Maternity Photo Tips

I’ll be honest, I haven’t taken a lot of photos during my pregnancy. Our good friend Nikki Santerre offered motherhood themed mini-sessions in late June… so I jumped at the chance to photograph this moment in time and use the session as a maternity photoshoot.

What to Wear

Deciding what to wear for our session was very difficult for me. Pinterest is full of interest boards of mother’s to be in flowing ball gowns and wreath crowns in forests or fields of flowers. Or, the popular milk bath shoots. While these images are beautiful, I didn’t feel they were reflective of who I am. This all made my maternity photoshoot dress search, difficult, but PinkBlush came to the rescue. I scored this Navy Chiffon Open Shoulder Layered Plus Maxi Dress for $63. I originally planned to sell the dress as soon as our shoot was over, but I can’t bring myself to do it! I’m going to keep her a little while longer.

I was originally looking for a black or dark purple dress, but something about this navy dress ended up being the perfect option. The dress was comfortable and breathable. Yes, I did decide to wear flip flops to the shoot.

Color Scheme

After I selected my dress, we turned our planning to Jerad’s attire. Jerad chose a blue button down and a pair of beige khakis to wear at the session. We opted to keep everything we wore in navy and neutral beige tones. I kept the photo props in neutral shades to help create a cohesive and classic look for our session.

Maternity Photo Props

The week before our shoot, I realized I forgot to plan props! I knew I wanted to incorporate the traditional knit shawl my parents gifted us. Our plan is to bring baby girl home wrapped in the shawl. A few very famous babies also came home in the same shawl.

I scoured Amazon to find a few more items that would be photoshoot worthy. I thought this tiny crown was adorable and would be great to use in her newborn shoot and for her first birthday. Not to mention, the $11.99 price tag was amazing!

Every inspiration shoot I looked at included a pair of tiny baby shoes, and I thought these tiny silver shoes would be the perfect complement to the tiny tiara. How cute will these be on her in the future?

Photo Highlights

Our session took place at the famed Virginia House in Richmond. Hair and makeup services were an optional add-on for the session, that I happily booked. If you are presented with the option of hair and makeup as part of your session… do it! You are guaranteed to feel confident and don’t we all want to feel confident in our images.

I couldn’t be happier with how our maternity photo session came together. Did you plan a maternity photo session?