Maternity

Maternity Session Tips

I like to say that a maternity session is essentially an anniversary session with a bump, so I thought I'd round out our little anniversary session series with some tips for maternity sessions. There are two main considerations: when to schedule and what to wear.

WHEN TO SCHEDULE:

It's easy to put off scheduling a maternity session, because you want to have a nice, rounded bump for their session. Most mamas 'pop' sometime between 20 and 30 weeks. After 30 weeks, it's common to experience swollen feet and the general feeling of uncomfortableness just seems to increase week by week until delivery. And of course, some babies come early, so you might miss your chance for a maternity session if you schedule it for 37 weeks or later.

We did our maternity session at 30 weeks and I'm so glad we did, because my finger was already swelling and I had to stop wearing my ring right after that. I wore a flowy dress for our session, so I felt like my bump wasn't super noticeable unless I was holding underneath my belly. But looking back at my weekly bump photos, I think I started to look 'great with child' around 34 weeks and I can see a little bit of puffiness in my face at that point too. So 30 weeks was the perfect time for us.

I typically book sessions 6-8 weeks ahead of time so we have plenty of time to decide on a location and you have time to go shopping, so I recommend inquiring between 18 and 22 weeks.

Karen & Zack Maternity-112_WEB.jpg

WHAT TO WEAR

The most flattering maternity session dresses are ones with a defined empire waistline. Wearing a dress with a seam between the bust and the belly (or tightly fitted throughout the torso) is my #1 tip for mamas who express a concern that they will look 'big' instead of pregnant. We will also do a lot of poses with the arms around the belly, which will help to define the waist.

In addition to an empire waistline, the most flattering dresses are either tight fitting over the belly or flowy over the bump. The key is to avoid styles that are shapeless and overly-drapey, because you'd look bigger in the photos than you actually are in real life. If you really want to highlight your bump, wear a tight fitting dress. This is also a great tip if you're concerned that your bump isn't obvious enough.

Soft colors, flowy fabrics, and dresses that cover the arms are all super flattering and beautiful on camera.

Caitlin's weekly baby photos-23_WEB.jpg

A few photos from my weekly bump series to illustrate... Notice the difference in the gray dress when it's belted? Without the belt to define my waistline at 33 weeks pregnant, I feel like I just look big. And the stretchy shift-style dress is a great compromise if you want something fitted without being skin tight.

I LOVED the purple dress and wore it constantly during my pregnancy. The belt was perfect for defining a waist, but it is very flowy, so holding under the belly helps to define my bump. The blue on the other hand, is form fitting and would have been perfect for a maternity session. (If only it was a dress and not a top!)

WEAR TO SHOP

I purchased my signature purple dress from Sew Trendy Accessories, which offers a ton of gorgeous maternity gowns that are PERFECT for photo sessions. I also love everything from Wren and Ivory. They have 'bump friendly' dresses that can be now and after the baby is born! And of course, Pink Blush Maternity is another great site to browse!

Want to Read More About Anniversary & Maternity Sesssions?
Why I Love Anniversary Sessions
Why We're Doing Another Anniversary Session
Choosing a Location
My Favorite Hampton Roads Locations
What To Wear
What Not to Wear
What Happens if it Rains
How I Chose My Outfits
Maternity Session Tips

Karen & Zack - Charlotte Maternity Session

Karen & Zack - Charlotte Maternity Session

It was 8 am and none of us had consumed adequate amounts of caffeine. In addition, it was a shocking 35 degrees outside and none of us were bundled appropriately. (Seriously, are we just skipping spring this year?) But honestly, it didn't matter. Zack and Karen just snuggled tighter to keep warm!

It's been three years since these two were in front of my camera for their anniversary session, but it sure didn't feel like it, because they remembered everything!

I can't wait to meet their sweet little boy!

Photographing Weddings in the Third Trimester

I've already shared my best tips for photographing weddings and taking care of your body while pregnant, and today I wanted to focus specifically on planning for the third trimester. Here are 9 ways that we planned for our last 5 weddings (all done at 30+ weeks). (And if you need proof that I do NOT have a basketball under my shirt... just take a look at those poor swollen feet! Yikes!)

- Naturally, the first step is to decide how and when to tell your clients. That's a really personal decision and a much bigger topic than I can get into here. Ryan and I decided to meet personally with all of our third trimester brides to share the news and address any concerns they might have before we made our news public.

- Stop booking weddings for the third trimester. We had already booked a handful of fall weddings when we found out we were due in November, and we immediately stopped booking for August-December. We were confident that we would be able to take good care of the clients that were already on our calendar, but we also wanted to be smart and give ourselves extra time to get the editing and blogging done. (And extra time to recover from each wedding day!) Yes, that meant we had to turn down several wonderful couples with September, October, and November weddings, and that was a bummer, but we referred them to our favorite photographer friends who all do amazing work and would give them incredible experiences!

