Let me start off by staying that I did not prepare myself for family photos with a toddler and a crazy dog who is obsessed with the ocean. My photographer is seriously amazing for capturing these photos because it was kind of a disaster haha. All Wyatt wanted to do was run around and play in the sand and Layla wanted to find a ball and go swimming. Although it was a little chaotic, I know that I will cherish these photos forever and I am going to miss this season of life that we are currently in.
I have received a lot of requests for what to wear for family photos so I thought I would share a few tips and outfit ideas. I also have this post from last year and you can see some inspiration that is a little more formal. Also, if you check out that post, look how little Wyatt was! I can’t believe that was exactly a year ago!
Here are a few things that I like to keep in mind:
- In my opinion, it’s always hardest to find what I am going to wear so I decided to find my outfit first and then plan Kevin’s and Wyatt’s around mine. I loved the beautiful Fall colors in this dress and I thought that the flowy bottom would look really pretty on the beach.
- The entire family doesn’t have to be super matchy matchy but make sure that the colors all flow together. For example, I like that Wyatt and Kevin’s sweaters are different colors, but still match with my dress. I also like that Kevin is in jeans and Wyatt is in corduroy pants so they don’t look exactly alike.
- Since my dress is patterned, I wanted Wyatt and Kevin to be in solids so there wasn’t too much going on in the photos.
- Give yourself options! We shot photos in a couple different locations (all in the same general area) so that we more to choose from. I’m so glad we got some photos on the beach and some on the pathway. We also decided to shoot some photos with Layla and some without and I’m so glad that we did that because she was looking away in almost every photo.
- Lastly, If you have a toddler or young kids I would recommend bringing someone along to help distract them and get them to look at the camera. My sister usually comes with us but she had something come up last minute this year. We still made it work without her, but it would have been a lot easier if she were there!
Here is some other inspo for family photos:
