Should You Book a Maternity Session?
Should You Book a Maternity & Newborn Session? Yes, and here’s why:
Picture this… you’re pregnant, you’re falling behind on sleep, and you just cried over finishing your favorite bag of chips (maybe personal experience), and then you wonder if you should get maternity photos done.
In this stage, your immediate thought is probably, NO! Which is totally fair and I can understand.
But, hear me out, because I promise this is worth two minutes of your time.
First, What Even Is a Maternity Session?
A maternity session is a dedicated photo session, typically booked somewhere between 32 and 36 weeks, that captures you and your bump before your little one makes their grand entrance.
For our maternity sessions, they can be done either in-studio, outdoors, or even in your home for a more lifestyle approach. The photos can also be just of you, you and your partner, or even the whole family if you have other kids at home who are already running the show.
These photos aren’t about being the most polished, perfect images; they’re about capturing you in this unrepeatable season of your life before it’s over.
Here’s the Thing Nobody Talks About
Pregnancy is WILD. People will remind you that you’re creating life and doing this extraordinary thing, but you’re constantly battling the lack of sleep, the hunger, the aches and pains, and just trying to survive each day as it happens. Then you have appointments, setting up the nursery, getting all the paperwork prepared and filed, and all the other chaos that happens during these nine short months.
With all of this going on, it’s sometimes hard to take a second and appreciate all that your body is doing for your little one and it's easy to let those moments go undocumented.
Next thing you know, your little one has arrived and then your baby bump is… gone. Just like that. You then go back to reminisce on the memories of your baby bump to try and remember that time in life, only to remember that you didn’t take any photos because you were so busy and stressed with everything else in life.
I remember being pregnant 12 & 15 years ago and I often try to remember what it was like to still have my baby bump. That time in your life feels like an eternity while going through it, but in hindsight, it went by faster than I wish it did and I didn’t get nearly as many pictures of that stage in my life and I wish I did.
So What Is the Difference Between a Maternity Session and a Newborn Session?
So, you probably see me often posting about both our newborn sessions and our maternity sessions. Both have their own centralized focus, but both are focused on capturing heirlooms of your family at that particular stage in life.
However, they are different and should both be done for different reasons. The maternity session is all about you, while the newborn session is all about your little one.
The maternity sessions are about anticipation, your belly, the way your partner looks at you when they think you aren’t watching. It’s about your other kiddos kissing your belly and having no concept about what is about to happen with the newborn. These moments are limited once you find out you’re pregnant, and it’s important to capture them before they’re gone (in a blink of an eye).
A newborn session is the continuation of your maternity session as it’s telling the next chapter of your family’s story. Together, both of these sessions tell the full story of when you were waiting for your little one and then once they arrived. Separately they are still special, but together, they’re something truly memorable.
But Do I Really Need Both?
Okay, real talk. No, you do not need both. Nobody is going to show up at your door and make you book a maternity session. You are a grown adult who just grew a human and you can make your own decisions.
But here is what I will say: I have never had a client look back at their maternity photos and wish they had not taken them. Not once. What I have heard, more times than I can count, is "I almost didn't book it and I am so glad I did."
The newborn stage gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so. But the bump stage deserves to be remembered too. You deserve to be remembered in this season, not just as the person behind the camera or the one holding the baby, but as the person who carried them, grew them, and brought them into the world. You deserve to have your own moment too because during the first years of their life, we often forget ourselves and you deserve this time too!
A Little Reality Check
Self-confidence during this time in your life can sometimes be at an all time low. As someone who has been there… I totally understand. But, don’t worry. You do not have to have the perfect outfit picked out or your hair done or your makeup done. You just have to show up, and we can take care of the rest. My job is to make you feel seen and celebrated exactly as you are, because exactly as you are right now is extraordinary.
We offer maternity gowns that you can wear for your session, and we partner with IzzyB Makeup to offer hair and makeup services so you can get full glam done before your photos and then you can even go out on the town afterwards for a special date or just for a treat yourself date, if you want. And you deserve it.
The Bottom Line
If you are on the fence about adding a maternity session, consider this your sign to just go ahead and do it. Book the session. Wear a flowy dress. Let someone capture this season for you before it is gone.
Your future self, the one holding a newborn at 3am wondering where the bump went, will thank you for it.
And if you are ready to book or just want to chat about what a maternity session with me looks like, I would love to hear from you.
This is one of those investments that starts paying off the moment you see the photos, and it only grows from there.
