--- title: What a client style guide actually is slug: what-a-client-style-guide-is excerpt: The note I email a family so they show up ready — not the Sunday I lost to tabs. palette: Abel published: 2026-08-18T12:00:00.000Z updated: 2026-08-18T12:00:00.000Z canonical: https://www.useshutterstyle.com/blog/what-a-client-style-guide-is --- # What a client style guide actually is 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. ## What a client wardrobe guide for family photographers actually is 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. ## The email you'd send Swap the names and the date. Then email it. 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. ## Why a palette sits underneath 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. - charcoal - camel - cream - terracotta - forest 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. ## How I make the guide now 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. ## FAQ ### When do I email it? 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. ### Mood board or a shoppable guide? 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. ### What if they show up in neon anyway? 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. ### Isn't this the same as telling them to wear neutrals? 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. ### Do I need a new one for every session? Same shape, different outfits. New family, new date, new field. You're not starting from zero — you're picking this week's clothes. That's the job. Pick the clothes. Email the link. Get your Sunday back.