my everyday style: fall family photos!

I've never regretted a family photo session, but the honest truth is that they can be very challenging to actually pull off. Once the photos are in my hand I am always SO glad we did it though. Getting buy-in to smile and wear the clothes I've selected for my husband and kids is a challenge, to say the least. It had been a year and a half or so since we had professional shots of the four of us (family selfies, not included) and with the holidays on the horizon I figured it was high time to get some decent snaps of the four of us.

The biggest hurdle in planning family photos is getting all the outfits pulled together. For this photo shoot I focused on pulling together a cohesive color story (denim, grey, cream, with a pop of red) and then put my focus into adding lots of texture and layers to make the outfits come alive. The faux fur on my vest the knit details on my daughter's cardigan, the pocket details on my husbands jacket and my sons puffer vest all offer great textural details that make the looks more visually interesting. After that I just threw in a ton of neutrals like my husband's green jacket, my knee boots and stripes for my daughter.

I try to not get too bogged down in over-analyzing the outfits for family photo shoots. In the end you want to choose outfits that fit everyone's personality and that are comfortable enough that everyone feels good about their look for the photoshoot. And the most important thing is to have FUN! Laugh as a family, move around a little and enjoy yourselves - it definitely shows in the pictures. That, and have bribes on hand for afterward...

A huge THANK YOU to Jennifer Ketchum who keeps me looking good here on the blog on the regular... she is great with kids and families too. And fall in Michigan was really showing off for these photos... I mean, those leaves!!! Major hearts in eyes!