Big surprise I know, but I love pictures. They are my favorite commemorative and snagging a Disney Photopass photographer to take pictures is the whole reason why I have the Gold Annual Pass. It is not uncommon for us to get home to over 300 new pictures, not including the ones I took on my phone or a lovely family offered to take. Seriously, why is it that it is ONLY Disney where people are offering to do this? It must be pumped throught their ventilation system ::sniff sniff:: I sense a family who is need of a picture taker so that their entire family can be in the picture….”heyyyyy want me to take that for you? I just hand sanititzed!” (okay, so this is a new addition).
I have talked about Greg and my love for him and his photography skills a million times before. If you are a frequenter of Disney and love having Disney inspired family photos, I highly suggest familiarizing yourself with someone in the area. I follow quite a few on the Insta and you can also follow the hashtag #disneyphotographer. Their Instagram will almost serve like a portfolio and you can see whether their aesthetic aligns with what you are looking at for photos. I also suggest speaking to them on the phone as well as it will be equally important to have someone’s personality coinciding with yours to get all those amazing shots you want (I never knew how important it was to meet a photographer face to face/facetime as when we were doing our wedding). At the end of the day, I will always suggest Greg though. Greg has always been more than a photographer, but a part of our family. He has an unbelievable eye for detail and the kids adore him, so every picture is just a perfect example of their relationship. There is nothing better than a photographer that you can have fun with and who you are not worried about wrangling the kids, making veiled threats, and bribing with everything under the sun just to get a good picture.
When researching photographers in the area, you are going to find that many of the photographers have passes themselves and will go into the park with you or meet you at a location (I am always a big fan of the Boardwalk…great Disney vibe and so many amazing photography locations and the colors pop beautifully). As a caveat there is a $90 media escort fee (for inside the parks), so if you are taking pictures with a photographer inside the park and it doesn’t look like they are a family member of yours but that you are having a professional photgraphy shoot, you may just want to pay the fee so you are not hassled. Also, ask if your photographer has their own props if you are looking to commemorate something special (never assume that this is their responsibility). I would NEVER expect Greg to bring anything, but himself so I tend to bring stuff with us, such as balloons (for birthdays I buy the large number balloons from the Spritz line at Target), ear hats, banners, etc. I would let your photographer know what you brought so that you can discuss any ideas that you may have on how you would like them used or so that they themselves can take them out at will to use for a “vision”. It can be hard to remember those things when you are wrangling kids and trying to get them to smile for every shot.
I have been watching the weather like a hawk since it is Hurricane Season here in Florida and for the last several days it has been a mix of terrible rain, severe weather notifications, gorgeous sun and overcast (typical Florida basically). Greg and I have been in contact and from what it looks like on the day we are doing Danny’s 2nd birthday pictures, it is a mix of everything, but the morning looks the best so we have everything planned for 10am. Which actually works perfectly since the kids are normally up and fed by this time, so there should be good spirits all around. I would typically be more concerned the closer to naptime we get (the Commodore more than EV gets affected), but this is a conversation I would always have with Greg.
We actually have two types of photographs happening. The one with Greg and the one with Capture Your Moment. I was lucky in that I happened to be on Instagram when it was announced that Animal Kingdom’s Capture Your Moment opened up so being able to secure a timeslot was really easy. Capture Your Moment is a great concept. For $50 you get your own Photopass Photographer where for around 30 minutes you get a personalized photoshoot for up to 8 people. I really think it is a great price and a wonderful souvenir if you are not big on “things”. I will be transparent and say that EV is not the best at the whole “look at the camera and smile”, so it should be interesting what comes out of this. Now I will say this, Capture Your Moment can get pricey if you have to add on the Magical Maker for $69 (but this will end up including all of your photopass pictures for that day including the Capture ones….let that sink in…One. Day.) or you can pay the $169 for your entire vacation. Now if you are a Gold Annual Passholder and all of your media is already included, the price of $50 with all of the pcitures already included are a 100% worth it even if you walk away with a handful of really great pictures (at least in my opinion).
Now onto the outfits….which I plan way farther in advance then I probably should.
