Recently, I realized I never shared our family photos from last Christmas. Mom brain at its finest. I wanted to share them now since it’s that time of year- yippee! In addition to some neutral family picture outfit ideas, I’ve included tips on taking photos with a baby, and how we found the location for our photos last year in today’s post! Keep reading to shop the looks!
Since we took our Christmas card photos on the beach in 2017, I wanted to do something different last year. We had taken photos at a Christmas tree farm in Seattle back in 2016 and I absolutely love the photos, so I decided to look for a Christmas tree farm near us in California.
HERE IS HOW I SCOUTED THE LOCATION:
This may sound crazy, but this is how I find a lot of locations for family photos. I find them on Instagram. That’s right! I search geo-tags, hashtags, local photographer’s feeds, etc. In this case I had searched google first and found some local Christmas tree farms. After that, I searched the location of a few of them on Instagram. That’s how I decided on Peltzer Pines Christmas Tree farm. The photos I found on Instagram were absolutely stunning! You know a location is good even when random iPhone photos are beautiful, right? It was kind of a hike from where we live (not for me but for my husband who doesn’t necessarily love family photos), but it was well worth it!
WHAT WE WORE:
Last year, I ended up starting with Jett’s outfit because I found the most adorable sweater EVER at a resale shop! The little winter intarsia on it is the sweetest thing and I loved that it was neutral colors and not bright red and green. Y’all know I love a good neutral color scheme! I still had a lot of baby weight to lose last year around this time, so I opted for an oversized sweater dress that hit just above the knee. I wore it with cognac booties because they were the most flattering shoe I had in my closet and looked really cute with the ivory and camel hat I got at Nordstrom Rack years ago. Shopping your closet is always a good idea to save money! Since I decided on brown booties, I dressed Jett in brown boots as well. He already had them so I figured why not. The little red laces were the perfect little pop of color. After I had those two outfits planned, Skyler just found something in his closet to coordinate. I love how these neutral family picture outfits turned out and that they don’t look too matchy mathy, ya know? If you can’t find a black baby sweater, you could always opt for a navy one and your SO could wear dark denim with a lighter top!
JETT’S OUTFIT (similar pieces linked if exact items are out of stock):
HALEY’S OUTFIT (similar pieces linked if exact items are out of stock):
SKYLER’S OUTFIT (similar pieces linked if exact items are out of stock):
TIPS ON TAKING GREAT PHOTOS WITH A BABY:
Don’t dress them in their outfit until you get there. Spit up happens, blow-outs happen. You know, dirty baby stuff! Just dress them when you get there so their nice and clean!
Pack their hairbrush, toys, food, a blanket, and the stroller. We packed a few toys the photographer could hold to get Jett’s attention. One was bright orange and did the trick.
Schedule a time when baby is most awake and happy. Last year around this time, the evenings were great for Jett so we scheduled our shoot before sunset (around 4pm) and the light was beautiful.
OUR 2018 HOLIDAY CARD FROM MINTED:
I loved how simple and sweet these holiday cards were for Jett’s first Christmas! The text looks hand written and is so pretty. I opted for the matching envelope liners and a photo on the back (you know, because Skyler and I can’t ever agree on one photo LOL). I can’t wait to show you this years Christmas card!
Xo,
Haley
SHOP THIS POST:
Skyler’s highly anticipated gift guide for men is here! Hopefully he doesn’t see this because I added a few items I want to get him like the “Do Not Disturb” candle. Read more to shop them all!