Can't wait to see what you do for this year's Christmas card!
cute outfit styling, we atcually have the green drop waist dress for K, so cute w her little booties. Im also a big fan of light neutrals.
I'm pinning this for future reference! I agree with all of your suggestions and try to stick to things that everyone is comfortable in because that totally reads in photographs. Who took the picture of you and Avalon? That is some seriously good photog skills!
Great tips! I think I followed almost all of these tips last year when I was planing our outfits for our photos. I picked Owen's shirt (bright blue checks) and my scarf (mustard yellow), and then pulled the rest to coordinate with those. I think it worked out really well! I'm usually too afraid to too much color but I'm glad I added more last year!
I am literally pulling together our outfits tonight as I read this, so this post was very relevant for me! I think we are going with neutrals this year, so we'll see how that goes!:) I've got Viv and Caleb squared away, chose a sweater for my husband, and now just have to figure out my own outfit, so looks like Mama will be shopping tomorrow while the little man is in preschool:)
And just like that, you nailed it! Excellent post since we have a mini-sesh next week!
LOVE this. When I photograph families I tell them a lot of this also. Layers and accessorizing makes it so fun! I'm styling our Christmas pictures all around a hair bow (of course) haha.
These are all such great tips! Love the one about dressing the husband. I've tried a few times to get Scott to wear a few pieces that went right back to the store.
I'm still on the hunt for our family photo "look", but hoping to get it all together soon!
This is so informative! Thanks for the tips!
These are great tips! I agree that matchy matchy isn't really all that cute these days.
Thank you for your tips! You have such amazing style and if I lived near by I would be calling you every day for fashion tips! haha xo
Thank you so much for your help! We have our family photos tonight and I'm hoping we get some good smiling faces from all parties involved!