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Family Portraits – A Yearly Tradition

by 3 Comments

Why we take family pictures every year . . . and you should too!

Outdoor family photo session

From the moment you find out you’re pregnant, you begin to look forward to all the new family traditions you will have. Trick or treating, hay rides, parades, 4th of July fireworks, picnics, the list goes on and on. One thing my husband and I knew we wanted to make a yearly tradition was family portraits. Not just pictures of the kids but of all of us as an entire family.

Family portraits are about showcasing your family and having photos to last a lifetime. Check out this post on why we take yearly family pictures!

I got the idea for this post from one of my BFFs Carrie. Carrie is a professional photographer and owns her own portrait studio. On her blog earlier this summer she posted an entry that was near and dear to my heart. Moms often put off or remove themselves from family photos because of being self-conscious.

Read more:

  • Check out her work here. She is amazing
  • Get in the pictures Moms!!

5 Reasons Why Family Pictures Are Important!

1. Being a family is more beautiful than any of your insecurities.

family pictures taken in a sunflower field.

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Believe me I am the queen of being self-conscious. I don’t particularly enjoy having my pictures taken, and I tend to be overly critical of all photos of me. My face is either too fat or I look too pale or I look super tired. Despite all the self-doubt, we get our family pictures professionally done every year since Harley was born.

Because the four of us as a family, being together and capturing this moment, is more important and precious than any insecurity I have about my body, face, clothing, or hair.

patriotic family pictures taken outdoors

2. Booking a session with a photographer MAKES sure the pictures get taken.

In 2012, Harley was a flower girl in 2 different weddings, one with Bear, so we planned on someone just snapping a pic at one of the weddings. Naturally, during the hustle and craziness of a wedding day, we forgot to take a picture! This goes to show the importance of making it a priority to take the photos.

Because you value what you pay for, making the appointment and paying the photographer puts the family portrait session high on the list of to-dos because you are invested in it!

sisters 2014

3. Family pictures don’t have to cost a fortune.

I know what you are thinking, “professional photos are so expensive. I can’t afford to get them done every year!” I get it, really I do. Some professional portraits are ridiculously expensive but others are totally reasonable.

So set a budget and ask around! Ask your friends who they use, ask in a local Facebook group for a professional but reasonable photographer. Trust me. Other moms know these things. Some photographers do mini sessions where you can get a family session done at a very reasonable price.

Dig Deeper:

  • How to Style Family Portraits
  • Beginner’s Guide to Budgeting
Family pictures 2013

4. Photos capture the moment.

I really think families need photos together. You will cherish the photos. Katie Thurmes once said “We take photographs as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” Your kids are only this age once. You have this moment to capture them at five years old. The photos and memories make while taking the photos will last a life time.

husband and wife during a family pictures

5. Celebrate your marriage.

Marriage is hard and we often don’t give ourselves credit. Nurturing a relationship after years, and kids, and stress is something that should be celebrated!! It’s why I love so much that Carrie makes sure to grab pictures of just the 2 of us.

I love capturing photos with my husband. We thrive as a family by working together. One day when we are old and gray we can show our grandchildren how young and gorgeous we used to look.

loving couple

Many thanks to Geno Photography for all the amazing photos. I hope you all enjoy them. And make sure you go check out all her gorgeous work at GenoPhotography.com

Patriotic family portraits
Family pictures taken in lobby of a hotel
Family picture 2017 | family picture next to a lake

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Filed Under: Family Fun, Family Photos

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Comments

  1. Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom

    December 20, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    I just adored this post and I love all of your family photos!

    You’re so right about the “self-conscious” thing. I’m the same way… super critical of all my pictures.

    I love how you mentioned to get pictures with your spouse. We hadn’t done that since our wedding almost 8 years ago, so when we got our professional pictures taken in September, I was delighted to have pictures of just me and Evan.

    You have a gorgeous family Katie – and your girls… *sigh – and you’re one pretty hot mama!

    Thanks for sharing at the #CHRISTMASbloghop!

    Wishing you a lovely weekend and a very Merry Christmas.
    xoxo

    Reply
    • Katie

      December 21, 2014 at 11:12 pm

      Thank you so much! They are last year’s family photos (as is the post). This years are more spring colors so I decided not to do a blog post about them. But we did take them!!

      I am still self-conscious in our photos, but I look at the big picture: we have beautiful pictures of our family!

      Our photographer (who happens to be my best friend) does A LOT of wedding photos. So I think she likes to honor the husband/wife relationship in the family portraits as well.

      Thank you so much for your kind words! Your girls are quite the little cuties!! And you are one hot mamma yourself!!

      Have a lovely Christmas my friend 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Happy Birthday Lilly Bear!!! | The Surly Housewife says:
    April 24, 2014 at 4:39 am

    […] Family photos taken by a professional photographer are super important to me, especially when your home computer crashes and you lose baby pics of your youngest We did have a hard drive back-up but we did lose some photos and the ones we have left are just thumbnail size. […]

    Reply

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