If you’re like many families, you’ve probably tried to take a stunning family portrait only to have chaos erupt. Perhaps family members fell ill, or maybe someone dirtied their outfit right before the photo shoot began. While you have to be able to roll with minor issues, you can also take some steps to ensure that your next set of family portraits is more productive. Here are a few tips to help you and your family take better portraits this summer.

1. Schedule in Advance

Trying to get the entire family together at the last minute for a portrait is a bad idea, especially in the summer. People tend to have a lot of commitments during the summer months. As thus, you should start to work out the date at least a month or two in advance. You might get a lot of grumbles if relatives learn that they need to set an entire date aside simply to take pictures, so try to add other elements to the plan. For example, you can go out to a nice dinner after the pictures. With scheduling in advance, you might find that you also need to send out a reminder email or text as the date gets closer and closer to ensure that nobody double books themselves.

2. Coordinate Outfits

Rummaging through the closet on the morning of the photoshoot is probably going to cause you some stress. Coordinating outfits is a cute idea, particularly when everyone agrees with this strategy. Even when you are not going to match one another in the photo, encourage everyone to pick out what they are going to wear prior to the day of the photoshoot. At the least, consider a theme so that the photos are streamlined in some sense. If you are close with your other family members and can afford the cost, offer a shopping day together where you can all go and pick out the new outfits you want to wear.

3. Consult with Professionals

You also do not have to tackle this entire project by yourself. Once you have the pictures taken, you can look into custom framing so that you can adorn the house with your new photos. After all, what is the point of having a nice portrait if you never display it anywhere? Another option is to hire a professional photographer. Taking pictures with a camera phone or even your own personal camera is not the same as bringing an expert into the job.

4. Expect Snafus

Taking professional pictures with the entire family, especially with a large group of relatives, is likely to lead to at least some minor snafus. Instead of allowing these issues to ruin the day, find the humor in the little mistakes. You might get some really great candidates of everyone laughing after the dog shakes off the water on the group or someone gets a little bit of mustard on another relative’s shirt.

Taking family portraits should be an enjoyable experience. When you are willing to put in the effort and plan ahead, you can have an experience that is exciting and fun for the whole family.