Casual or Dressy?

Help!!! I need the opinions of my blogger friends!!

I thought I was so ahead of the game.....it was all planned out....we were going to take a family photo on the beaches of Cape Cod during our summer vacation. I was shopping the week before our trip and found a cute navy and white dress for Sarah...as soon as I had it in my hand I knew it would be the perfect dress for the photo. All I would need to do is pack jeans and white or navy tops for the rest of us.

Well, day one of our trip, Sarah took a tumble down the stairs of the back deck and ended up with a big brush burn on her cheek.....so we figured we would wait until the end of the week in hopes that her face would heal. Thank goodness for the ocean air, because in three days, you could barely see the mark.

The very last night of our trip, the entire "Gaelic" side of the family headed down to the beach......I know this sounds like an easy task, but it was not. I think in total there were about 19 of us and we were trying to get photos of each individual family as well as a large group shot. We ended up playing beat the clock....the sun was setting and there were dark rain clouds moving in. We took as many pictures as we could as fast as we could........

Needless to say......I took one look at the pics and said NO WAY, PLAN B!

My dreams of having many months to write out and plan the perfect, pretty family Christmas card were not going to come true.

So here it is the second week of Novemeber and I still do not have the picture I want to use for our Christmas Cards....and time is running out. At this point, I have nixed the family picture idea and decided it will just be the kids this year.

I am pretty sure that you all have noticed that photography has become a passion/obsession of mine, so I wanted this years picture to be extra special....last year we went to a studio and had someone else take the picture....this year, I want to take the picture of the kids.

Because the weather is not the best this time of year, I was comtemplating indoors or outdoors......and after last Friday's pictures in the park.....I have definitely decided it will be an outdoor picture.....I have two different locations in mind.

This brings me to the last decision or dilemma.....Dressy or Casual???

I have gone back and forth over this....I love to see the little girls in their fancy little dresses, but there is part of me that wants this pic to be very casual....almost natural kind of shot....but still celebrating the Christmas/Winter spirit. I do have a fancy Christmas dress for Sarah that could be used for the photo, but I really wanted to save it for Christamas Eve.

Today my lunchtime mission was to find a coordinating casual look for both Nick and Sarah, keeping in mind that it was going to be done outside and it will probably be cold.......this is what I found.......

I fell in love with this little outfit for Sarah......It is hard to see in the picture but that little plaid shirt is a satin material with black velvet trim...the jeans....don't even get me started on the jeans....if they had them in my size I would wear them......and the shoes are red and sprarkly........Nick will be wearing the red sweater with a shirt underneath.....I am sure I will find something to match if I dig around in his closet!

So the final question....Do I use this outfit and go with the casual Christmas look.....or fancy it up?????

Photoshoot is Sunday!!!

PS...It is friends and family at G@p, Old N@vy, and B@nana Republ!c......that means 30% off until Sunday.....just thought you might want to know:)