Completely excessive I know, but as per usual with Greg we have two outfits (a fun one and a family one). For this reason alone, this is why it is nice to have a personal photographer. He is he one who watches the clock, tells you when to change outfits and has an idea of where each set of outfit locations should take place. Because we had planned a lot of things, I actually bought THIS garment bag from Amazon and I absolutely love it. It fit everything from our Greg picture (both outfits), the outfits planned for Capture Your Moment, and the Commodore’s birthday dinner outfits. I love that their are outside pockets for shoes or accessories (bows, kids shoes, and such) and now I do not have to worry about squishing everything in a suitcase and I am able to have everything for special days in one place.
I made the Commodore the Twodles shirt (below) using the Cricut and as per usual, I waited for the Target t-shirt sale and got the raglan for about $3. Whenever the family t-shirts are on sale for 20%, I always grab a bunch!
Kind of blurry, but you can see how I stacked everything and how many things were able to fit comfortably. The below toddler boy seersucker shorts from Primark that I got for the Commodore’s birthday dinner ($7) are EVERYTHING!!!
I hung it back in Commodore’s closet to keep it nice prior to packing everything else.
When planning for photography pictures, I try to go with a theme and have everything else around it. I had made the Two-dles shirt for Commodore, but I really didn’t want to go with a Mickey theme as we tend to enlarge these pictures onto canvases or on Mixtiles and it seemed like a little too much. Plus, if he had his druthers, he would pick Doc McStuffins over Mickey any day of the week. I was able to score the Rainbow Unicorn DressShop romper from the Character Warehouse for around $25 (they were doing an additional 30% off sale on their clothes) and it became my mission to get EV a similar style dress. Thankfully Target had a 30% off toddler dress sale or I would be embaressed to tell you how many rainbow dresses I got EV (Spring means rainbow dresses luckily for me). Luckily she loves them all and will wear them, but oh boy! We finally settled on the one below and it looks great next to mine and for Sean we just got a bright red polo from the line Goodfellow & Co. (the quality is so good and can’t be beat for the cost, plus they are ALWAYS on sale). Sean is a great sport, but he is not a big picture person, so I like for him to look good for the pictures, but also feel a 100% like himself and comfortable, so polo shirts are ALWAYS a win. Plus, it goes so well next to Commodore’s birthday shirt. I am thinking of adding a red bow headband or clips to EV so it just ties us all in, but we will see.
My romper has a tie-around rainbow chiffon skirt/apron and I am living for it!
I love how everything ties together without being overly matchy
In actuality the second outfit (being used for Greg) I had planned for Animal Kingdom, but the reality was that the colors were VERY neutral (I am trying to avoid the word bland) and I thought that having neutral family outfits against the neutral colors of Animal Kingdom would just cause us to look like we were blending in, so I opted for something a lot brighter and made the Commodore’s t-shirt to align with the color selection.
The below family matching outfits are from Target. They sold out incredibly fast and we were very lucky to get them in the sizes that we needed as I had to set the notifications for all of them and bought them one at a time in verrrrry slow intervals. #worthit.
This will be the change after the above outfits (not nearly exciting I know). My dress is actually the children’s large as I did not like the women’s version (it fit really strangely) and the waist belt is Lilly Pulitzer from the last After Party Sale and I love it.
The fabric is a cross between chambray and linen and is quite light and perfect for pictures in Florida….during the Summer…
I have to admit I was kind of stressed about the Animal Kingdom pictures as I wanted them to be fun but not campy (I was opposed to anything Animal print for the pictures). I mean its cute for the kids, but including Sean and I and it begins to look a little costume-y and not something I would want for our first Capture pictures. Especially with it being Commodore’s birthday. I had forgotten that I have bought these two dresses from the last Lilly Pulitzer After Party. They are both kids dresses (I believe mine is a size14/16) and they fit beautifully. I think I paid around $30-40 each, which is a steal for what they are and for what the adult sizes cost and I have been dying for a reason to wear them. Plus, they had pockets which EV lost her mind over (she is totally my kid). I think the beautiful bright neon pink willl pop against all the green and then I made Commodore a t-shirt that ties in the color of our dresses and then packed a polo for Sean that would match his (again Goodfellow….they are just so….good lol).
