Crazy for a vintage photo

In one of our poses for this family photo,
they offered to let us change clothes and do something that showed our personalities or hobbies. No one got too excited about that idea, maybe because most of our gang are musicians and didn't want to lug in their instruments.
What our kids REALLY, really, really wanted to do was to recreate the vintage picture we had taken years ago, where the fabulous studio SUPPLIED all the suspenders, hats, lace dresses, beads, vests, shirts, props etc... What we all remember most about the vintage photo we took years ago, is that Nathan, who was about 8 yrs old, wouldn't smile. When we asked him why he said "People never smiled in old fashioned pictures."  Such a smart little guy! : )

-And here, I thought my photo clothes shopping challenge was complete. Oh my, not by a long shot!
I'm pretty sure this is the first morning in a week that I haven't had to think about needing to find suspenders!

An accidental find at the mall, did give me some hope that we could pull this thing off and do it for CHEAP when I walked into this store and found a hat that looks like it was from the 1920's (for a whopping $5)  and faux fur stole, of all things, (sort of like this but it is redish black and came with a broach) for only $2.00. That may have been false hope though, because for the past week I couldn't find things for the boys to wear.

It all made for a day of PURE craziness around here, and unfortunately, not spring break yet. So, kiddos were doing school and I was running around from store to store and then ironing (count them) 12 outfits! Nathan woke up sick and we weren't even sure if we would even be able to do the photo for half the day. To add to it all, my hubby came home with his eye covered up and told me that he had hit his eye on a ladder at work. Ugh!!! We might have to add that to the top family pranks of the year. (like father like daughter!) The studio was in the mall, and we 'lost' 2 boys the minute we got there...
Then hubby found an awesome deal on black shoes that he needed for the first photo while we were walking to the studio.

Joy ended up wearing a black dress with a full skirt that I found years ago at a yard sale. -When she was two, she would put on her dress-up clothes and I would put on this dress and we would dance around the living room, twirling to her favorite song. (pretty sure that memory is why I still let that dress take up space in my closet) Now, she is 15 and looked adorable in it herself with the 1920's looking hat and with some cute curls we made really quick with the You Curl!
 I wore as a bride's maid's dress that I wore in a wedding 6 years ago! It had pretty, gauzy looking sleeves that looked old fashioned and it happened to match the faux fur stole! Hubby said he "couldn't believe such weird outfits on you Girls ended up looking so beautiful." LOL!
He wore a white shirt and a sport coat. (easy) Andrew wore a white dress shirt and red suspenders and a conductor's (looking) hat. Zac did the same (without a hat) and said this look is "Indie" and in. (who knew?) Nate wore a white shirt and sports coat, like dad. -Someone left an argyle golf cap in the studio that Nathan borrowed and it looked SO perfect. See? Everything literally all come together at the last possible minute.
We all went bare footed, like in our first photo, which was surely the only easy part of going with the vintage theme.
Our photographer saw us after we changed into the vintage stuff and said she felt like she "just got off the Titanic." She got a big kick out of it all and kept snapping pictures and gasping and saying 'OMG!' So, I guessed they turned out pretty well, but we won't know until Friday.

Despite the immense amount of crazy, it all turned out well and we had a really fun family night. When your kids are 19, 17, 15, and 12 you know these days together are limited. (boo-hoo)
Can't wait to see the proofs! So glad to be capturing this precious season of our lives in photos.

If I thought my photo shoot was a lot of work, it wasn't anything compared to what the sweet Carson family does for a family photo! Like rent a VW van and bring all kinds of props out in the middle of nowhere to take the cutest camping-themed pictures EVER. Take a look here. It is sooooo much cuteness all in one place! : )

~Becky