Christmas Collierville Mini Prep 2018

OMG, y’all, I’m having some mixed emotions right now!!! I’m a little sad because this weekend is the LASTTTTTTT Christmas Mini session of the year. But then I’m also kinda pumped because it’s the last hooooorah for my Christmas minis. And it’s going to be GREAT! The tree farm was a ton of fun. This session is going to be quite a bit different. So, let’s get into the details and what you can expect for our last session so we can make this the best Christmas mini yet!!

 

 

First off, DATE!!!

NOVEMBER 17th, 2018.

In the event of rain, sessions will be moved to Nov. 18th, same time! Forgot your time??? EMAIL ME ASAP. (maddie@maddiemoree.com)

 

Secondly, location!

Nonconnah Greenbelt 4293 Forest Hill Irene Rd 

(On the left hand side when coming north from 385!!)

 

Your phone GPS should take you there. BUT, I made a map for you just in case….

Directions:

If you’re heading East on Bill Morris 385, take the Forest Hill Irene Exit.

1. Take a left on Forest Hill Irene.

2. It’s a small field on the left hand side. Apartment buildings are directly across from it.

3. Park in the circle lot. We will be in the field to the left!

 

If you’re on Poplar, heading West…

1. Take a left on Forest Hill Irene.

2. Take this for about 2.5ish miles

3. Field is on the right. It’s called the Nonconnah Greenbelt!

 

Entrance to park.

Area to park.

Field area on the left.

If you get lost, call me! We will have someone manning the phones! 901-412-4482

 

There is still time to sign up, so if you have are interested in having awesome Christmas family photos, here’s the link to signup times! This is THE LAST SESSION OF THE YEAR. So if you’re looking for a more affordable option for family photos, fast turnaround, and shorter family sessions…this is you last chance to book. 😀 Offering times 1:00-4:35!

 

What to bring:

1. For your babies, bring ANYTHING that makes your life easier for these 15 minutes. Whether that’s backup outfits in case they get dirty, jackets (it will be in the 50s this weekend), a stroller to hold everything, toys, treats for bribing, or snacks in general. I will have my lovely helper around watching our stuff, so you can bring your things, and she can watch it while we are shooting!

 

2. Your fur babies! If you want them in your family photos, I WANT to photograph them in your family photos! If you do bring your pets, bring a leash and doggy bags to clean up after them. I also recommend bringing treats for good behavior. 😀 Like I said earlier, I’m a big fan of bribing.

 

3. Parents/Grandparents. I will photograph AS MUCH AS I CAN in the 15 minutes we have booked. I know grandparents love having pics with their grandbabies. I’m totally fine with you bringing as many family members as you want. I will shoot whatever I can in the time slot allotted. You just need to tell me priority. I’m here for YOU! 😀

 

4. Props.  For this session, I will have a Christmas tree set up, a red/black blanket to snuggle in, and a green blanket to sit on if y’all want. Obviously, if you have something else in mind for the scene or prop-wise, NO PROBLEM. I am here for you, just let me know! We don’t have to use my setup at all. There is the cute open field, but there are also pretty trees, a little bridge, and pretty trees in general at the park. If you have a cute sign, ornaments, holly, or any Christmas/holiday things you want featured – feel free to bring them! I’m super excited for this look. Let’s have fun with it!

 

What to wear!!!!

Look, I feel you here. Picking out the perfect outfits that are your personalities, flattering on you, semi holiday-ish, AND cohesive yet not matchy-matchy…it’s HARD. Here’s what I recommend.

 

I would go for fall colors: dark greens, reds, browns, maroons, oranges (keep in mind that the grass will be more brown. I would recommend breaking it up color-wise with a pop of color or with whatever your significant other is wearing (check out heading photo to catch my drift), navy blues, and purples. Christmas colors would be really pretty as well, especially since it will be a nice contrast to the brown: Maroons, reds, dark greens, creams, golds.

 

When choosing clothes, you just want to make sure you all look like you belong together without looking like you all bought the same shirt. (Because we don’t want to wear the same shirt as our husband or our mother, #amiright…?) So, it helps if you choose a color palette. If you are unsure of some good color palettes, just go to Pinterest and type in “fall color palettes.” Pick one, two, or three main colors (either cool or warm) and then add in neutral colors (cream, grey, navy, brown, black) to fill any gaps.  Cool colors would be considered blues, purples, teals, greens. Warm colors are reds, yellows, oranges. Green and purple are transition colors and depend on how warm or cool the tone is.

 

If you choose one color, I would do different tones of the same color so it’s not too matchy-matchy. I also recommend adding in a bolder color pop somewhere to break it up a bit! Scarves, sweaters, vests, and hats make for great pops of color, and you can always take those off if you want to change it up.

 

Don’t forget your pup! Bowties, scarves, and leashes can also bring in some color!

 

Ok, so it would look something like this:

Palette of main colors: Navy and pink maroon. Neutrals: Grey (Remember neutrals fill in gaps. They are great ways to add pieces to your color scheme without taking away from the cohesiveness. **Generally, I recommend grey/blue jeans for cool schemes and brown/tan/cream for warm schemes. You can obviously wear jeans with anything, so that’s up to you!).

Palette one color: Navy blue, light blue, midnight navy blue Pop of color: Maroon

This shot and the first shot are similar, but still different!

Palette: Brown, cream, white, navy jeans Pop of color: Red (in scarf and bowtie)

Palette: Navy, Tan, Green Neutrals: Brown

 

Palette: Navy, cream, brown, grey

Here they did a mirrored color sitch. She’s light up top and dark on the bottom. He’s dark up top and light on the bottom. And check out the cute bowties for the pups!

All this to say, there’s a bajillion different combos and no wrong answer. It’s also helpful to lay out everyone’s outfit and see what looks like it fits and what needs help. Feel free to send me photos if you want my opinion. I’m happy to throw it out there! 🙂

I also think some flannel would look fun here, too. Reds, navys, or greens…

Maybe a little instagram hipster, but what can I say?? If the shoe fits…

 

Helpful tips/Questions:

1. Get there 5-10 minutes early! Look, I am the QUEEN of being late, so I totally feel your pain. BUT we only have 15 minutes, so make sure you aren’t rushed looking for parking spots or getting lost. If you are late, it will cut into your session time, so please keep that in mind when you are prepping!

 

2. Bathrooms are scarce. As in…non-existent. I highly recommend taking care of alllllllllllllll business beforehand. 🙂

 

3. Be open. Be goofy. Be ready to have fun! Pictures should NOT be painful.Your family has grown a lot this year. Things have changed, and we should celebrate that in photos. So let’s have fun with it! (Read: Don’t be so serious!) My goal is to photograph your family and your kids the way y’all are. Of course there will be happy photos where everyone’s smiling and looking at the camera, but I also love taking real photos of y’all laughing together and being yourselves. Don’t worry about the posing. That’s what I’m here for! 😉

What should I expect?

So we only have 15 minutes for these sessions! If you have any poses/shots in particular that you want to try out, just show me before the session on your phone, and I’ll make it happen! The shots that I posted earlier in this post are shot at sunset time. If that’s not your session, remember that it will look different. But don’t worry. It will still be pretty. 🙂

As far as posing, do NOT worry! I got your back! We’ll walk around; I’ll set you up. You’ll look at me. You’ll look at each other. Y’all will be goofy. Y’all will snuggle. And the photos will be cute.

After the session is finished, I will go home and edit these as fast as my eyeballs can take. One week to be exact! If you have questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to call/text/email me.

I hope this post helped you prep for the mini session! Christmas Minis – Collierville edition, HERE WE COME!!!

 

Till next time!

xoxo

maddie