What Should I Wear?

I booked my photographer, now what?


It doesn’t matter if you’ve booked a casual in home session, or a dreamy session at a stunning location, we ALL want to look our best when we’re being photographed. Trust me I get it, however there is one really important rule…try not to stress TOO much about what to wear! Remember the focus of lifestyle photography is not your clothes. The main focus should be on you and your family, with great interaction and connection in your photos no one will be paying close attention to what you’re wearing. 

“Ok, but really…what should we wear?” …We want everyone to be comfortable (with a heavy side of put together). It’s easiest sometimes if you think about having everyone wear all neutrals OR you can go with a color scheme. We don’t want everyone wearing jeans and white t-shirts or any thing too matchy-matchy like that, but instead we are looking for a cohesive pairing.

You can pick your color scheme by pairing more with your environment, or by choosing a favorite color. A color and a neutral would be best. For example blue and white, peach and cream, or green and tan. 


Perhaps the easiest way, is for mom to pick out what she wants to wear first. Especially when we’ve just had a baby, us women tend to have the most opinions about what we’re wearing and the way we look in those clothes. From the dress or blouse you've chosen, you can then pull out the accent colors as your coordinating colors.

Let’s think of some examples, if Mom has chosen a floral top or dress, she can pick out all the colors in the pattern as the colors to start building everyone else's wardrobe with. If her dress has pink, sage green, and burgundy, we can use those colors (along with some neutrals) to create an outfit for each kiddo (and dad)!

Again, let's try not to match too much though, and really try more to coordinate. It would be a little boring if everyone was wearing exactly the same thing!


One more time…try not to stress, when in doubt go with a neutral, (jeans are a neutral too!)

What should we try to avoid?

  • Neons and extremely bright colors. Often times they don't photograph well and tend to make skin tones look funny.
  • Characters. We don't want them to be too much of a distraction when the focus should be your beautiful faces! If you want to showcase your little one’s favorite character, I totally understand. Sometimes they are a very big part of our little ones lives in this season of life, and I am all about capturing the authentic beauty of your family! However, let’s maybe incorporate the character by involving a stuffed animal or something along those lines.
  • Sports teams. I love that your interests are a big part of who you are, but most times these kinds of clothing items have big wording and can bunch up, and be a distraction.
  • Logos and words. When you are moving around the words get all bunched up and sometimes become impossible to read. Let’s avoid them to avoid distractions.
  • Let's avoid multiple patterns. If one person chooses a pattern thats fine, but normally its best to have the rest of the family coordinate with solids and neutrals to avoid accidentally clashing.


Newborns photograph best in tighter simpler clothing. A knit gown, or onesie are my favorites. I love personal touches like headbands, but they don’t always stay on - so if you want them I will probably keep them on for simple baby-only poses, but we might want to try to remember to take it off for the family poses.

Textured blankets or quilts also make for a good photo, so, if you have those for baby, let’s incorporate that too (especially sentimental ones)!


I hope this is helpful and it takes the stress out of planning your wardrobe, so you can relax and have FUN at your photoshoot!