What I Learned From Our Family Picture Session

What I learned/recognized from taking family pictures…

We’re gonna start with the fact that Gracie is four months old and our last family picture session was when Ellie was four (she’s now 7 ½). 

I loved our photographer. Like, loved her. She helped me pick out the outfits and told us exactly what to do when taking the photos and she was just so easy to work with. 

Then selfishly she stopped doing pictures (totally kidding as I’m super happy for her and her FT biz Style and Select). So I was on the hunt to find someone new.

I got a recommendation from a client of mine and reached out. I didn’t really want to rush it but again, Gracie is four months old already. We booked a session for the next week and I was super excited. And then started stressing out. 

Ask for help:
The outfits. I wanted to coordinate, but not be all matchy-matchy, ya know? This seems like the silliest thing to stress out about, but, my color palette is spring colors, I’m 4 months postpartum, and still nursing, so selfishly I was going to pick what worked best for me and then work everybody else in.

That meant shopping. If you know me, I don’t love to shop. So, I phoned a friend! Buddy system. 

We went to one store and I found the perfect dress that was the perfect color. Then we went to another store and found something for Ellie. Luckily I had just gotten a cute little romper that would match perfectly for Gracie, so just Sean was left. Luckily, two days later, another friend came over to drop something off. She has an eye for this stuff and found a shirt in Sean‘s closet that worked perfectly. Bless not having to go back to the store.

Trust the process:
I was about to lose my shit while we were taking photos. Not because of the photographer as she was amazing.

Gracie had gotten woke up from a nap and got hungry 10 minutes into the photo shoot. Plus, she was drooling…everywhere. She’s at the awkward stage where she is busy. Wasn’t really wanting to lat still, but she also can’t sit up. Plus her romper ended up being bigger than I realized so we had to constantly adjust it. Whew.

Then the wind wouldn’t blow until the perfect time to take a picture so I was constantly adjusting my hair. And sweet Ellie for some reason forgot how to just smile her beautiful smile. She was definitely a bit nervous. 

As our photographer left, Sean and I were thinking she would maybe get five good photos. And not because she wasn’t talented…because of the above! 

Well, two days later we got our proofs back, and holy shit they turned out so good! She did some magic and captured so many amazing moments that we felt were dumpster fire moments!

Magician!

Let go of control:
Nothing like this reminder! 

After she finished, I sat with the stressed-out feeling I was having and realized it was because I had zero control. Over anything that had just happened in the last hour and a half!

Anybodies smiles. The wind. The sun coming through the clouds. Ellie’s feet getting itchy from the grass. Gracie’s mood. And simply not knowing how they’d turn out.

While I feel like I’m a go-with-the-flow person, it definitely wasn’t during pictures! Thank God for Sean as he was as cool as a cucumber - probably because his hair stayed in place.

There you have it! And, Amanda, (Amanda Musselman Photography) thank you for your magic ✨ We can’t wait to pick out our favorites and have them hanging in the hallway at our new house!

Lastly, when I shared my recap of this moment on Instagram, I got very similar remarks… so I would love to hear some fun stories about your family photo sessions if you have them!