Coordinating Family Outfits: Dos and Don'ts

Yay! You’ve booked a session with me! Thank you!

But now comes the hard part: picking out an outfit! I know a lot of clients may feel completely overwhelmed when it comes to choosing what to wear, so I came up with a quick list of Do’s and Don’ts to make picking outfits less stressful for you guys!

Don’t: ALL white

White always seems like the go-to easy option. Not only do we want to show off your family’s personality through clothes, but all white may sometimes clash, or cause odd lighting.

Do: Mixed Neutrals

White is not a no-no. Adding white in with some OTHER neutral colors (browns, grays, navy, etc) work really beautifully together! Having mom, for example, wear a white dress with everyone else wearing a variation of other neutrals evens it out and looks great!

Don’t: Busy patterns/Logos

Patterns are great, but can be extremely distracting and overwhelming. They tend to take away from the emotion of the images as people’s eyes will focus on the outfits, and not your smiles! This goes for too many words as well. Simple is always better!

Do: Subtle Patterns and solids

Instead of having everyone in the family wear a pattern, try having one person wear something with a pattern and the rest wear solids! Subtle, simple patterns will not overdo it and usually match with solid colors better. You can still match color schemes this way!

Don’t: Neon Colors

By wearing neon colors, it can cast some odd colors/shadows on faces. I LOVE color, but try and stay away from anything too bright

Do: Soft Colors/ Jewel Tones (ruby, sapphire, emeral, etc.)

These colors look great on EVERYONE. Jewel tones are vibrant, but not neon bright. You could also go with a pastel color pallet depending on the look/season you are going for!

Don’t: Matching

Getting the ENTIRE family to wear matching outfits is challenging, unless you are going for a specific look (Mommy and me, etc). If you would'n’t normally go out dressed like that, there’s no need to dress like that now. We want to celebrate you as a family and a part of that is showing each individual member’s personality through outfits!

Do: Coordinating colors

Coordinating colors and completely matching get mixed up a lot. With coordinating colors, its easy to bring out your personalities without compromising your own personal style. I will attach some common color schemes below to help find some variation while planning your outfits! Any of these color schemes can be used with neutrals as well to make it less overwhelming!