Have a mini session coming up?

Mini sessions are just ramping up, and I wanted to take some time to dive into the dirty deets. If you have questions like: “What should I bring? What do I do with my hands?? What should I expect with this session? How do I get the pictures? What should I wear?” Don’t worry! I gotchu covered!

Ok, so first off…

What to bring to the mini session:

1. For your babies, bring ANYTHING that makes your life easier for these 20 minute mini sessions. Whether that’s backup outfits in case they get dirty, jackets, a stroller to hold everything, toys, treats for bribing, or snacks in general, bring it. When in doubt, bring it. I would much rather you over prepare and have the things you need than worry about how it looks to be the person who brought too much…there will be NO judgement here.

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 20 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.  I will have a Christmas wreathe, a red/black checked blanket to snuggle in, a green blanket to sit on, some red ornaments balls, and some colored Christmas lights. Obviously, if you have something else in mind for the scene or prop-wise, NO PROBLEM, bring them with you! All locations chosen for mini sessions are pretty on their own without Christmas decorations, so if you want to go for a solid photo on the wall…all year round, I got you!

What to wear to the mini session:

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 the rest of the group is wearing, 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, and 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.

Keep in mind flow as well.

If you’re in a large group, don’t have everyone wear the same color top. Try to mix it up a bit by wearing one color on top and then alternate with someone wearing that color on the bottom. This helps integrate the color throughout.

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!

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: Brown, cream, white, jeans, red

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! (Check that color integration, too!)

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! 

Call me, Colorado, but I don’t hate a flannel…🤷🏻‍♀️

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 20 minutes, so make sure you aren’t rushed looking for parking spots or getting lost. If you are late, it will cut into your mini session time, so please keep that in mind when you are prepping!

2. Bathrooms are scarce. As in…non-existent. Most of these places are public parks. 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?

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! Most of 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. Typically, one week after the session. After the photos are edited, I will set up a virtual viewing session for you to see your images. From there, you decide which ones you’d like. After payment is received, I will upload them to a digital link OR send it to print depending on what you ordered. And voilà, that just about covers it!

I hope this post helped you prep for the mini session! Let me know if you have any additional questions. I’m always happy to help – just email me: maddie@maddiemoree.com.

If you haven’t booked your spot yet, you can view open times and locations here. Grab ’em before they’re all gone!

And till I see you at your session…

xoxo,

maddie