By sharing what to wear for a family portrait session, we want to help you and your family look your best, feel comfortable and confident, and have a memorable portrait experience. From deciding what outfit(s) to wear to choosing your shoes and accessories, these helpful styling tips for her will help you create family portraits you’ll love!
Choosing Colors & Designs for Your Family Portrait Session
When deciding what to wear for a family portrait session, we recommend selecting outfits with light, neutral colors because they photograph softer, complement your skin tones, and look more high-end. In contrast, bright, bold, or neon colors create unflattering skin tones and take the focus away from where it should be: you and your family! We also suggest avoiding small, busy patterns because they’re distracting and can create unusual colors in your images. Instead, opt for light, solid, neutral colors and simple designs.
How to Coordinate Your Family’s Outfits for Your Portrait Session
The goal of coordinating your family’s outfits is to break up the colors and shades so you’re not all wearing the same color on top and bottom. The more you can mix it up, the better!
Most moms choose their outfits first and then build the rest of their family’s outfits based on that. When styling your family’s outfits, we suggest choosing colors that coordinate with your outfit(s) for the different “dominant” colors in each person’s outfit. Each family member could then tie in accessories with colors from the other outfits that pair well together as their “accent” colors, making all the outfits look connected and cohesive!
For example, you could wear a long, flowy navy dress with a light silver sweater and light silver heels (making navy your dominant color). Then, your spouse could wear a light, sky-blue solid, collared shirt with a navy tie and beige khakis (making light, sky blue his dominant color). Your daughter could then wear a powder blue, navy, and white dress (making powder blue her dominant color). Your son could then wear a beige suit vest with beige dress pants, a white solid, collared shirt, and a powder blue bow tie (making beige his dominant color).
For more information about which colors to wear for your session and some color palette inspiration, check out our blog post, “Gorgeous Color Palettes for Fall Family Photos.” Also, feel free to read some of our other blog posts to learn how to style him and your girls and prepare your family for a family photo session.
Say Yes to a Skirt or Dress for Your Family Portrait Session
Dresses and skirts look stunning on camera because they’re flattering on all body types and bring extra movement and dimension to your photos! Maxi or floor-length skirts and dresses create the best “twirl factor” and add more elegance to your photos, especially your walking ones. There’s nothing more flattering than a long, flowy dress! Shorter, cocktail-length dresses or midi skirts photograph beautifully, too.
If it’s too cold to wear a dress or skirt by themselves, you could try pairing it with a peacoat and warm tights, or you could wear a snuggly sweater with a pair of dress pants or jeans. Don’t be afraid to get creative with layers during colder weather!
To Bless Mom (for 45 & 75-Minute Portrait Experiences)
God has blessed us with everything we’ve needed for The Mom Closet, so if you would like to borrow a dress for your 45 or 75-Minute Portrait Experience, feel free to borrow one, and we pray it’ll be a blessing to you! You can view the dresses in The Mom Closet in The JHP Portrait Experience Style Guide, which you’ll receive in your booking confirmation email. All the dresses in The Mom Closet are from Baltic Born; it’s one of our favorite places to shop for elegant, flattering dresses.
Flattering Your Features
Recognizing the areas you may feel self-conscious about and choosing flattering silhouettes and colors will ensure you love how you look and feel in your photos. We recommend wearing something that flatters the parts of you that you love the most and allows you to be highly confident! If you’re uncomfortable looking in the mirror (having to suck in and only like how you look from one angle), that probably isn’t the best outfit choice. This session is a memorable time for you and your family, and we want you to cherish every second of it and not worry about how your clothes fit. You’ll love your images more when you feel comfortable and confident in your outfit!
Flattering Your Arms
On camera, skinny straps or strapless dresses make arms appear bigger. So, we recommend avoiding those if you’re aiming for slimmer-looking arms. If your dress has short sleeves (or no sleeves), consider incorporating a cute jacket, blazer, cardigan, or chiffon shawl into your look. Three-quarter-length sleeves also create an excellent slimming effect on all arms, so try looking for an option with a longer sleeve.
