Every fall, the same two questions land in my inbox: when should we book? and what on earth do we wear? They're good questions, and the answers are the difference between a calm, golden-hour session you actually enjoy and a frantic one squeezed into the last open evening in October. So here's everything I'd tell a friend over coffee — timing first, outfits second.
Book now, thank yourself in November
I know it's summer and fall feels far away. Book anyway! October evenings around the Waukesha area are the single most requested window of my whole year, and they go first. Reserving your session in July means you get first pick of the best dates instead of whatever's left, and — this is the part people forget — it gives your gallery time to land back in your hands before the holiday-card rush. If you want cards in the mail by early December, an October session with July booking is the unhurried way to get there. Wait until the leaves are actually turning and you're suddenly competing with every other family who had the same idea.
The families who book early get the relaxed version of all of this: the good evening, the location they wanted, and zero panic.
What to wear: start with one person
The biggest mistake I see is families trying to dress five people at once and spiraling. Please Don't. Start with one person — usually whoever's hardest to dress, or whoever has a piece they love — and build everyone else around that single outfit. Pull your whole group from the same color family, and aim to coordinate, not match. Everyone in identical white shirts and jeans reads like a holiday card from 2009; a family in different pieces that share a palette reads like, well, a family.
Two more small things that make a big difference. Add texture and layers — sweaters, denim, a scarf, boots, a knit — because fall light loves dimension, and layers photograph richer than flat single colors. And skip the big logos and giant graphics; they pull the eye straight to a brand name instead of your kid's face, and they date a photo fast.
What to wear: Colors
If color is the part where you freeze up, this is for you. Here are five palettes that photograph beautifully outdoors in the fall — pick one, then pull each person's outfit from somewhere inside it. Nobody needs to wear the exact same shade; you're choosing a family, not a uniform.
Notice that each palette runs from light to deep. That range is your friend: let one person anchor in the darkest tone, someone else float in the lightest, and fill in between. That's the whole trick to looking pulled-together without looking matchy.
LocATION, LIGHT AND TIMING
I shoot outdoors in natural light, and I aim for the last hour before sunset — golden hour — for a reason. The low, warm light at the end of the day flatters everyone, softens the whole scene, and turns an ordinary field or tree line into something that looks like the season feels. Fall in this area gives us so much to work with: changing leaves, warm tones, that crisp-but-not-yet-freezing window before Wisconsin makes its opinions known. We'll pick a spot that suits your family's vibe and let the light do the heavy lifting..
tHE EARLY-BOOKING PAYOFF, JUST ONE MORE TIME...
I'll say it plainly because it's the most useful thing in this whole post: the families who reach out in July end up with the best evening, the location they wanted, an unhurried session, and a gallery back in time for cards. The families who wait get whatever's left. Same photographer, same care — completely different experience, decided entirely by when you hit send.If fall family photos are on your list this year, I'd love to be the one to take them.
