One way to approach this is to pick a color scheme of one color and one neutral. You can pick this color scheme by wanting to pair more with your environment, or more for the time of year, or by choosing a favorite color. A color and a neutral would be like choosing blue and white, peach and cream, or green and tan. In this way too, everyone could be wearing black tops with denim jeans, the jeans being the neutral here.

Another way to do this, and perhaps the easiest way, is for Mom to pick out what she wants to wear first. From the dress or blouse you've chosen, you can then pull out the accent colors as your coordinating colors. For example, if Mom has chosen a long and flowing burgundy dress with cream and pink flowers with light green leaves, then she can now choose cream, pink, and light green as the colors to start building everyone else's wardrobe with.

Let's try not to match, though, and really try more to coordinate. It would be a little boring if everyone was wearing exactly the same thing, like, all black shirts and khaki pants.

A note on button-down shirts. If they are buttoned, keep in mind, that a lot of the time you are in a sitting position, and, button-downs aren't always flattering. I know this might sound harsh, but, I mean to be friendly! If there is a belly going on, those buttons might be stretching open, and that's just not gonna make you happy. An alternative is to wear a t-shirt under that button-down and keep it open, or, a nice tee, or a pullover sweater.

There are some things not to wear:

• No neons. Neon colors do horrible things to skin tones for photographic purposes.

• No logo's. It just doesn't photograph well. It will either stand out, or bunch up.

• No sports teams. Again, the big writing doesn't photograph well because you will be moving and the words bunch up and becomes distracting.

• Avoid using too many patterns. If Mom chooses a pattern, go simpler with everyone else.

Newborns photograph best in tighter simpler clothing. A cream knit gown or stylish onesies are my favorites. Headbands are cute, but can be hard to photograph, in that. they don’t always stay on - so I recommend them for the simple baby-only poses, but let’s try to remember to take it off for the family poses.

• Textured blankets or quilts also make for a good photo, so, if you have those for baby, let’s incorporate that too!

• Newborn skin is red and orange toned. I prefer to keep babies in neutrals, blues, or, lavenders. Reds, pinks, and some umbers are hard on their skin for the final photo.

I hope this has been helpful! And of course, I am only a message away if you want more one-on-one help!