- On the booking note, don't rush back into weddings after baby either. You have NO IDEA how that's going to go. I will admit, we almost took a wedding for February. And after the bride sent us an email that she decided to book someone else, I realized how stupid that would have been. I had looked at the calendar and said to myself "He will be 15 weeks old. We'll be fine." And if we had planned to bottle feed, we probably would have been. But we didn't and we only gave Darcy three bottles a WEEK until he was about 12 weeks old. Leaving him for an entire day (including bedtime) would have been a HUGE change in our routine, and it would have taken me two full months to get us ready for that! Talk about stressful! 

- Save space in your calendar. More than you think you need! During the third trimester, you go to the doctor a LOT, even if you don't have any complications. I was also getting regular massages and doing restorative yoga to help take care of my body. And on top of that, I was trying to get our nursery ready and work ahead for maternity leave. I had plenty to keep me busy!

- Get everything else off your plate first. We didn't have weddings for the hottest weeks of the summer, so I used that time to get as many baby projects done as possible. We also outsourced our editing, which cleared up a huge chunk of my work time on wedding weeks. (What a game changer! If you haven't started outsourcing yet, pregnancy is the time to do it!) When our third trimester weddings came around, especially those last three, I knew that was the only thing I had to focus on that week. Blogging and social media was already done and scheduled. Other personal tasks had been taken care of. My only to do items were to give our couples a great experience and to take care of myself.

- Have a lightning fast workflow in place. With those last couple of weddings, I wanted the editing and post processing done ASAP. Even though I knew in my brain that the baby wasn't on the way quite yet, and my body wasn't giving me any signs that it was go time, I still felt an immense pressure to get things done quickly. It had to be done perfectly and it had to be done now! I was nesting my business hardcore! And since I already had a solid client workflow in place, I could easily run down the list of to do items for each client, getting them done in record time without feeling anxious that I was missing something!

- Have a backup plan. Ryan and I have a small network of other husband-and-wife photography teams that we know really well. We share our Google calendars with each other, so we can send referrals when we're booked. I knew at least one of them was available for each of our third trimester wedding days, so about 8 weeks before (when it was unlikely that they'd get an inquiry of their own), I asked them to put one of our wedding dates on the calendar. If Ryan and I were unable to do the wedding because I went into labor early, the husband-and-wife team would go in our place (with all of our client information about the event) and we would do the editing and finish the process with the client. If I was on bed rest for some reason, one of the photographers would join Ryan for the wedding day. Having this process (and the rate they would be paid) spelled out in advance was such a relief for us even though we were confident that we wouldn't need it. (It was also important for us to assure the couple that we had everything under control. We didn't want them to have anything to stress about!)

- Bring an assistant if you need it. Even if you're not sure that you need it. We had a 3rd shooter for our final wedding and an assistant for the one before that. I let my brides know that I would be bringing someone along a month or so before the wedding (and that I would take care of their dinner) but I waited until a week before to make the decision on whether we needed an assistant or a 3rd shooter. Our assistant was a super sweet past bride and her tasks were to carry a bag for me with snacks, water, and my clipboard. (Ryan carries the majority of our gear.) She reminded me to sit down when we had a short break, held my camera when I ran to the bathroom, and stood in line to get me a soda during cocktail hour. She also brought me things that I left across the room. (That felt a little silly, but I knew that every chance I had to sit down instead of walk across the room would help me bounce back quickly!)

- Use a 3rd shooter to give yourself breaks while still covering the entire day with the number of photographers you promise in your contract. For our final wedding, we asked my friend Lauren to be our 3rd photographer. Lauren is a lead photographer as well, so I trusted her 100% to cover everything that I would normally do. I took lead during most of the day (like getting ready, the first look, and portrait time), but I sat down and let Lauren and Ryan photograph the ceremony. I also took a few 15 minute breaks during the dancing portion of the reception, leaving Lauren and Ryan to cover everything. Three photographers might seem like overkill, but there was no way I was going to miss the wedding unless I was on bed rest, and I knew having Lauren would allow me to relax and rest a little bit, which helped me recover more quickly.

 

Looking for other pregnancy tips?
Photographing Weddings While Pregnant
Photographing 3rd Trimester Weddings
Preparing for Postpartum While Pregnant

My Top 5 Favorites for Pregnancy

My Top 5 Favorites for Pregnancy

I am not a lifestyle blogger and although I share a lot of my personal life here, I never intended to blog pregnancy advice for others. But the things I've found to be the most helpful over the last 7 months never showed up on any of the blog posts I read on Pinterest at the beginning of my pregnancy. And since everyone is different and every pregnancy is different and I actually have unique content to share (unlike most of the pregnancy stuff you find on Pinterest), I thought I would go ahead and share it here. Hopefully it will be helpful to someone!

Here are my top 5 favorite things for pregnancy:

Our Maternity Session

Our Maternity Session

Today I'm so excited to share our maternity session with Lauren of Lauren Simmons Photography! Since we're doing a bit of a nautical meets under the sea theme for our baby boy's room, I thought a beach maternity session would be perfect and also a nice contrast to the anniversary photos and headshots we had taken at the Norfolk Botanical Garden earlier this year.