Large Group Family Photo Tips

This past Christmas my family was able to spend the holidays together! For many people this is not out of the ordinary - for my family, it is a HUGE deal! We hadn't all been together for the holidays in 5 years, and we hadn't all been together at home for 7 years. 7 years!!!

So, we had to make sure that we marked the occasion, and had some nice family pictures taken. If you know me, you know that I love family pictures - the coordinating, the planning, the location... all of which become a little more complicated when it's winter, you have 9 people in your group - two of whom are kids, and you all live thousands of miles apart from one another. 

So, here are some of my tips for getting great large group shots!

1. Choose a neutral color palette

The reason for neutral is because brighter, more specific colors can be really hard to match - and we weren't going for matchy-matchy, anyway. 

In our family group text, I sent out some options/ideas for color palettes. We all voted on which one we liked the best, and settled on this one. We all love blue, and everyone has black and white in their wardrobe, so this was a great choice!

2. Indoor space with outdoor light

Since we were taking pictures in the winter but didn't want to all be bundled up in coats, we needed to find someplace that was indoor with outdoor lightning. With indoor spaces you may need to get permission first, or even pay a fee depending on the place. Some options to keep in mind are galleries, malls, botanical gardens, etc. 

The pictures work best with the light behind the photographer. This family photo is great, and I still love it, but the colors are so much better in the second one.

3. Layout/Position

Looking at those same two earlier photos, you can see two examples of where to place your tallest people (our family has this unique problem, ha!). When you have your tallest people on the ends, you run the risk of getting a "fishbowl" effect. You may want to play around with seating people down on a bench, to create more dimensions. The main idea is, that you don't want everyone who is the same height all next to each other.

4. Make sure you get all the "units"

Be sure to get spouses, and family units individually, too. Also, if there are any single people in your family, don't leave them out. Who doesn't like a nice photo of themselves?!

5. As well as some candid moments

My youngest started walking around with my dad, and it was such a precious sight - his big but gentle hands, her little teeny tininess... 

6. Bonus: Get some pictures in the "homestead"

Although the color in these photos isn't as great as at the other location, but it was pretty special to get some pictures taken at my parents' house, too. They've lived there for 28 years, so it's my brothers' and my childhood home. Someday I guess they'll move, but I think most of us have a hard time imagining them living anywhere else. It was nice to have a few pictures of us taken there as well. <3 I do actually love how "warm" these photos feel.

Of course, you don't need fancy family pictures taken whenever you get together, but... a person honestly never knows what tomorrow brings, and I am so thankful that we have these to look at and cherish. We were all together, and we have these lovely images to prove it!

The photos were taken by our neighbor, Monika Melczer. Unfortunately, she does not have a photography page that I can recommend, but I must give credit where credit is due. She did a marvelous job, and got them back to us within days!

Preschool Boy Back-to-School Capsule Wardrobe

Capsule wardrobes.  The phenomenon that has hijacked my Pinterest feed.  If you are unfamiliar with the concept, a capsule wardrobe is a wardrobe that has fewer elements, however they all are interchangeable, and therefore offer just as many - and often more - outfit options than the average wardrobe.  Capsule wardrobes take more planning, and purposeful purchasing.  They are also seasonal.  Back-to-school is a great time to start a capsule wardrobe, as many parents buy their children a larger amount of clothes, and you want them to last as long as possible and keep the outfits as interesting as possible.  Another characteristic of capsule wardrobes is that there aren't many "trendy" pieces, or pieces with motifs.  With kids and their interests, that can be a little harder, but I think it's doable.  With kids growing as fast as they are, I think capsule wardrobes are a great way to go for people who want their kids to get the most out of their clothes, without spending a fortune.

Here are some basic tips when choosing pieces:

- Stick with only a handful of colors.  Neutrals and blues go with an array of colors.  So for Aidan's wardrobe we went with gray, blue, white, black, dark red/burgundy and mustard yellow.  

- For non-neutral colors, choose ones that go with the season - we chose the dark red/burgundy and yellow mainly because they also work for Thanksgiving and the Christmas season.  

- For accent colors, if you like the "color of the season" (this year it's totally yellow, other years it's been purple, guava, etc.), go with that one, because it's easier to find complimenting colors in different stores.

- If your family tends to dress in certain colors, choose colors that go with what you already have.  We wear a lot of grays and blues, so most things we choose naturally fall into that category.

- I don't love graphic tees, or clothes with cartoon characters on them.  However, I also understand how much kids LOVE these.  So, I try to find pieces that are either subtle, or maybe look a little vintage.  Hence the hoodie with dinosaurs on it, and the admittedly very cool Batman shirt.

- Layers.  Layers offer more options, and they're perfect for Fall/Winter.

Here are the main pieces of Aidan's capsule wardrobe:

Basic pieces:

- 3 pairs of trousers/jeans (a dark denim, a light denim, and a seasonal color.  We went with mustard yellow.)

- 2 pairs of sweatpants (dark blue and gray)

- 2 dress shirts

- 3-4 long-sleeve T-shirts

- 3 sweatshirts

- 1-2 sweaters (I suggest one light weight and a thicker one)

- 5-6 T-shirts (don't go crazy on patterns)

not pictured:

- 2 pairs of long-johns

- 2 pairs of shoes (maybe one more dress pair, depending on your needs.  But honestly nice, clean chucks can be great for dressing up - they're kids, after all.)

Now, I'm not gonna lie, we do have a few "outlying" shirts, and a couple more pairs of pants, but honestly, this is what Aidan wears week after week.  The long-johns not only are of course great for keeping warm; since we've had Jocelyn (5 weeks), we've been having Aidan change out of his school clothes, and into a pair of (super soft and comfy) long-johns, and a cotton T-shirt.  Score!

