A client style guide is the note I email a family so they show up ready. I pick the outfits. They get one link. That's it. It's a client wardrobe guide for family photographers, and I started writing them after the Sunday I lost to tabs and the family who showed up in neon.
You know that Sunday. Session's next week. Mom texts "what should we wear?" You open twelve tabs. You screenshot a dress, a shirt, a pair of pants, and by 4 p.m. you've built a mood board nobody can shop. They show up in a neon hoodie and a logo tee. You spend the first ten minutes trying to hide it. I don't ask anymore. I just pick it and email them.
It's the outfits, written down, in one place they can actually tap. Not a folder of screenshots that dies in the group text. Not "wear something neutral," which means something different to every person in the house.
I tell Mom which dress. I tell Dad which shirt. The kids get dresses and pants they can live with. I tell them what to leave at home. They shop one link, 10–14 days out. If a size is wrong, they reply and I swap that person. That's the whole thing.
The tiles below are one fall field family dressed this way. Abel's just the colors underneath — terracotta, forest, charcoal, a little cream. Proof, not the point.
Swap the names and the date. Then email it.
Copy this to the family
Hey [family] — can't wait to shoot y'all on [date].
I'm picking outfits so you can shop once and be done. Mom, I'm putting you in a terracotta maxi. If you want something shorter, there's a rust sweetheart midi, or a forest babydoll dress if you'd rather go softer. Dad, forest linen shirt and charcoal pants — you'll look like yourself, I promise. For [girl], the charcoal smocked dress. [Boy] gets a forest tee and charcoal joggers. Baby gets a charcoal long-sleeve skater dress.
If a size is off, just reply and I'll swap that person. Leave the neon and the logo hoodies at home, yeah?
Shop it all here: [link]
Email it 10–14 days out. Not the night before. Not from the parking lot. Ten days is enough to order and try on. Fourteen is kinder if sizes are a question.
Mom gets dresses. Terracotta maxi if she wants the long one. Rust sweetheart midi if she wants something shorter. Forest babydoll if she'd rather go softer.
Dad's the easy yes. Forest linen shirt, charcoal pants. He looks like himself.
For the little girl, the charcoal smocked dress — short sleeves, dark and simple.
Boy gets a forest tee and charcoal joggers so he doesn't look like a tiny copy of Dad.
Baby stays soft in a charcoal long-sleeve skater dress.
I don't email a vibe. I email colors they can actually wear. Abel is the one I used here: terracotta, forest, charcoal, camel, cream.
Terracotta's the warm one. Forest holds up in a field in October. Charcoal keeps everybody from going muddy. Cream is the softer dress, not a second loud color. Six people, a couple of colors, one family in the frame.
I pick the colors. I pick a dress for Mom, a shirt for Dad, a dress for the girl, pants for the boy. I drop them on one link and email it.
Shutterstyle is how I do that now, so Sunday isn't tabs. I'm not hunting screenshots at 4 p.m. I build the guide once, email it 10–14 days out, and the week before the session is about showing up.
Make the client style guide
Pick the colors, pick the outfits, email one link — so the family shows up ready.
Try Shutterstyle free →Ten to fourteen days out. Earlier if sizes are iffy. Later than a week and they panic-shop, and that's when the neon shows up.
Shoppable guide. A mood board's a feeling they can't buy. A guide has real pieces on it. Screenshots get lost. One link doesn't.
Layer it, shoot, and email the next one before they shop. Don't make a thing of it on the field. The real fix is getting the note out before they buy.
Neutrals means something different to every person in the house. Tell Mom which dress. Tell Dad which shirt. Tell the girl which dress. One link.
Same shape, different outfits. New family, new date, new field. You're not starting from zero — you're picking this week's clothes.
Planning your own family photos?
Browse more palettes and what-to-wear guides on the Shutterstyle blog.
See more palettes →Styling clients as a photographer?
Save these pieces into a shareable client style guide your clients will actually follow.
Build a guide in 5 minutes →That's the job. Pick the clothes. Email the link. Get your Sunday back.
