Family Photographs

We have an excellent relationship with the photographer we hired for our wedding, Laura Layera from Luluphoto.  Since our wedding we've had her shoot EG's 6-month and 1-year shoot, all with excellent results.

Now that EG is turning two this weekend, we've scheduled her to come for a 2-year shoot with EG and the family, as well as a semi-maternity shoot for me.  Yes, a lot to pack into one session, but I'm excited.

The only problem I have is what to wear.  With our last shoot we let EG really be the star, and both Working Dad and wore neutrals.  The only problem we had was that I ended up feeling less than thrilled about my outfit- and especially realizing how less than functional it was.

There were lots of photos that seemed great, but then a closer look revealed something that's supposed to be hidden away.... my bra:

 While I don't blame Laura- she's really an 'in the moment' photographer, which is a style I totally love and has given us amazing natural photos of our family that I completely treasure, at the same time it was frustrating to see the images and know that I wouldn't want to bring a few of them because of the bra issue.  I wouldn't want to send this one to Grandma....


So this time I'm trying to do something different.  I want us all to have a sort of matched look, and I'm thinking about investing in some props.

I love the look of a child sitting on a chair, and my in-laws have this great pink chair that I can borrow from them.   Maybe we can put that on the pier, and get some great shots with boats and people passing by...

Chairs are for Standing by Donnie Ray Jones cc

I also love the look of a child posing with ballons:

Happy Ballon by allthecolor cc

Since it's her birthday, I think balloons could be a really great feature.

I've been looking hard at clothing for me, and think I've settled on some good ideas:

1. A tight fitting solid color dress.  That way you can definitely see the baby bump, which is one of the 'features' of the shoot.  I didn't do a maternity session with EG, at least not a formal one, and I think it will be nice to have a few shots of the belly.  I love the idea of putting EG in her 'big sister' shirt to take a few together...

2. A casual matching tone outfit.  This will be based upon the dress that we put EG in, but her in something more fancy, Working Dad and I in something more casual, so she's really the feature of the shoot.

3. More than one location.  We did that last time, the beach, the pier and the park.  Which I think will be similar this time.  I'm also thinking that we may take a few photos of Matt and I a touch more intimately with the belly inside the house...

We have this dress for EG:

And I was thinking that I would wear white pants and something like this focusing on either the peachy undertones, or the teal colors of the dress. We're not totally sold on this combination, but it's sort of along the lines of what we're thinking...

What did you wear for your last family portrait session?  Am I totally over thinking this, and being ridiculous (which is what Working Dad totally thinks, btw)