Believe it or not, the holiday season is upon us— and with that comes taking our annual family photos that we use for our Christmas card! I love having nice photos that we can look back on from year to year to see how the kids have grown. In general, I just really love photos! I love that they mark moments in time and remind us of good memories.

We are a family of five, so one important thing about having nice photos of all of us together, is coordinating our outfits. I really enjoy the process of styling our outfits for family photos, so I thought I would share how I do it in five easy steps. If you are someone who does not have a lot of time for this or if it’s just not your thing, hopefully this can be helpful!

Step 1: Pick a Style

The first thing to decide is what type of look and feel that you want your photo to embody. Do you want it is be dressed up and feel very holiday? Do you prefer that the photo reflects your everyday outfits? Do you have a location specific theme like hiking in the mountains or a beach photo?

For our photos, I am always going for a casual, elevated look. To achieve this, I aim to put together outfits with the same feel and style to what we would wear everyday, and then take it up a notch. Sort of like what you would wear to church on Sunday versus what you would be wearing on say, a random Tuesday!

Step 2: Pull Favorites: Start With the Smallest

Since our kids are growing so quickly, they always have a smaller, more focused wardrobe than my husband and I have. I look through their clothing and pull out my favorite things that align with the style I have chosen (elevated everyday) and lay them all out. They have the smallest amount of options so it is less to pick from, which makes it easier to narrow things down.

This is a fall/winter photo— so considering the season, for my boys I always pick henleys, sweaters, or button-down shirts. For their pants I pick nice, clean denim or twill pants. For their shoes I either have them wear casual boots or nice, casual sneakers (not athletic sneakers with branded logos). For Hazel I always pick a nice blouse, jeans, and a cardigan sweater— or a dress and a sweater. For her shoes I have her wear flats or boots.

If you feel like as the parents you have less options for garments that will work for the style of photo you are going for, then that is where I would start— with whoever has the smallest amount of options. In the past, I have also based a family photo off of one starting outfit. If you have something that you know you want to wear (or have someone else wear) in the photo no matter what, use that as the starting outfit and build the rest of the family outfits off of that.

Hazel: Shirt | Skirt (sold out online from H&M) | Sweater | Shoes // Oliver: Stripe Shirt | Button-down Shirt | Pants | Shoes // Ezra: Shirt | Jeans | Shoes

See something you like? You can shop it and support my blog at the same time by purchasing through the affiliate links in this post.

Step 3: Pick a Color Scheme

Look through the options you have narrowed down and laid out to see if there are 3-4 main colors that you can have represented amongst everyone in the family.

For example, this year our main colors in our color scheme are green, tan and pink— all muted tones. We also have accents of indigo and black. The shades of the chosen colors can and should vary so that when everyone is together the overall look feels balanced and coordinated but not matchy.

Make sure that you are varying shades but keeping the same color. For example, pink is in our color scheme but it is a dusty rose pink— taking that color lighter or darker works and coordinates, where trying to incorporate hot pink does not work. If a color is identified as being in your color scheme, you want it to appear at least twice throughout the entire family.

Step 4: Photograph Combinations

After narrowing down options for everyone, I start making combinations (one outfit laid out for everyone) and photographing them. I switch things out, and try different options that I am deciding between and continue photographing all combinations that I would consider. After I do this, I can flip through the photos to see what I like together the most.

During this step in the process, you may find that you do not have everything that you need to complete every family member’s outfits. If this is the case you either need to change your color scheme or you may need to purchase an item or two for someone in the family.

Shaun: Shirt (old – same style in different colors) | Jacket (old – updated style from the same brand) | Jeans | Boots // Michelle: Shirt (current from H&M but it is not on the website) | Sweater Blazer (sold out in this color – same in a different color – I sized down two sizes, similar – I have this in another color and I sized down one size) | Jeans | Shoes

Hazel: Shirt | Skirt (sold out online from H&M) | Sweater | Shoes // Oliver: Stripe Shirt | Button-down Shirt | Pants | Shoes // Ezra: Shirt | Jeans | Shoes

Step 5: Try it on & Make Final Tweaks

The last step is picking your favorite family combination and having everyone try their outfit on. This way you can make sure everything fits everyone and you can get the true visual of exactly what it will look like all together in your photos. From here, if there is something you don’t like or something that doesn’t work for someone you can make small tweaks or fix any problems that arise.

Once everyone is in their final outfit, I check out proportions and decide on style details like: sleeves rolled up or down, shirts unbuttoned or buttoned up, etc. You can snap a quick photo of everyone if you’d like, or keep it simple and just keep a mental note of styling details.

Following these five steps can help reduce stress leading up to and especially on picture day, as well as give you photos that look effortlessly coordinated, balanced and visually appealing!

5 Thing to Stay Away From:

• Clothing that looks too worn, faded, stained, or is falling apart.
• Matchy-matchy. The aim is coordinating, not all wearing the same exact outfit. If you match too much, each person looses the chance to have their own style, and the photo has less contrast and visual interest.
• Clothing that is too baggy. Especially if your photos are taken as you are moving to capture you interacting, clothing that is too baggy can make you lose your shape and just be unflattering.
• Incorporating too many colors or different colored tones.
• Fabric that wrinkles super easily. If you have linen or something that wrinkles super easily, just a car ride to wherever you are shooting your photos is enough to make your outfit look wrinkled and therefore, a bit sloppy in a photo.

I hope these steps and tips will help you elevate your family photos and make you excited to frame them around your house and send them out to your loved ones!