When To Book Your Family Session
Thinking about booking a fall family photo session? Imagining the pretty leaves changing color and beautiful soft golden hour light? Maybe a nice Chicago park as the backdrop…Lincoln Park or Winnemac park….maybe North Ave Beach.
But it’s only April…you want a session in October. Might as well wait a few months to book, right? WRONG!
Summer and fall are both very busy times for photographers. Specifically August-December, with September, October, and November being the busiest for me personally. It’s best to book your session as early as you can. I have families that do a session with me every year…knowing that they will be doing that session later in the year, they usually book with me in the winter or spring. I may not have my calendar up that far in advance, but booking the fall shoot gets them their spot secured in my schedule and then they can be the first to choose their date when my fall calendar goes up. I even offer discounts on booking early to my mailing list! Click HERE to get on my mailing list.
Wait…people do sessions yearly?? Yep. You can read my blog post about why families should do a session every year by clicking the button below.
Spring:
If you know you want to do a spring session in April or May, I would say a good time to book is January or February…even March is doable. Chicago weather is crazy, usually spring is still chilly and you never know, it could snow in April…so spring isn’t the busiest time of year for me due to the uncertainty with weather. I do have school portraits that take up some of my time though, so it’s always best to try to book a bit in advance. And who knows…it’s always a possibility I will end up busier than in previous years.
Summer:
For a summer session, you may want to plan a little bit further in advance…so for a shoot in June or July, I would make sure to book by April. Summer is when I start getting busy…it’s not unlikely for me to have photo sessions every weekend, sometimes multiple sessions a day. August is the busiest summer month for me…I would try to book by April or May for an August session. To make sure you get your summer spot, I would definitely book early.
Fall:
Fall is the busiest time of year for photographers! I get so busy September through November. The weather is beautiful, the leaves are pretty, and people want family photos for their holiday cards. In 2022 I was fully booked Sept-Dec.
You will want to book your fall session as early as possible. This can be booked in the winter. I would not wait any later than July to book your fall session. I do expect to be full for 2023, and might even need to turn some families away (I hate to do that!) if I don’t have space on my calendar.
I also do school portraits in the fall which limits my family session availability a tiny bit.
All this to say…if you try to book last minute there is, of course, always the possibility I will have an opening. Or may be able to rearrange things. But if you know you plan to do a session earlier in the year, just book it! It’s best to just get it booked…it gets it off your to do list, on my calendar, and all you have to do after that is show up the day of. Easy.