Maternity Booking Guidelines
“Let us make pregnancy an occasion where we appreciate our female bodies.”
Let me start by being 100% honest — I did not get maternity portraits when I was pregnant with either of my kids. My thinking was that I hated the way I looked and felt, and I didn’t want portraits “preserving” any of those memories.
But now I absolutely regret it.
And the thing is...I can never get those moments back.
I finally realized that maternity portraits are not for the mother! Let me say that again...Maternity portraits are not for you. They are for your children. One day, my children will inevitably ask to see a picture of me when I was pregnant with them. I wish that instead of showing them some baby-bump bathroom-mirror selfies, that I could pull out and show them the gorgeous portraits that adequately captured the intensity of the love I felt for them during that time.
That’s why I offer and encourage clients to book maternity sessions. I want to capture the love/connection/excitement that you already feel for this new baby! Not only that, but I want to do that while posing you in a way that is flattering to your body type and makes you look and feel beautiful. Because even though your pregnancy has its ups and downs, the moments of raw, unfiltered joy you feel about the arrival of your baby...those moments deserve to be remembered.
When to book your maternity session:
Maternity sessions are typically scheduled between 28-34 weeks pregnant. Sooner than 28 weeks, many moms are in that weird Is-she-pregnant-or-did-she-just-eat-a-huge-lunch limbo (you know what I’m talking about, mamas).
We want these to clearly be pregnancy portraits. On the other hand, we don’t want mom so pregnant that she’s extremely uncomfortable during a 1-hour portrait session, or at risk of missing her portrait session because she goes into labor!
Of course, the earlier in your pregnancy you contact your photographer to book, the better. It gives us plenty of time to plan the perfect portrait session for you, and it gives you the peace of mind knowing that the photographer you want has you on the schedule and won’t be at risk of being completely booked.