Here are a couple of pictures showing how you can mix and match the clothes shown above:

There are many many more options, but that's just to give you an idea.  

Reasons I love Aidan's capsule wardrobe:

- I don't have to think too hard about what to put him in - it all pretty much goes.

- It's nice for anytime we take a picture, because he always looks pulled-together.

- Even when I ask Aidan to get his own clothes, there's a pretty good chance it'll look nice, lol!

- It's really easy to see if he needs anything, and then whenever I buy him something new, I'm not just buying stuff to buy stuff.  I have a pretty clear picture of what to get.

Here are the stores we bought Aidan's clothes at:

H&M - it's my go-to for the basics (t-shirts, underwear, long-johns - oftentimes in awesome packs).  The quality can be lacking, but you can't beat the price.

Okaidi - is a new store I found this year, it's where I got the mustard pants and dress shirts.  I really like the quality, and they have good sales.

Gap - I like Gap's version of graphic tees, and it's where we found the Batman shirt.

Name It - This brand is a little more expensive, but there's a store here that has good sales on it, and we really love the sweatshirt and sweatpants set we bought.  Really comfy and well-made!

Capsule wardrobes can be a great way to organize, even downsize and stay minimalistic.  I hope this helps.  Happy shopping!

Family Photos - 5 Tips On What To Wear, And What To Do

Ahhhh.  Fall.  That time of year that fills homes with cozy smells, feelings and colors.  My favorite time of the year, not lastly because (if you follow my page you will know), it means family picture time!  It's my yearly Christmas gift from Dan, and honestly it's the only thing I ask for every year.

I was excited/nervous about taking pictures in our new home.  Excited because, it is quite possibly the most beautiful place on Earth.  Nervous because I didn't have any idea on how to find a local photographer.  Thankfully, when I asked someone who goes to our church, they directed me towards Happy Moments, a husband and wife team whose pictures were beautiful!  They were very quick to respond, easy to communicate with, reasonably priced, and ended up taking mesmerizing photos!  I would recommend them to anyone, and will definitely be using them in the future!

Now, on to the tips.  Some of these are ones I've mentioned in previous posts about our family photos, but I think they bear mentioning again.  If you're interested in those posts, you can find them here: 2014, 2015, and 2016.

1. Keep Up With Traditions

We've been taking family pictures every Fall for years now.  The first year, we got a picture with Aidan standing between Dan and I, and then after that it became a "thing", and I just love it.  Here are the pictures, in order:

2. Layers, Patterns and Textures

One of the things I love most about the terrain where we got our pictures taken, was the layers of beauty.  First you have the lake, then your gaze goes up to the rocks, then the trees, the snow capped mountains, and finally the sky.  You can't generate this kind of beauty, but I decided to play off of it some.

Whenever you add textures, it adds to the depth of the picture.  Some of the places we did that, was my chunky knit sweater, cuffing my jeans, and then the boys' plaid shirts.  At first, I wasn't sure on having two different plaids, but it ended up working well, as they seemed to highlight each other, rather than overpower.

3. Neutrals

For the past year or two I've really been into neutrals, as has most of the world (thanks to Joanna Gaines), so most of the clothes we've bought for ourselves, as well as Aidan have fallen into the blue-gray-brown-beige realm.  This made it really easy to come up with coordinating (not matching) outfits, without having to buy new clothes (money saver there).  In case you really love what we're wearing, Dan's shirt is from American Eagle, Aidan's pants, jacket and boots are from Target, and his shirt is from H&M.  I've had most of my pieces for a while, and can't even say where they're from, but my boots, my favorite part of the outfit are from Vici Collection.

Another thing I love about neutrals, is that they seem to be more timeless, and you can put them up anywhere in your house, without them clashing with other colors going on.  (Of course, in my case, our home is mostly neutrals, too, so it's all good, haha!)

4. Trust Your Photographer

It's a little awkward at first, when someone you don't know is holding a camera, and tells you to close your eyes, and lean your foreheads together.  And then you have to stay like that for a while. It doesn't feel particularly natural.  BUT our photographer totally knew what he was doing, and we ended up with some very tender and romantic pictures of just Dan and I, that we haven't really had since our wedding, and I really love them!

We also trusted our photographer on location - we told them what kind of a place we were looking for - a lake with the mountains in the background, and they found they perfect spot.  Also, we were supposed to have pictures taken the day before, but they contacted us, and said they felt like the area was too foggy that day, and recommended going the next day.  We listened to their advice, and I'm so glad we did, because otherwise, we wouldn't have gotten these shots:

5. Don't Be Afraid To Be Playful - Still Come Prepared

This is mostly for families with young kids.  Kids are always more relaxed when we let them be themselves, play, and then we interact with them.  So, Aidan started playing with sticks, snow, and rocks, so we just went with it.  In one of the photos, he has just given me a rock, that apparently looked like "ham".  And then he gave me a kiss.  <3  Pretty magical, if you ask me!

Now, as for the being prepared part:  I packed an extra outfit for him, just in case there was a trip/fall (there was), or an accident, or what have you.  I had a blanket for us to sit on, because I figured there would be snow and rocks, and we might sit down - and I'm glad I did!  I also packed snacks, and gummy bears for bribery.  Not my usual parenting style, but it worked for this. :)

And then sometimes you get this, and love it just as much!

And there you go!  Basically, be comfortable, have fun, trust the photographer. :)  I hope you all enjoyed our pictures, that the tips helped you out, and that you love your family pictures this year!

Merry Christmas!