​Megan Again: Flawless Family Fotos?

​Megan Again: Flawless Family Fotos?
By Megan Wirts

Family photo day is a day that I love as well as a day that causes me to stress out and turn into kind of a control freak.
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I love it because, well, if you know me, you know that I love to have my picture taken. I may occasionally pretend to be embarrassed and...

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... shy away coyly, but who am I fooling, we all know I like to be in pictures.

The stress happens when you add three other people to the mix. Three other people that you have to dress, make sure their faces are clean and kept from harm in the days leading up to photo day, and three other people that have their own opinions about their hair and clothes that you might not agree with.

“Sorry son, you are not wearing your swim trunks and goggles in the photos.”
Let me give you a synopsis of the weeks leading up to photo day.

Six weeks prior to photo day:
Date is booked. Hop on to Pinterest and search “Family Photos What to Wear”. Pin everything and become overwhelmed with choices after being sucked into the vortex of Pinterest and perfect looking family photo sessions.

Three weeks prior to photo day:
Begin the search for the perfect outfits for each family member. They cannot be too matchy-matchy, but they must go together. I have no idea whatever the heck that means but clearly, those are the rules. Start looking in your daughter’s closet because she has more clothing than the all the other family members combined. Find a dress that you think is perfect and then you proceed to convince your preteen daughter that it is adorable and tell her, “Nobody is getting new clothes for the pictures, this is what you are wearing, end of discussion.”
Go to your own closet and come to the conclusion that everything you own is wrong. So, you secretly go shopping and pretend that you just happened to find this adorable dress that you totally forgot about in the back of your closet.

The week of photo day:
Remind your son every day to protect his face. Use both hands and wear a helmet while riding his bike, don’t do any wheelies or jumps. No contact sports in which you could get an elbow to the teeth or a black eye. Next, schedule haircuts for the guys. Then the day of the haircut your son will tell you that he refuses and he wants his hair to be long because that’s his personal style and he wants to be remembered this way. Decide that it’s not worth arguing over, but insist that he wash it and comb it and keep it out of his eyes.

The morning of photo day:
You wake up and see that you have a large scratch in the middle of your nose. How in the world did this happen?! Were you attacked by some unknown assailant that wants to sabotage your family photos? Do you need to wear mittens like a newborn baby because apparently you cannot be trusted? You consider rescheduling, but it took you so long to get these scheduled you can’t imagine giving up now. You take a few deep breaths and search through your makeup bag and begin the process of experimenting with concealers and foundations to cover up the scratch and thank your lucky stars it isn’t a giant pimple. Things could be worse.
When you finally emerge from the bathroom, your kids and husband comment on the scratch and laugh and say, “and you thought it would be one of us to mess up our faces!” and laugh some more. You cannot help but also laugh because it really is ridiculous. You also realize that your photographer can use Photoshop.

Photo time:
You arrive at the location, everyone is clean and happy. You agreed to let your daughter wear the flowers in her hair instead of the scarf you picked out. You let your son do his hair the way he wants it and wear the shorts that make him feel comfortable. You and your husband look at those adorable kids you created together and grin from ear to ear. You realize that you have been taking this way too seriously. You painstakingly tried to make these photos perfect only to find....
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…..that the imperfections are what makes them so special.

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