What to wear for Christmas family photos in Cardiff

If you've booked Christmas photos, or you're thinking about it, there's a good chance you've already stood in front of the wardrobe wondering what on earth everybody should wear. I do it too, and I do this for a living.

So let me walk you through how I'd plan it. None of it needs you to buy anything new. Some of the loveliest outfits I photograph at Christmas came straight out of a drawer that morning.

Start with one outfit you love

Pick the piece you're most excited about, whether it's your little one's knitted jumper or a dress you've been saving for something nice, and build everyone else's colours around it. It takes the decision from five outfits down to one, and it means the whole family looks like they belong together without anybody needing to match. Two or three colours across everyone is plenty.

Colours that look lovely with Christmas lights

In the studio there'll be a Christmas tree, warm twinkly lights, wool blankets and a jute rug, so it's worth thinking about colours that sit happily alongside all of that.

Creams, oatmeal and soft white glow under fairy lights and make skin look warm. Forest green, deep red and burgundy feel properly festive without taking over the photograph. Soft grey, camel and denim are easy to add for dads and older children, and they go with everything.

Bright neon and big logos tend to pull your eye away from faces, so if there's a favourite character jumper, it's perfect for the drive home afterwards.

[The setting, who it's for and how long each session lasts.]

Let texture do the work

Knits, cord, velvet, a little lace on a collar or a cosy cable jumper all photograph beautifully, because they catch the light and you can almost feel how soft they are when you look back at them. Small prints are fine. Big bold patterns can be a lot on camera, so if you love one, keep it to one person and keep everyone else plainer around them.

Dressing little ones

Comfy wins, every single time. If they can't sit on the rug, crawl after the baubles or lift their arms up for a cuddle, they'll let us know about it, usually quite loudly. Soft layers, tights rather than anything stiff, and nothing with a scratchy label in the neck.

Bows, little collars and cardigans are lovely finishing touches, but only if your little one will put up with them for twenty minutes. If they spend the whole session pulling a headband off, that's what ends up in the photographs, so go with whatever they'll actually keep on.

For babies, simple is best. A soft knit, a plain romper or a little cardigan, plus a muslin and a spare outfit, because babies have impeccable timing.

Don't forget you

This is the bit I care about most. If you're anything like me, you'll spend the evening before sorting everybody else out, then throw on whatever's clean in the morning.

But you'll be in these photographs too, with them on your lap and their hands in your hair, and you deserve to wear something you feel lovely in. Choose something soft that you can sit on the floor in, that you won't need to keep adjusting, and that goes with the colours you've picked for everyone else.

You won't love every photograph of yourself, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But you'll see the way they look at you and the way you look at them, and that's what you'll come back to every Christmas when you get these out again.

Dads, grandparents and grown-up children

Exactly the same rules. A plain knit, a soft shirt or a cardigan in one of your colours is perfect, and it doesn't need to be anything new. If grandparents are coming along, it's a lovely chance to have everyone in one photograph, so make sure nobody's hiding at the back holding the coats.