What to wear for gorgeous fall family photos

My dream is of stress-free photo sessions, happy & playful children, and parents who get to spend time laughing and kissing their babies instead of directing them or pulling at clothing. This is truly my goal with each session, even during mini sessions.

The attitudes & playfulness is a post for another day, but I know that what often causes stress leading up to your photo session is the outfit selection. I’m assuming a lot of this coordination falls to you if you’re reading this. Solidarity, friend. But together, we’ve got this!

Read on for some tips & tricks to help you figure out what to wear for gorgeous fall family photos.

I will preface this by saying that I’m not a client closet kind of girl. I don’t believe there is just one asthetic we should all try to attain in our family photos. We’re all different people with different bodies and skin tones and eye color, and we all have preferences for what types of clothing make us feel the best.

We also have different color schemes in our homes, where we are hopefully displaying our photos (wink wink nudge nudge) and different plans for how often we’ll have photos done and how seasonal we want them to look.

That said, there are a few specific things to think through and consider as you start to select outfits for your fall photo session.

First up, choose your colors.

Think about how you want to use these photos. Are these for printing & hanging in your home (please say yes!). If so, do you want to leave them up year round, or want them to have a super autumn feel to them?

Here in NC, September and even early October photos won’t necessarily look super fall-y by default. Until late October we’re working with a lot of greens, hopefully sunshine, and neutral backgrounds like tall grass, rock walls, bricks, etc depending on your location. All that to say, your photos will look as fall-specific as you choose with your colors & outfits.

Do you have a favorite color palette for yourself or your family? As long as it won’t clash with the background (fall leaves? grassy greens? the beach? mountains?), let those colors shine in your fall family photos.

Are these photos mainly for Christmas cards? Do you have a specific card theme in mind? Do you want to document this year’s nice Christmas outfits at a tree farm before they risk being ruined before Christmas dinner? Christmas-specific color palettes are also great if that’s your goal for these photos!

Next, consider the background.

Think about the location you and/or your photographer has chosen. Here in NC we’re likely looking at grassy meadows, still-green trees, hopefully some colorful leaves (in late October/November) and golden sunsets. You don’t want to blend in, but you also don’t want to clash.

For example, red can be tough with all of our bright North Carolina greens, but can look lovely and Christmas-y against the evergreens at the tree farm. For most fall NC sessions, you can’t go wrong with navy or Carolina blues. I don’t make the rules, but they do work for me (go Heels!).

In general, we’re aiming for warmer tones during fall sessions. Bright colors can fight against the backdrop, but warm fall colors will compliment it nicely. Think mustard yellow, gold, navy or Carolina blues, plum or mauve, olive green, and warmer neutrals like brown, cream, and oatmeal.

Aim to coordinate without matching.

Depending on the number of people in your family, this may be easier or harder than it appears. Matchy matchy is very 80’s JC Penny, so we’re going to try to avoid that if we can. No need for jeans and all white tops!

Instead, try to stay in your chosen color family + neutrals, but include a mix of solids and a pattern or two. I usually start with my own outfit or one of my girl’s dresses, as they offer more pattern and options to draw other colors in and the boy’s clothes are easier to match to those, in my opinion. If you need permission to start with your own outfit, here it is: start with mom’s outfit and plan from there!

You want to include a variety of textures and layers, which, let’s be honest, is what fall in North Carolina calls for anyway. We never know what we’re going to get temperature wise during fall sessions, and more than anything we want everyone to be comfortable while taking photos. Adding (or taking off) a cardigan, sweater, cable knit tights, or a vest can be a great way to add some texture to the photos while also keeping kids comfortable.

Make sure everyone feels comfortable & confident.

It’s important to make sure everyone feels good in their outfit. We’re not trying to be models or look totally different than we do on a normal day, but we’re also not rocking our errand-running athleisure or letting our kids wear their non-matching athletic clothes they choose for school (just my kids?!).

I want both adults and kids to feel comfortable in what you’re wearing so that you’re free to run and play and tickle and giggle. That said, I’m not above bribing a kid to wear “dressier” clothes (y’all, this means jeans to a couple of my children) for photos. I let my kids wear what they want for school & play, but they know mom gets to pick outfits for photos.

If the temperature changes drastically from what you originally planned for (hey, NC), you know your kid well enough to know if the outfits need to change, too. Some kids don’t feel the cold and are happy to wear short sleeves when it’s freezing. Others will be SO much happier if you add a sweater, bring a blanket to snuggle in, or throw on a cute hat.

The opposite can be true, too. If it’s warmer than expected, be prepared to take sweaters off, or know if your kid will take you up on an ice cream bribe and keep it on in 72 degree heat. You won’t be able to tell what the temperature was in the photos, but you will be able to tell if people are sweating, red faced, or just angry and irritated the whole time!

Specific types of clothing to choose:

First, a warning, if YOU don’t like or feel good in some of these specific types of clothing, feel free to avoid them. From an artistic photography standpoint, these look great & are fun to play with in photos, so wanted to throw them out if it’s helpful as you work through your outfits!

1. Layers. Suspenders on little boys, collared shirts under sweaters, cardigans, fuzzy vests, open button downs over shirts, scarves (as long as they don’t cover your face).
2. Textures. Think tulle, chunky knits, lace, crushed velvet, linen. Henley tees, rolled sleeves, cable knit tights. Love love love.
3. Pieces that don’t cling to your body, and that work with movement. Think long dresses & skirts for mom, rompers & overalls on babies (so we’re not constantly pulling things back over the diaper!), twirly dresses for little girls.

Please, please check for these things:

Finally, the list of things to avoid. Here you go!

1. No logos or graphic tees! If it’s a small pocket logo that you don’t mind, that is totally fine and often hard to avoid. But please don’t wear (or let your kids wear) shirts with huge logos across the front, or one with lots of graphics.
2. No neon or super bright colors. There’s a time and a place, and I’m happy to plan it with you, but fall minis isn’t it!
3. Don’t forget about shoes! Please don’t pay good money for professional photos and nice clothes and then wear character tennis shoes or crocs. Neutral shoes (slip ons or sneakers), boots, leather shoes, dress sneakers, and sandals all work well. Wedges are often better than heels depending on location (all of the ones I’ve chosen for my fall minis would cause your heels to sink in the ground!).
4. Check your wrist! Smart watches & hair ties are often afterthoughts. I’ll try to remind you if I see them, but I’m putting it here so we both remember before photos start!
5. Remove phones & keys from pockets – looking at you, dad! I’m happy to keep them with my camera bag, or feel free to have all of your stuff together in a bag that we can move out of the shot, but please don’t just leave them in your pockets!

As always, if you have questions, feel free to reach out. I’m always happy to facetime or look at photos and give my opinion on outfits.

My favorite way to do this for my own family is to lay it all out on my bed and then take a photo of the outfits together from above. I’ll rotate specific pieces in and out if I’m debating something, and then I’ll text the photos to a photographer friend to get their opinion, because we ALL need that!

Happy shopping, friends! See you soon!