You’ve Booked a Session: Now What? | Part 2 | Nashville family photographer » Elizabeth Clements Photography: Franklin & Nashville child photographer

Hey guys! I’m back with part 2 in my series– You’ve Booked a Session: Now What?

In this post, I’m going to update you on my current progress with picking out clothing for my family for our shoot that is coming up in 3 weeks (!) Now that I write that, I’m starting to feel the crunch! Good thing I have a plan. Well, sort of. If you’re still a few weeks out from your session, my hope is that you will allot some time now to evaluate clothing choices.

I firmly believe that what you wear for your session can help make or break your images.

If there is an engaging, thoughtful color palette or some sense of coordination, images will be even more pleasing to the eye. In some cases, they can even enhance your location. Cowboy boots when we’re shooting at a barn or near a wooden fence? Perfect. If each person’s outfit is just kind of randomly selected, there will be a subconscious appearance of disjointedness. Try to find unifying elements or colors.

When I last posted, I mentioned that 3 sweaters jumped out at me from my younger son, Andrew’s, closet after I realized what direction I was going to be going with our color palette. I think any of them could work, depending on what I end up picking for my outfit. More on that in a minute. My husband’s shirt will likely be picked last (sorry, Honey!)

Just a reminder, this is my starting point for our clothing. It is for my older son, and I got it at Gymboree earlier this year (or maybe last year? Not sure). I love that it looks “fall,” has the buttoned detail on the sleeve, the contrast stitching, is a classic pattern (plaid), and has plenty of colors for the rest of the family to work with.

Andrew’s option #1: Janie & Jack gray and red argyle sweater. Not my favorite for the shoot, but it could work. If we go with this, I would avoid big patterns for my husband and myself. We’d need to stick with solids or small/simple patterns.

Andrew’s option #2: Mini Boden heathered navy and tan sweater (with cute patches on elbows… forgot to take a photo of them). This is my favorite so far.

Andrew’s option #3: Gap gray and navy sweater. Simple and classic. I love the bold stripe trim.

Any of those really could work. Knowing that I had options for Andrew, I moved on to figure out what I might wear. I had luck at Gap online for a navy maxi dress last year for our family photos, so that’s where I started again this time. Nothing jumped out at me at the regular store, but I decided to try Gap Outlet the other day. These are the three dresses I picked up at potential options. The gray stripe was really more for fun/regular wear, not the shoot, but I kept it in the photo on accident. The dress was definitely more red in person, but it photographed kind of pink on my phone. Unfortunately, none of these fit quite right or were as flattering as I’d like. Boo.

Though none of the dresses worked, I found this scarf. Ding ding ding! It can tie into the red on Matthew’s shirt, and it has a nice small repeating pattern that won’t compete with his plaid. I then started thinking and realized that a denim dress (which I think is pretty trendy right now… but I’m admittedly not exactly the trendiest person) might look really cute with it.

I started looking around and landed on this one from Lands End (see below). Luckily, I got it ordered before it mostly sold out (website shows just a couple sizes left). It is knee-length on me (I’m tall), which is ideal in my mind since I know we’ll be moving around (standing up, sitting down, maybe playing with the boys) for our shoot. I’m thinking this dress with the sleeves slightly rolled up + Gap Outlet scarf (above) + cognac colored boots. Rolling up my sleeves serves two purposes– 1) It exposes a little skin, which will make me look a little more engaging, and 2) It ties into the fact that Matthew’s sleeves will be rolled up.

Source: Frye Melissa boot

These are a bit out of my budget, but I got a great pair of boots at Nordstrom Rack last year that are similar that should work.

Right now, you may think that I’ve invested a lot of time on all of this. Really, I haven’t. Let’s say you want to knock this out (or at least most of it) in one day. That’s pretty doable. I’d recommend going to the mall and spending a few hours going to a few of your favorite stores to get a plan. See what jumps out at you and go from there. Last year, I went to Opry Mills in Nashville because I know that I’d have more store options than just a regular mall. As I bought items, I then pulled them out in the next store to see if they might work with what I was considering. I may have looked slightly crazy at Banana Republic Outlet when I had my boys’ patterned shorts spread out on the table display trying to figure out which button-up for my husband would be best, but it helped!

When I’m choosing clothing for a shoot for my family, my goal is that we’ll look cohesive, but also that all of the different pairings/groupings will work together. My outfit has to work so I can do an individual shot with all 3 of my boys. Same thing goes for each of them pairing up for photos. It has to make sense as a whole and also be able to stand alone.

I will need very minimal additional accessories for myself based on my current outfit choices, but they may be key for your session. Accessories add dimension and personality. It may mean adding a necklace, headband (for a little girl), hat or vest, interesting belt, etc. For example, a thin navy puffer vest would look adorable over Matthew’s plaid shirt, so I’ll have to keep that in mind. Once you get your base layer or outfit picked, stop and think– what can I add to give it a little more oomph?

Also: SHOES MATTER. Yes, I put that in all caps, and I’ll be blunt: your children should NOT wear tennis shoes to a photo shoot. Period. My only exception to the tennis shoe rule would be if they are completely neutral colored (tan/brown/gray) and there is no neon, bright colors, superheros, or other characters. Here’s a great example of a tennis shoe style that is acceptable. In fact, Andrew has these very shoes and may be wearing them for our shoot.

Source: Sperry Halyard shoe from Stride Rite

If you made it this far, then you’re amazing. Really. That was a long post. 🙂 I’d love to hear from you! Did this inspire you? Which sweater option do you think is best for Andrew? What do you think my husband should wear? Do you have new ideas for your own family now? I’d love to know what this made you think about.

Coming up in part 3: what I’m doing when we’re 1-2 weeks out from our shoot.