I feel like in some ways this is the hardest question to answer sometimes. Because possibilities are endless and my honest answer is always "wear what makes you feel the best and most comfortable." I know family sessions are a big investment and what you wear does matter, even if it's not the most important thing (the most important thing is that you and your family feel their best during the shoot and when you look at these photos on your walls for generations!). So I'm going to list out some guidelines below. Do you remember the Pirates of the Caribbean movie when Captain Barbosa says the pirate code isn’t a list of rules but more like guidelines? Same goes for most of these. I'll let you know which ones should be taken a little more seriously. 

- Ladies first. It's usually the best practice to plan the outfit for Mom. Then once that's finalized, it'll be easier to plan complimentary outfits for everyone else. So use this first guideline as your excuse to take a few hours to shop alone with a coffee and find something that makes you feel like the awesome woman you are.

- Matchy-matchy. These days you don't often see the blue jean white-shirted families of yore. But hey, 90s are making a comeback so if that's what you want, do it! Your family has permission to not match, though. In fact, different fabric textures and patterns add nice appeal to your photos. Often I see photographers say things like "don't match, just compliment each other." That advice works, but my first response when I read those words was "Well what does that even mean?" If you aren't sure either, I've included some examples of some family outfits below that "go but don't match" to give you an example. Still unsure? Call me and we can help each other out. Ultimately though, wear what makes you feel like the best you. As a personal example: I wear blue jeans nearly every day and I feel insecure about my legs. That means if a shorter dress or skirt will automatically make me feel so insecure and I won’t be able to relax the entire shoot and I’ll probably hate the photos. Are blue jeans the fanciest thing? No, but I can dress it up with a cute top (we millennials love blue jeans and cute tops forever, amen.) or layers and great shoes. Now I look photo-ready and still feel like Jen.