Style your family like a pro for $100
By far the most common questions I get from clients have to do with styling their families. The thought of dressing your family can feel so overwhelming, but it’s by far one of my favorite parts of session planning. The right outfits can take your photos to a whole new level of amazing and I love helping my families get to that level. I have a 30+ page Style Guide that I share with all my clients, and today, I’m sharing key takeaways from that guide and I’m also going to show you how easy and inexpensive it can be to style your entire family. Don’t believe me? Keep reading.
Key Style Tips:
Match your outfits to the season and location.
If you’re wearing a fancy ball gown in your living room, people are going to be confused when they look at your photos. Rock a little sundress in a snowy field and all people will feel when they look at your photos is cold. We're telling your story , so let’s get this right. Plan your outfits around what you know about the location we’ll be shooting at. You’ll want to be warm enough (or cool enough!), have pain-free feet, and look relatively native to your environment. For at home sessions, slip into your comfiest comfies and out of your shoes. The idea is to authentically capture you wherever you are. Think through your clothing choices logically based on location, comfort, and the overall vibe you're hoping to convey. For example, you probably don't want to wear all black on a scorching hot day or stilettos to trek through a meadow.
In keeping with nature, choose natural colors.
Aim for neutrals, earth tones, and deep hues. These colors compliment the outdoor environment almost anywhere you go and look amazing as a printed, framed photograph. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting your entire family wears beige to our session. By neutrals, I just mean softer tones. Primary colors are gorgeous in real life, but can sometimes have the effect of detracting from the main subject (which is you). So for example, instead of bright red, choose rust or burgundy. Instead of bright orange, opt for ochre or apricot. Instead of neon green, choose olive... You get the idea.
Complement or contrast the setting
Choose to either complement your natural environment or contrast it. For example, if your location is a deep green meadow, a rust or burnt orange dress will look bold and pop, whereas a mustard or cream dress will look more muted and subtle. It totally depends on your style and what look you prefer! Look at the images above- do you see how the reds and oranges pop against the green and blue backdrops in the first two images creating a beautiful contrast? In the second two images, the yellows, greens, and blues complement the settings instead. Both are gorgeous, so decide which you prefer, then pull out the old color wheel if your you aren’t quite sure which colors will achieve your desired looks- Colors next to each other on the color wheel compliment, and colors across from one another contrast. It’s as easy at that!
The goal is for your family to coordinate rather than ‘match’
For families it’s best to keep your color scheme limited to four or five colors. You can choose one person to wear a feature color and have everyone else’s outfits complement them by pulling in varying hues and neutrals. For example, look at the second picture above. We styled this family using blue and orange as our main colors and then pulled in different shades of the blue and rust, as well as neutrals to tie it all together. The pattern on dad’s shirt complements mom’s dress, as well as the t-shirts of both boys and the setting, tying everything together beautifully.
Styling your family
You know the rules. Now what?
Now it’s time for the fun part- putting outfits together. I know that this can feel really overwhelming and a lot of people don’t know where to start, but I always recommend dressing yourself first (I’m just going to go ahead and assume if you’re reading this, it’s because you’re the one most likely to book the session, choose the location, style your family, do all the things…). There are a few ways to go about this- if you already have something in mind or know what you want to wear, great! Coordinate everyone else around that. If you don’t, start by choosing a color palette and then start pulling pieces that fit into it.
There’s no shortage of places to shop, but some of my favorites are Zara, H&M, Lulu’s, Asos, and even Target. If you have a higher budget, I also love Free People, Anthropologie, Aritzia, And Other Stories, and Petal and Pup for dresses- that being said, I know a lot of us are on a budget, and so I wanted to show you how easily and inexpensively you can style your family for. To do that, I recently checked out H&M and they had a ton of amazing options for the whole family (head to my IG account @kalieberinphotography and check out my latest reel if you want to see a recap of everything I found!).
Here are some of the options I came up with (I based these style boards on a four person family consisting of mom, dad, toddler girl, and boy in order to show the widest variety of options, however, the same rules apply and outfits could be easily switched up and swapped out depending on your unique family!)
Wrapping it up
There are so many great possibilities and combinations from the items above, let alone from all the amazing options I found on H&M’s website this week. Which combo above is your favorite? Is there a different combination you’d create? Have fun with it and and make it your own. At the end of the day, the goal is for your family to feel comfortable and confident- that’s what it’s all about. And, if you find that you’re still struggling to envision everyone’s outfits together, try creating your own style board in Canva using screen shots, head over to my social media or Pinterest for inspiration, or reach out to me for help!