- Firstly consider what style and location you want (eg; wear something practical);
- Take a look at what’s available – for me that meant considering what nice shirts the boys had and matching husband and I in with them;
- When coordinating between family members try to dress in similar tones rather than identically;
- Black and white although easy to find in your wardrobe, generally don’t photograph as well as colours;
- Try to think of how you would like the photos posed beforehand – I had a page of examples from other peoples photo shoots printed to take along so that we had a few things to try out. I had to be realistic however about what was achieveable with two toddlers! Next family photos will look more like these...
- Try to choose outfits that convey your personality – for our family there was no point dressing in suits or formal attire as that is completely at odds with our lifestyle and therefore the pictures wouldn’t look like us.
- My final top tip is to make sure the little ones are as happy as possible in the environment; try to make sure they are well fed before hand and that you take treats for good behaviour at the photo shoot. We also took props (favourite toys) and some of our families favourite music (Avalanche City – Love, Love, Love and Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta a Feeling and Boom Boom Pow) to get everyone in the silly smiling mood.
Even with all these preps the little one's hair stuck up, no-one would pose as I planned and someone had a terrible cold - never work with kids and animals hey! At least the outfits worked out well :)