Looks like I forgot to crop my tootsies and I am too lazy to fix it now…so enjoy….
Above: The Back of Commodore’s Birthday shirt (made on the Cricut)
Below: The Front of Commodore’s Birthday shirt
Yes, weeding the “Rawr” for the back of Commodore’s shirt almost did me in
I love navy and hot pink together (still bitter about not changing my wedding colors to this) to begin with and it was a really great way to create a cohesive look without being too matchy.. One family matching outfit is traditionally enough for us and it will be harder to get Sean to agree to future pictures if I go hog wild on the matching.
Tips When Selecting Outfits & Making the Best of Your Day:
- Decide on either a theme or colors that you and your family will be comfortable with. I have found that ‘forcing’ the family into an image that I think would look good in pictures doesn’t bode well, looks forced, and the kids are miserable when uncomfortable.
- Think about the location of the pictures and how your ‘theme’ or color will pop. As mentioned the original intention of the matching outfits was going to be Animal Kingdom, but as I began to think about the neutrality of the environment I rerouted. I would potentially look at the hashtag #CaptureYourMoment and see what other families are wearing if you need inspiration.
- Think about bringing more than the outfits intended. You never know the weather or the mood of the kiddos and the pictures should be fun and reflect that. Adults are easier to change than the kids, so if your kids freak out over the outfits, you can change without stress. I had one other option if everything went south.
- Try on everything before you go and make sure the reality of the outfit reflects what you had in your mind. I dressed EV and I first and made sure that both outfits looked good together and then Commodore and Sean changed and we reviewed in the mirror. This is how we opted to get Sean a red polo for the birthday outfit pictures, he looked to out of sorts with a chambray button down.
- Double check the weather before you go, what may look amazing in the sunshine may not have the same feel if it is overcast and have a second gameplan in case. All the hotels on the Boardwalk are beautiful so if we had to dart in, it wouldn’t have changed the asethetic or vibe.
- Think about your families comfort above all. You are going to potentially be outside and in the heat. Commodore is not one for being overly dressed, so creating cute -t-shirts that went with our outfits was the best laid plan. Again, professional photos are still in Disney and these should be FUN.
Even though it is only about a 30 minute session, things can go downhill very easily, I am not above bringing fruit snacks, other snacks, juice and anything else that the kids might need if a breakdown emerges. Also, be mindful of the time that your session is taking place. There is the old adage do not fit a square peg in a round hole and it stands true for this situation as well. No matter if you just happened to score a session time or if it is the only time your photographer has available, if it is not a good time, go with your gut and rethink your plan or call Disney directly to see if there are other times that might just not be listed. I was personally thrilled with a 9am Capture Your Moment as the park opened at 8am, it would not be blazing hot and the park would not be so overly crowded that my kids would be a squirrel staring at everything under the sun. With Greg it didn’t matter as he always works it out with our timing and we were more concerned about the weather than anything.
I would also consider having a ‘need for photos’ list on your phone of anything and everything you could need that day, such as outfits you plan to wear, shoes that the family will be wearing, accessories, props, snacks, juice and the kitchen sink. That way the day before you can easily pull everything out, put it aside and can just grab it and get ready to go in the morning. It will make the morning a lot more stressful for yourself as well as your family not having to scramble and then being angry at yourself for forgetting something. As I get ready, I can direct Sean to where everything else is and he can jump in and start helping. I know the kids always feed off of my running around like the Tasmanian Devil mornings and the last thing I want is for them to experience stress because I am. Again, the photos should be fun!
I hope this take a little guesswork out of planning for Disney photos and provides you at the very least a plan of preparation if you are getting ready to do this yourself and again, this is just an extra and not necessarily a need. We are not ‘collectors’ of anything like mugs and pins, so having these photos are how we commemorate our trips (of course there are goodies for the kids, but I am talking about the adult takeaways) and something I am so thankful for everytime we do.
