Pictures are memories, and coordinating the entire family is hard! Read on for 10 Tips for What to Wear in Family Pictures that will look good for a lifetime.
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10 tips for What to Wear in Family Pictures
It’s a little overwhelming to dress the entire family for pictures and make it all look good! No matter if you have a large or small family, it can definitely be a challenge.
Here are 10 tips to think about when putting your family’s outfits together for family pictures…
Related: Photo Essentials for Beginners
1. Take Some Time To Plan It Out
Think about what look and feel you want the photos to have. Go online to get inspiration. Do you want a vintage or more modern and simplistic look? Do you want to be more casual or dressy?
Tip: search Pinterest for ideas and create a board to put them.
We usually lean towards a more casual look, so we go for clothes that are nice but have a more lived-in, timeless look. Stores like the Gap or JCPenney usually have shirts or jeans that fit the bill at reasonable prices.
Or better yet, shop your closet. We often forget this one, but there may be a great outfit you’ve forgotten about. No need to buy a new one!
Related: The First Day of School Photo Ideas
2. Pick A Color Scheme
For family pictures, it helps to have complementary colors, so picking a color scheme you like works best.
We would say 2-3 main colors (for example – tan, gray and blue or blue white and yellow), and then adding some pops of colors looks really good in photos.
Other colors we like in pictures include rich and deeper greens, purples, and of course all different types of blue. If a neutral is preferred, gray and tan are the best, even better than black.
If you’re planning on hanging the pictures in your home, you might find inspiration there. What colors do you decorate with? What colors make you feel good? Stores like the Gap or Old Navy are also good places to spark ideas for selecting your colors.
3. Don’t Try To Match Everyone
Sure, if you have some adorable little ones, matching can be cute, but usually matching everyone in the picture just doesn’t work. (Hello, Hawaiian shirts) The images can look dated as this trend has passed.
For example, have some of your family wear collared shirts, while others don’t.
If you want your photos to have character and depth, then coordinate, don’t match your outfits!
This also lets everyone put a little piece of their personality in the picture.
4. Go For Classic If You Can
You will have your photos hanging on your walls for years to come, so keep it simple and classic to make your images more timeless.
5. Think Texture And Layers
We think it adds dimension to have some texture and layering in your outfits.
For boys, this could mean a couple of shirts – may be a plain tee under a cool checked shirt, knit sweater, or vest.
For girls, that could mean a skirt, shirt, sweater, tights, and maybe a hair accessory. A striped scarf over a plain shirt is a great layering piece without adding too much.
6. Limit Patterns
Personally, we like to see a little pattern in the clothes we choose for photos, but too much can ruin the look altogether.
As an example, a couple of the members could wear complementary patterns in varying sizes, but everyone wearing a pattern in the phot would be too much.
7. No Graphics
Your little one might love his superhero shirt, but graphics can be very distracting in a photo…just say “no” 🙂
Save those for more candid shots of your family.
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What to Wear
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8. Accessories Can Add A Lot
Scarves, necklaces, hats, hair bows, and socks can also bring a lot to your images.
It’s the finishing touches that bring everything together.
This is also where you can add your pops of color. We usually have our girls wear a colored headband, belt, or bow that matches each other if we want to bring the color scheme altogether.
9. Lay It Out And Take A Pic
This is the best idea!
Lay out everyone’s outfit on the floor how they’re going to wear them, and see all the colors and textures next to each other. This tells you a lot! It helps to see the whole picture (no pun intended :).
This way, you’re not guessing what it will look like in the end. Taking a picture of what you laid out is even better.
You can see how your family looks without dressing everyone in their clothes or even having to be in the same room!
Trust us, for a busy family, this is a time and hassle saver!
This is the camera, and this is the lens we use to take all our family photos. They’re inexpensive compared to some, but good enough to create beautiful pictures.
10. Consider Your Background
Where are you taking pictures?
Is it more industrial or urban? Or out in nature?
What you choose to wear should somewhat go with your setting. Also, if you’re taking pictures in a studio and going to use a black background, wearing black will make you disappear, so not a good idea. Same goes for white 🙂
{Bonus tip: don’t forget the makeup! – Yep, that’s right mom, don’t forget to think about your makeup for family pictures! And don’t be afraid to put on a little more than usual. It’s true what they say, you need a touch more makeup to make your face come to life on camera 🙂 }
More Family Picture Tips
- Have either a fresh coat of nail polish on your nails that coordinates with your outfit or don’t have any nail polish on at all. You don’t want chipped nail polish in your photos.
- Bring along makeup for touch-ups. And bring a brush and hairspray just in case!
- Don’t wait until the last minute to put your outfits together. It’s too stressful to try and come up with something on the day of the photoshoot!
Don’t forget to grab your FREE outfit ideas and color combinations for family pictures!
What to Wear
Subscribe to get the best color combinations and what to wear in your family pictures!
Putting together outfits for the whole family can be a bit of work. With these 10 easy tips for what to wear in family pictures, we’re sure you’ll all look amazing! Let us know how it goes!
This post was originally published in 2015 and then updated on June 8, 2020.
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