Family Holiday Outfits

Earlier this month I posted about my personal advice for selecting family outfits, along with a suggestion on how to pair up outfits specifically for fall family pictures. You can find that post here.

With Christmas cards beginning to pop in everyones' minds, of course the picture that goes on those cards are being thought of as well. There are so many ways you can select an image for your Christmas card. You can go with a traditional family picture, or maybe one of just the kids. Or perhaps you go with something fun as wearing pajamas, or even something capturing a special moment as your oldest reading a Christmas classic to your little ones. There are many ways to go, and all of them are great options.

I'm going to put out there my personal favorite when selecting outfits for a holiday picture. It's a slight more dressy than my fall suggestion... with all black and white {ivory} with pops of a true bright red. The only real thing that makes my picks a step up on the dress meter is that there are no "blue" jeans included. There are still many options, other than the traditional family, even when going a tad dressy.

I'm featuring mom with a plaid popover, warmed up with a cream sweater scarf and black skinny jeans. Dad gets a plaid button-up with a "marble" black sweater on top {I'm not a huge fan of solid black because it's easier to get lost in images, but it can be done - I'm just a texture girl} and dress pants. Big sis gets a cozy cream sweater covered with a plaid vest and black leggings, finished with a red headband. While little bro is simple with a red sweater onesie and red plaid hat to keep his head warm.

To pick apart my selections a little more - I chose to pick two members with a main element of their outfits being red, and the other two only having a little pop of red. Dad will have a little red showing up at his collar and then around his forearms where he rolls up his sleeves a tad. Then big sis only has a headband for her pop of red. Something else I did was put plaid on everyone. Confession time... I'm obsessed with plaid. I just love it - you can't go wrong with plaid. However, you actually can. Be careful when pairing up plaids - remember my match-matchy rule from my fall outfit post... that applies with patterns as well. I made sure non of the plaids were the same, and none of them were being worn the same way. No matching - not even matching plaid scarves, as awesome as they are.

There's my favorite holiday look. Black and white with a pop of red! Comment time... what's yours??? Let me know below...

Jackson & Triston

The Stevens Family

The Fife Family

I'm Giving Away One Free Session!

Jennifer Mae Photography is gaining support, but I'm still working on spreading the word... what better way to do that than launch a GIVEAWAY!! I'm giving away one free family photo session... the giveaway opens today and ends on October 24th.

You have 3 ways to enter:
1. Be a fan of Jennifer Mae Photography FB page {this one is mandatory}
2. Share the giveaway on your FB page. You can get a new entry for this one each day :)
3. Follow by email at jennifermaephotography.blogspot.com - that's where you are now ;)

Thank you for your continued support and good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What to Wear for Fall Family Photos

With every booking I get asked the same question - "What should we wear?" It's a tough answer mostly because there's a lot you can wear, and it really does depend on your taste. First off, I don't think you need to go out and buy the whole family all new outfits. Here's my guide for picking out your clothes for a fall photo shoot...

1. This is my first suggestion because it's my favorite. Dress in layers, which is easy to do in the Fall. I don't mean like a lot of layers, wear your favorite top and then throw on a cardigan, leather jacket, poncho, scarf, etc. This way you can get a quick dress change and not all your pictures look the same.  Plus when you dress in layers you look more "put together". There are plenty options for boys too - it can be a sweater vest, cardigan, or hoodie.

2. Don't be too matchy-matchy.  That's not the same as coordinating. Matching everyone takes away individual personality, plus it doesn't look very natural.

3. Wear clothes that fit you! Nothing baggy - it won't look flattering. You want your clothes to actually fit you because that's when it does look the most flattering and doesn't have malfunctions like your bra strap showing, or a button popping. Wear something you are confident in! You will be comfortable and able to pose more naturally.

So there you have it! My personal suggestions when going to select your outfits for your upcoming fall photo session. Mix it up, have fun with it. Lay out all your outfits together and make sure they compliment each other - but aren't matchy-matchy ;)

I leave you with my hand selected picks of "complimentary" fall colored pieces. All can be found at Old Navy, Gap, or Banana Republic.

Wind Mill Farm

Today we met up with our neighborhood at a local farm, Wind Mill Farm, for some fall fun :) I got a chance to snap a few shots of my boys. The third one is a fave because Grayson is peeking from a pirate hole and I caught him with cookie face and all ;)

I would also like to take this time to mention I've enabled followers! To keep up with Jennifer Mae Photography posts, please add yourself to my follower list - you can do that over to the right where it says "Follow by Email".  Thanks for your support!!

Mini Fall Sessions!!

I am now booking mini fall sessions!

The day will be October 18th. Times will start at 3pm. Location will be Wegerzyn Gardens in Dayton. Mini sessions will be 15 minutes {you'll get about 5-8 edited images}. 

Take advantage of my 2015 beginner rates at only $25 a mini session! Just message me {click the gray envelope over there on the right > to get my email}... let me know what time works for you to get you on the schedule asap. And for anyone interested in turning your mini session into a full one {Wegerzyn Gardens is perfect for fall family photos} let me know that too!

I got a NEW camera!!!

I bought a NEW camera and am beyond excited! As I am just starting off as an inspired professional photographer I have been using my five year old Nikon D3100. Yes - all the pictures you see in prior posts are with a five year old amateur camera. So I KNEW I needed to make the investment and after much research and taking in the consideration that I am still getting my foot off the ground I took a leap for the Nikon D610. For anyone who does NOT know much about cameras - what does that mean? Not only is it much newer technology compared to my five year old model, but it's a FULL length frame camera!

This means a lot of things, but to anyone who doesn't know much about cameras and IS brave enough to let me shoot you... it means your pictures are going to come out so much more crisp, full of detail, and oh yeah - BEAUTIFUL! Told you I was excited :) I love photography!!

The Stevens