If you’re a woman between the ages of 24 and 45 and you browse Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook, I am sure you’ve noticed that women in most professional family photos are wearing dresses. If you’re not a dress wearer, you might not like the idea of wearing a dress and looking different than you are. Understandable! Let’s talk about what to wear for family photos when you are not a dress person.

Why do family photographers recommend dresses?

Before we can talk about what to wear for family photos instead of dresses, let’s chat about why this is a prevalent recommendation. From many years of experience and clients, lifestyle photographers have found that most women wearing dresses love the long lines a maxi dress can provide at most angles. During family photos with kids under the age of 10, there is a lot of movement. You may be hugging, snuggling, bending, sitting, walking, running, and swinging. Floor length dresses flow around you no matter what you are doing. They don’t cling or create bulges, they just flow in a long fluid line to the ground. Our number one goal as family photographers is for you to love your images. If you don’t love the way you look, it’s hard to love them (speaking from experience!) so recommending dresses is a safe and true way for most people to love their images.

What if I never wear dresses and still want to look my best?

If you never wear dresses, I absolutely do not think you should wear a dress for family photos! Some of my favorite alternative options are jeans with a favorite top, leggings and a top, a skirt and sweater, or a jumpsuit/romper.

How to wear jeans for family photos.

Let’s talk about jeans first. The biggest “problem” I see with jeans is people not trying on their jeans in advance and ensuring they love and feel good in their chosen pair both while sitting and standing. Higher waisted jeans with a thin belt can help keep them in place when bending, squatting, and sitting. Jeans with a wider leg or relaxed fit can help create that nice long line as well. Pairing them with a simple tee, a sweater, or a long cardigan are great choices.

I hate jeans AND dresses, now what?

If you’re not a jeans lover or a dress lover, I’d start with what you normally wear when you’re going to a nice dinner. Wide leg linen-style pants can be a great choice! How about a romper or a cute pair of overalls?

I love how flattering dresses look but can’t ever find one that fits right.

This is something that I struggle with too! If you love the look of dresses but can’t ever find one that fits well, I strongly recommend considering a maxi skirt and your family tank, tee or sweater on top. This allows you to pair two separate pieces to create the same effect. It’s much easier for most women to find something that fits well on the bottom and something that separately fits well on top, rather than something that fits both halves!

What if my partner and I both want to wear jeans and I don’t want to look like we are matching?

This is a valid concern. I would not recommend that you both wear blue jeans! My suggestion would be to consider other colors of jeans. In Spring and Summer, there are so many colors available at stores. Year-round, you can also find black jeans. Another option if you’re both set on blue is to pair a very light wash with a dark wash for some visual variance.

Don’t let hating dresses stop you from getting family photos! Let’s work together to create images that look and feel like your unique family.