Flattering Your Waist
If you’re aiming for a slimmer-looking waist, we suggest wearing:
- an empire waist dress
- a high-waisted skirt
- high-waisted dress pants or jeans
Flattering Your Legs
If you’re aiming for slimmer-looking legs, we recommend wearing:
- a long skirt or dress
- long dress pants or jeans
The Shoes for Your Family Portrait Session
Heels elongate women’s legs and force constant tension in the calves, making them look more toned. Closed-toed heels look great on camera because they carry the line of your leg down to your toe. Ballet flats are also beautiful, making your family portrait session more comfortable and relaxed. If your toes show in a peep-toe shoe, we recommend you schedule a pedicure before your session. During colder weather, you can wear neutral, closed-toed ballet flats, heels, tall dress boots, or heeled booties for a cute look in your photos while keeping your feet toasty warm!
If you wear heels for your 45 or 75-Minute Outdoor or Studio & Outdoor Portrait Experience, don’t forget to bring a pair of flats/flip-flops to wear when walking from place to place. Your feet will thank you later!
Make a Statement
Pairing an accessory or two with your outfit will bring more visual interest to your photos, whether a necklace, belt, bracelet, chiffon shawl, earrings, ring, or scarf! For warmer weather, fresh flowers in a crown, basket, or bouquet look elegant and editorial! For colder weather, scarves, mittens, hats, cardigans, shawls, and boot cuffs add visual interest to your photos while keeping you nice and toasty! No matter what time of year, a light-colored blanket for your family to sit on always creates a gorgeous touch!
We suggest choosing one or two accessories that don’t compete for attention when paired. For example, if you go with bolder earrings, try selecting a humbler necklace or maybe even no necklace. We also recommend that you match your accessories with the style of your dress. For example, if you wear a more casual dress, try pairing it with a small, cute necklace and stud earrings instead of a large pearl necklace and dangly diamond earrings.
Go Pro: Hair & Makeup
You’ll have these photos forever, so it’s time to pamper yourself! Professional hair and makeup look fantastic on camera, and remove the stress of getting ready on your own. If you’re working with a makeup artist, have them apply your makeup in natural light (if possible) so it looks fresh and not too heavy. That way, you’ll have the best idea of how it’ll translate on camera since we’ll be shooting in that light. It may feel like your makeup is too much at first since it’s more than you would wear on a typical day, but don’t worry; good makeup artists know how to get it right for the camera.
Optional Outfit Change Tip (for 75-Minute Family Portrait Experiences)
If your family has a 75-Minute Family Portrait Experience, you can include an optional outfit change in your session, adding more variety to your family portraits! If you decide to incorporate an outfit change, we suggest arriving in a formal outfit and packing a casual one for later in your session. It’ll help your family portrait session end on a more comfortable, relaxing note! Also, we recommend coordinating the outfit you wear to your session with the outfit change you bring so all the images in your gallery and blog post (if you choose to have a blog post) will pair well together and look cohesive!
Optional Outfit Change for Her for a Navy, Powder Blue, & White Family Portrait Session Optional Outfit Change
For example, if you wear a long, flowy navy dress with a light silver sweater to your session, you could pack a more casual powder blue, navy, and white dress for an outfit change. That way, the two outfits would coordinate while capturing elegant and slightly casual portraits all in one session!
For a more casual portrait experience, if you wear a slightly casual powder blue, navy, and white dress to your session, you could bring a pair of jeans and a white dress shirt for an outfit change. That way, the two outfits would coordinate and complement one another, making your family portraits look editorial with a casual style! To capture a formal and casual look, if you wear a long, flowy navy dress with a light silver sweater to your session, you could bring a pair of jeans with a white dress shirt for an outfit change.
One Final Note
“Thank you [LORD] for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it” (Psalm 139:14 NLT).
Sweet Friend, let me lean in and tell you- you are beautiful! The God of the universe cares so much about you that He made you so “wonderfully complex” and unique; you are His valuable and priceless masterpiece whom He deeply treasures! So, please know that you are loved, cherished, and beautiful; only you can be you 🙂
We know we just gave you several styling tips for her about what to wear to a family portrait session; feel free to email us at Jenn@JenniferHallPhotographyLLC.com if you have any questions! Love you lots!
