It was a balmy 70-degree December morning out in the hill country of Austin when we did this photo shoot. I think we successfully captured the holiday spirit even though there isn’t snow anywhere in our near future ;)

Below are my top 5 tips for taking family photos:

Top 5 tips for taking family photos:

1. Have a location in mind and start thinking about what poses you’d like to see. Pinterest is a great tool for this. Create a mood board to get your wheels turning and send it to your photographer so they know what kind of shots you’re envisioning.

2. Once you’ve got the vision, pick your outfit first and match the rest of your family accordingly. I like to keep everyone from being too matchy. For instance, I wore all white, Knox wore olive green pants to blend with the cedar trees and a white sweater, and Dad wore a flannel with jeans, so we matched but not perfectly.

3. If you have small children, make sure they’re well rested and fed so you’ve got them in their best mood. Knox is really cheery in the morning, so we opted for a 10am spot. Not to mention, the morning light was so beautiful!

4. Bring props. I brought a blanket for us to sit on or snuggle in and our photographer brought cups for us to hold. Nope, there was no hot chocolate in there, but it kinda looks like there’s something yummy in there;)

5. Keep in mind there’s no such thing as a perfect photo. Knox kept burying his head and didn’t want to smile for the camera until the very end. Then, when he finally started getting comfortable, his hair was a mess! All good though ;) I am super happy with the way these turned out. They capture the essence of our family and those moments are frozen in time.

Funny story, Knox has been obsessed with ‘Krosty’ the Snowman and loves singing the song. Our photographer, Joeli, brought this stuffed Frosty for Knox and he has slept with it every night since the day we took these photos.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Let me know if there’s any other tips I can give. xoxo