Congratulations!! You’ve finally taken the plunge to invest possibly hundreds of dollars in capturing your family in some beautiful portraits. {gulp} Of course, you want everyone to look their best because you’d love nothing more to have a large piece of wall art, or at the very least, use a few of these images on your annual holiday cards. Which leads to the burning question, “What in the world do we wear?” While it usually falls on the shoulders of mom to pull it all together, if you find yourself needing a little guidance or brainstorming, I’m here to help as much as I can!

The days of the matchy-matchy are gone. Most people choose to steer away from jeans/khakis and matching white (or other color) shirts, and instead, let the personality of their family shine through. That said, if you’re heart is set on matching, you certainly can do it, but it is visually more appealing to have a variety of colors and outfits that works together.

Just how do you do that? Well, start by picking 2-3 colors. Neutrals (black, white, grey) are freebies and won’t count against your limit, and build from there. Find some groupings that make sense to you (males/females or kids/adults, or some other variation) to make decisions on who actually wears what as a main color if you’d like. If you’re completely lost on deciding between just what colors to go with, you could either start with what would look good in the room you’d like to hang wall art (you don’t want the outfits to clash with your decor); or start with a favorite “dying-to-wear-this” outfit and build around it.

Plaids, tone-on-tone stripes, and solids are good choices, as are small prints that, from a distance, look more like a solid. Everyone should be in a similar style, too. You don’t want mom to be dressy and everyone else in jeans.

Also a no? Bold prints, writing/logos, cartoon characters. Clothing that is too tight or too loose. Uber-trendy clothing that won’t stand the test of time. You’re images will end up with your clothing as the focus, rather than your beautiful faces, and likely end up looking dated rather quickly. YOU should be the star, and your clothing choices should enhance YOU! Simple classic pieces sometimes show off the person best. And PLEASE say yes to texture, layering and accessories!

If you’re not sure what to wear and you’d like my input, you can always snap a photo of your options and email it to me. If you’d rather look through some ideas online, visit my Pinterest page where I post ideas as I come across them.