Family Session Fall Booking 2025
Welcome to my Fall Booking Blog! Here you will hopefully find any info on how to book your Fall portrait session with Aline Stern Photography. If I forgot anything – please don’t hesitate to send me message at info@alinesternphotography.com
My Fall booking season starts on September 1st and goes till the second week of November. I sometimes add shoots for November if the weather is still good but since both weather and temperature are really unreliable in November, I really play it by ear for that time. If you were trying to book a session for July or August, please check out my previous blog post!
What kind of session and when should you book?
That depends on what you are looking for! If you have kids under 3, I recommend booking earlier in Fall. Young kids are very sensitive to colder temperatures. September is always the best month for weather – we get consistently sunny days, we already get that beautiful golden light and the first of the Fall flowers. If you want amazing Fall colors – in Chicago the best Fall foliage is usually between October 14th-October 24th and these are always the dates that book up first. The downside is that there are always some rainy and windy days in mid October which can be difficult for kids with sensory issues.
Silver Sessions are what I used to call Mini Sessions. They are my shorter outdoor sessions. Some would call them “Mini Sessions” but I had people book them, expecting a 5 minute session and I just can’t do that when I’m outside with all that beautiful nature around me. So to avoid confusion, my outdoor sessions are called Silver Session for my 20-30 minute session and Gold for my 40-60 minute session. I also offer Extended Family Sessions. A set of grandparents is always welcome at your Gold Session but if brother-in-law and his family and both sets of grandparents and so on want to join, I do require you to book an extended family session. This will give us enough time to focus on everybody and of course get that perfect family picture of everybody together!
Please know that I try to reserve specific days and times for specific sessions to make booking easier and also because I still have school aged kids with after school activities that they need rides to and all of that but if those days and times absolutely don’t work for you, please contact me at info@alinesternphotography.com and let’s find you a time and date that works for you!
In-home, Downtown and shoots in the suburbs have to be booked as Gold sessions!
Gold Session
$650 on weekdays
$750 on weekends
In the Gold sessions we take our time and try to capture moments and emotion. We spend 40 to 60 minutes together. We start out with the sort of pictures we’d do during a Silver session – smile in the camera, the perfect family portrait. After we get those shots, we play, we laugh, we run around. I’m going to make this experience as relaxed and positive and fun as possible for you and your kids. My goal is to get everybody out of their shell and to just capture love and personality.
With a Gold session you receive at least 30 pictures, usually more, in both color and black-and-white versions. You will receive an online gallery with your photos to download as high-resolution files and an option to order prints.
When you book, it will let you pick a time. I always try and shoot within two hours after sunrise or before sunset. I make exceptions if those times don’t work for you but the photos won’t be quite as golden and rich looking as they do in these pictures. So please consider the timing when you book! Once I receive your booking I will be in touch to decide on the perfect time to shoot since sunrise and sunset times change. Weekend Golden Hour (that hour of perfect light about an hour before sunset) is always reserved for Gold Sessions! Downtown and shoots in the suburbs can only be booked as Gold Sessions!
To book click the link below:
Silver Sessions
$450 on weekdays
$550 on weekends
Do you need an updated family picture? Do you just want some nice pictures of you and your kids but you don’t want anything time consuming? Do you have a toddler who doesn’t need time to warm up to strangers but also has the attention span of a goldfish? Then the Silver Session may be a good option for you.
Outdoor Silver sessions are 20 to 30 minutes long. I shoot most of my outdoor Silver sessions at Winnemac Park. It’s the perfect place for Silver Sessions because we can get a good variety of pictures in a short amount of time and the foliage there is gorgeous. I also shoot Silver Sessions in a few other locations close to the Lincoln Square/Andersonville Area.
Included in the price of a Silver are SIX edited photos in both color and black-and-white. You may purchase extra pictures for $30 or upgrade to a full gallery for $250. You will receive an online gallery with your selected and edited photos to download as high-resolution files and an option to order prints.
When you book it will let you pick a time – I always try and shoot within two hours after sunrise or before sunset. I make exceptions if those times don’t work for you but the photos won’t be quite as golden and rich looking as they do in these pictures. Also the sun goes down REALLY early in late October – if you have school aged kids, weekdays might not be possible unless you take them out early! So please consider the timing when you book! Once I receive your booking I will be in touch to decide on the perfect time to shoot since sunrise and sunset times change.
To book just click on the link below:
Extended Family Session
$1100
(up to 20 people)
When you finally have everybody in town and you want to get the perfect picture of all of you! To book an extended Family session – book it as a Gold Session but please mention in the booking questionnaire that it is an extended family session and how many people will be part of it. Or alternatively, shoot me an email and we’ll find the perfect time and date for you. I do not travel further than 45 minutes from Lincoln Square/Chicago for sessions so if you are in a far West or South suburb, let me know, I know lots of photographers and should be able to send you some recommendations.
My extended Family sessions are always posed sessions. We simply don’t have enough time to do fun, unposed shots in extended family sessions and these kind of sessions can be very overwhelming for little kids so I try to not drag them out. A lot of clients book both a full session for their extended family photos as well as a mini or a full session for their own family on a different day if they want to get more pictures of just their family.
If you have more than 20 people, please contact me for pricing.
Please contact me directly to book your Extended Family Session
To answer a few frequently asked questions:
What if it rains?
I always have rain backup days! For Saturday shoots, that’s usually Sunday but if Sunday’s don’t work, I will try to find a future Saturday date for you.
I can’t make any of the days you offer for shoots! Do you have any flexibility?
I do! I try to stick to the same days as much as possible (since I have kids of my own with sports and after school schedules but also so I don’t accidentally double book myself) but if Sundays are all you can do, just shoot me a message and we’ll find the perfect day and time for you!
Will you come photograph my daughter’s birthday party?
I currently do not photograph events
