What to Wear for Fall Family Photos

I have been debating whether we’ll be doing family photos this year. I’m still scarred from our attempt at cute family photos now nearly four years ago. I had just had Charlotte and we were living with my in-laws while renovating, so needless to stay the stress levels were high. I was determined to get beautiful family photos of our new family of four with perfectly coordinated fall family photo outfits (go ahead and roll your eyes at me, you know we all succumb to it). I was so happy to finally be a family of four, and I wanted to document our family with professional photos we could treasure forever (and of course, give to all our family for Christmas presents). I was also excited to not have to worry about our holiday cards. We would have gorgeous photos to choose from to use on the cards and could order well in advance to send out on time. Of course, you all know how this story ends. The shoot was a disaster. I ordered a sweater that I thought would be the right size for my just-had-a-baby body and boobs, but unfortunately, it just looked terrible in photos. I didn’t have enough time to get my hair and makeup finished with Charlotte not napping that day and wanting to feed all morning. I felt uncomfortable and gross. James threw the most epic of tantrums, refusing to participate in the pics, throwing off his shoes and getting his clothes dirty. Our freshly groomed white goldendoodle Dakota ran into the mud and rolled around after James insisted on holding her leash and then promptly dropped it. We managed to get a couple cute family photos (thank god for our angel photographer), but needless to say, I vowed never to put myself through that trauma again. Last year didn’t go much better. Grace was only a few weeks old. It was randomly very cold and windy after a streak of warm 80 degree days and the kids were miserable. I couldn’t figure out what to wear because I booked the session last minute and the resulting photo while funny was also of Charlotte half scowling/half crying and the rest of us shivering. But we are moms, os we persist. And so this year, I’m attempting family photos again because let’s face it, apparently, I’m a masochist, but this time, I’m planning ahead with snacks, bribes, and of course, outfits that we try on and plan in advance. And while I have a feeling this year will likely not go any better, you can benefit from my insistence of self-torture because I put together a guide for what to wear for family photos. So if you’re looking for coordinating fall family photo outfits, you’ve come to the right place.

When deciding what to wear for fall family photos, I like to go with a color scheme and then coordinate everyone to that palette. That way you’re not overly matchy-mtachy but it feels cohesive and looks better in shots. I tend to either pick my outfit or the kids’ outfits first and then build off of that and Andrew really doesn’t like to wear much other than pants and a button up, so we do some sort of riff on that depending on the color scheme, maybe throw in a sweater or jacket for good measure.

If you’re planning a photo shoot, here are ideas for what to wear for fall family photos.

And here are a bunch of dresses to wear for family photos.