Tips and Outfit Inspiration for a Fall Family Session

Fall is the perfect time to capture those annual family photos, but choosing what to wear is the hardest part. I know it’s the part that I personally dread the most when planning my own family session, and it’s just myself and my husband. So I’ve gathered some outfit inspiration from past family sessions along with tips to help you dress your best!

Choosing Colors

When choosing colors, warm neutrals like camel, taupe, cream, champagne, and gray look great. If you’d like to incorporate color, choose sophisticated jewel-toned versions of bright primary colors. For example: mustard over yellow, crimson or burgundy over red, camel over orange, sage or emerald over green, and powder blue or navy over blue. These jewel tones will photograph beautifully in any season. If it happens to be cold outside, then consider adding a peacoat, tights, scarves or heeled booties to a form-fitting cocktail dress.

Coordinating Family Looks

The goal for coordinating a family’s outfit is to visually break up the colors and shades so that you’re not all wearing the same color on top and bottom. The more you can mix it up, the better! Think about planning each outfit with “dominant colors” and “accent colors” in mind. When you’re planning each family member’s outfit, aim for each person to have a different dominant color and then tie in and vary the accent colors, and it’ll all look great together.

For men, adding layers looks great on camera. It brings extra dimension and visual interest to your images so consider adding a sweater on top of a collared shirt or a blazer or jacket with your button down. For women, don’t be afraid to accessorize! Whether that’s with a necklace, belt, bracelet, earrings, hat or scarf, adding an accessory or two can bring great visual interest to your photos so choose one or two that don’t compete for attention when paired together.

Prepping Little Ones

The most important part! My number one piece of advice is to wait to put them into their outfits until you get to your session location. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve had families show up and their kids ruined their outfits in the car ride to their session. I’ve had families who have had to make pit stops at Walmart or Target to quickly pick up something else to dress them in so wait to dress your kids in their outfits until you arrive at your session location.

It makes a huge difference when kids come with full bellies to their session so I recommend feeding them beforehand, but also bringing some water and their favorite snacks along as well. Their favorite snacks can be used as rewards when they do well throughout the session. If they are really young, maybe consider bringing along a favorite toy that I can hold up above my camera to get their attention or think of their favorite song that we can play over my speaker to sing along to.

Lastly, a lot of families offer rewards for after their sessions, like ice cream or a new toy, if their children behave. This is referenced a lot throughout the session to remind the kids what’s waiting for them after the session ends.

Finally

That’s it! I hope this helps you and your family prepare for your upcoming session this fall. Below you can find visual outfit inspiration from past clients of mine. Just remember that the style choices you make will definitely enhance your photos, but the most important thing to bring with you is joyfulness. Have fun and make the most of this time with your family during your session together!

Interested in a family mini session this fall? My fall minis will be held on October 21st at W G Jones State Forest. You can reserve your time slot using THIS LINK. Otherwise, I offer family sessions year round so you can head on over HERE to view my availability calendar and book your full family session!