Last week we had family photos with a photographer we have been using for about two years now. It is really fun because we alternate which set of grandparents we take photos with. This year it was time to take photos with my in-laws and my husband had a very cool idea for the location. My father in law owns a rock crushing company so we were able to take them in the yard that holds a lot of their crushers and construction vehicles; we have not gotten all of the photos back but the sneaks that we have seen are beautiful!
I think the main thing that I have learned about taking family photos is that outfits are so so important, and while it may look good in my mind that does not mean that it is going to translate into the picture. The first set of photos we took were with my in-laws and I made the girls adorable outfits. But then planned on Danny & Jack wearing all black and my dress was black with specks of colors that were in the girls outfits. They did not mesh well at all, the photos still looked good but I think that is mostly because we have cute kids and a good photographer.
Last winter we took photos with my parents and had learned my lesson in coordinating our outfits more intentionally and I certainly noticed a difference. We took them in December so had the girls wear their Christmas dresses, my husband took Jack out to get a jean jacket similar to his own and we worked within a color palette to have my parents coordinate with us. I saw that being more intentional really can go a long way and that gave us even more of a desire to coordinate our outfits really well for these photos!
I think something else that made the photos with my parents special is that we had them taken in their front yard. My parents have lived in the same house my entire life and I have many memories of them on the front porch drinking coffee each morning. We also used to live next door to them and the kids loved running around in the front yard. We spent a lot of time just out front hanging out and letting the kids play so wanted to have photos hold on to of just that; my parents sitting outside while the kids play. My dad also has a workshop in the garage area of their house and we were able to snap some cool pictures of my dad back there with the kids. It was a great way to capture these memories that our kids will be able to hold on to for forever.
With these most recent photos I wanted to plan ahead and wanted to feel more prepared so that we were not throwing things together at the last minute. Now that did still happen a little bit however not as much as it could have been. Part of the reason for that as well would just be how busy last week ended up being with Halloween and everything else we had going on. It also didn’t help that I thought the photos were on Saturday but they were actually on Friday.
My husband and I took some time to browse Pinterest together and found a color palette that we liked. We were then able to send that to my mother in law and it helped to have visuals rather than just an idea in our minds. Once we had the color palette nailed down I started shopping for the girls. The easy thing about them is that typically I have them match so finding their outfits isn’t too hard. As long as I am able to get the same dress in their sizes it’s not too hard. My favorite places to shop for the kids are H&M and Amazon. I found these adorable dresses for the girls and since we were going for a fall look I planned to get long sleeve shirts for them to wear under. I also found my skirt on Amazon, which I am excited to wear on just any day (it looks really cute with a t-shirt). I love shopping on Amazon and have really good luck, but if something doesn’t fit then I know it is always easy to return.
We decided that Danny could handle finding his own clothes because he knows what he likes but he found these great Nudie pants on eBay. They were an awesome find and I’m so glad we got them. For Jack and the girls I knew I would have to take a trip to H&M because they have such great packs of shirts and that is where I wanted to get the long sleeves for them. I love their packs that are buy 2 get 1 free and that is exactly what I found! Jack is tall and slim so pants from H&M always fit him great because you can shop for the skinny ones. I grabbed him these trousers that I just love and we will get tons of use from. We all planned to wear black shoes and here is something that may just be me, but I think in the past I have tried to save money with something like shoes or tights. Which can sound silly but what struck me this year is that overall family photos take a lot of planning and budgeting, in many ways they are an investment and we do them to have memories we are able to hold onto. So why would I cut corners or skimp on them? I do not want to be like blowing the budget out of the water but why not put the effort into every detail making them the best photos possible? So I bought the girls new black boots (which ended up being a really great price) and put the intentionality into every area, not pick out great dresses and tops but then rely on shoes just being okay.
All of that to say, that I think these are some of the best photos we have! The location is just so so cool and the outfits turned out perfect. There was also a blessing in having the day wrong because that meant that Saturday was totally free, which is something our family really needed. We have gotten a few sneak peaks of the photos and I am so excited to see all of them!
Also, if you live in the Phoenix area and need a photographer make sure you check out Love Endures Photography. You will not be disappointed that you did!
