How to Avoid Ending Up on Awkward Family Photos

We've all seen the site, and if you haven't, please feel free to run and look at it now. It is really amazing, but not exactly the place you want your treasured family portraits to end up at. That's why I'm here. I want to help. I want you to look less like this:






and more like you just walked out of a dashing fall ad campaign for JCrew. But how you ask? Easy. Here are 5 tips to getting what you want for your family photos.

First, I want you to Visualize. I am a *huge* fan of pinterest.com for helping me figure out what exactly I want. Sometimes I have so many different ideas floating around in my brain it is impossible for me so sort out what I want for breakfast and what I want to wear to whatever fabulous event I'm pretending I'll get to attend. Pinterest lets you piece it all together.
Second, Choose a Base and work from there. In the outfit board I made today, I started with navy blue. I recently with shopping with Cat for her family photos and this is what we did. She had a general idea of what she wanted, and had a few pieces, and we worked from there. We chose a basic navy blue dress. We originally intended on getting a nude heel, but sometimes, a shoe chooses you, and that is what happened, in the form of a fuchsia platform pump with crystals on the heel. Which leads me to...
Third, Don't be afraid of color! See that awkward family photo up there? Mullets aside, that monotone denim isn't doing anyone any favors. Repeat after me, "Color loves me. It wants to hug me." Color is great, but don't get this confused with decals, logos, writing, etc. It's distracting to the eye, and has a way of dating a photograph.
Fourth, Focus on clean lines, good fits, and how it makes you feel. If you don't feel good in what you're wearing, it is going to be obvious. With kids, make sure they can move in it comfortably. You want them to feel as good as you do. Let their personalities show through and have fun with it!
Fifth, Be upfront with your photographer. She does this regularly, she's seen a lot of things that worked, and a lot of things that didn't. It can't hurt to ask her what she thinks.

This is the Outfit Board I did today, using Navy Blue, Grey, and Fuchsia.