Being the founder of Baby and Breakfast, I have seen more family shoots than I can count. And since I act as the editor in chief of a website that features a lot of parties and shoots, it might come as a surprise that my family rarely has parties or shoots (note to self: I actually wanna have more family shoots! My kids are growing too fast!) 

The truth is family shoots are truly precious and something I believe we should all invest in doing. I always love looking back at these photos, which are memories that can’t compare to anything! But I also know that sometimes it’s not the easiest thing to do or prepare for! Where do we do it? Who will take our photos? And what do we wear? 

So let me share my own experience with you! And if you wanna go a bit more personal in styling your own family shoot, I’ll also be imparting a few tips on how I styled ours! A few years back (yeah sorry it took awhile to share this!), we decided to have a family shoot with one of our trusted photographers Happy Folks Studios. I only had a day to prepare. But, thankfully it still came out pretty cute. So here are a couple of things I did that helped create the whole look!

If you wanna go for a minimalist look, the color white is key. You may choose to add some other neutral colors such as black, beige, gray, clay, or sage. But the key to keeping it looking fresh and light is going for a lot of the lighter shades with minimal pops of the darker ones.

You shouldn’t only incorporate cleanliness in your outfits because it also helps when your background/ venue is just as clean and not too busy! We fell in love with Graey Studio because of its minimal look: It had lots of white with pops of black and a bit of wood! Perfect.

Grids, stripes, and polka dots can still be considered minimalist since finer prints like these can still help create a clean vibe for your shoot. In our shoot, I wore pants with grid prints but the rest of my family went for plain fabrics with textures. That still complimented the look.

If you wanna go for just one or two looks, that’s really ok. It’s also better that all these looks are cohesive instead of jumping from one theme to another, which could make your shoot look a bit “costume-ish” in my personal opinion. The more natural it feels, the better!

The temptation is to keep adding to your shoot. You might think your clothes are too plain or that you need more props. In our case, we just really tried to play with each other. The good news is, your kids love your sense of humor! So a shoot can also be more than just a family shoot because it really is a fun activity you get to bond over.

So there you have it! There’s absolutely no need to overthink shoots! No matter what it looks like, your photos will also be precious keepsakes that your family will treasure for a lifetime! Now it’s time for me to prepare for our next one!