In celebration of Jett’s first birthday, we had our photos taken on one of our favorite beaches in Laguna Beach! I got so many questions about our outfits so I wanted to share more about them, how I picked them out, etc. This post goes into detail on how to plan outfits for family photos that coordinate but don’t match too much, plus 4 tips to plan the perfect family photo outfits!
Photos by Zach Sorenson
1. ENVISION WHAT YOU WANT YOUR PHOTOS TO LOOK LIKE
For me it’s easiest to do this after picking a location for the photos. I wanted to do it at the beach because we also shot our Christmas photos at the beach when Jett was in my belly (see that post here)! This year we had a super bloom in California so our favorite beach had wildflowers everywhere and it was just magical.
After picking a location, I decided I wanted our outfits to be black and white since we were having a black and white first birthday party for Jett too! Our home decor is also black and white, so I knew that going with that color scheme for our family photos would be perfect for hanging up in our home. Since we were having our family photos taken at the beach, I wanted a more relaxed vibe so we all went without shoes. This is a great way to go because it’s one less thing to worry about! So basically the vibe I was going for was a casual black and white beachy one! It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you if you’re picking out the outfits either- ha!
2. START WITH ONE OUTFIT AND GO FROM THERE
This seems logical, but it’s overwhelming to find outfits for everyone. I had bought this maxi dress on Amazon and absolutely loved it so I figured I might as well get it in black for our family photos since it fits the vision perfectly! I ordered the dress and it was at our house the next day, fit perfectly so I was ready to tackle Jett and Skyler’s outfits. For some reason since Jett was born I always imagined he would wear a baby Burberry at some point. Since I missed the opportunity when he was a newborn, I thought this would be the perfect (and special) occasion to splurge on something for him! I found this Burberry button-up on Zappos Luxury, ordered it and it got to our house the next day! I also ordered Skyler a few black polos so we could find the perfect one. Skyler didn’t want to wear a t-shirt, but he wore jeans so it worked perfectly with Jett’s outfit. He decided on this black polo by Vince and it looks so great on him!
3. BUY THE PROPS LAST!
After we had our outfits all together, I got this cute little turkish beach towel and a big balloon for Jett to hold since the photos were for his first birthday. I got all of this on Amazon the week of our photos which worked perfectly since they all have Prime shipping! Instead of getting one of those ugly weights that they have at the party store, I thought it would be SO CUTE to have the balloon tied to a stuffed animal. This Jellycat one was perfect because it was also black and white- hooray!
4. DON’T FORGET TO ACCESSORIZE!
When you’re planning outfits and getting all of the props together for a family photo shoot like this, jewelry is the last thing you might think of. I’ve actually forgotten to wear jewelry on many occasions because of this. I didn’t want to do that this time, so I planned out every single piece of jewelry I wanted to wear the day before and had it all laying out. That way I wouldn’t forget to put it on before heading out the door.
After planning all of your outfits, just make sure you give yourself extra extra time to get ready. I cleared my schedule on the day of this shoot so I didn’t have to stress out about it and I had the whole day to do my hair, makeup, steam everything, etc. It takes so much longer to get ready after having a baby, right moms?!
I loved the way these turned out and will treasure them forever. All of the stress over family photos is always worth it when you get the photos back, right?! I hope these tips were helpful to you and I’ll be sharing more when I share the family photos we took when Jett and I were in Kentucky! Have a great day, friends!
Xo,
Haley
