Hey y’all!

Hope you beautiful people are having a lovely week and a happy St. Patrick’s Day! We wanted to share this super sweet family photo session including a maternity session in Thousand Oaks! This family was so fun to work with and how adorable is their little girl?! She was so excited to be a big sister!

We get asked a few questions surrounding maternity sessions and wanted to address some of those questions AND we simply wanted to share with you how amazing these moments turned out.

One of the questions we get asked is “Can (or should) we include our other children in our maternity photography session?”. And our answer is always a resounding “heck-freakin’-yeah you should!!”. It’s always so special to have your other little ones a part of your maternity photos. They can be such a sweet addition for so many moments and well… they’re part of your family of course!!! We love to include them for a big portion of the session and make them feel involved and just as special as the little one on the way! Having your other kids be a part of your maternity session is also a great opportunity to get solos or pairings of just them, some of just you two and your newborn on the way, and then some of the whole family of course. If your child might not be old enough to occupy themselves while getting photos without them involved, feel free to bring another family member or grandparent along or they can always hang out with us and make funny faces at you until it’s their time to shine again!

Another question we get asked is “When is the best time to take maternity photos?”. We typically will suggest anywhere from 26 to 34 weeks is the perfect time to plan a maternity photo session. This is a great window to show off that lovely and anticipating baby-bump while still being moderately comfortable and not ready to literally go into labor during the photo session. Which we should point out, we’ve been scarily close to before! Really though, the golden answer is, any time! Whenever you are comfortable and excited to capture memories along the journey of parenthood, we are more than happy to help create memories with you!

Now, let’s talk outfits! We often get asked, “What do I wear for a maternity photo session?” or “Can I change outfits during a maternity photography session?”. There’s obviously so many different ways to go about this – but really whatever suits your vision we will gladly run with and build on, and yes you absolutely can change outfits during our photo session! As far as the outfit itself goes, we have seen everything from casual/lifestyle look, to boho sundresses in the meadow, to long ethereal trains flying in the wind – we truly love all of them equally! Having multiple different outfits is fantastic too, because then we can achieve multiple different looks in one session which we are in full support of! In reality, we love whatever suits you and your family! So whether it’s a cozy in-home maternity session in your jammies or elegant 20 foot dress trains on top of a mountain, we would love to creatively collaborate to bring your vision to life!

Lastly, the question of props – “Should we bring props for our maternity session?” or “What to bring to a maternity session?”. We always love to incorporate any additional pieces of your story that just make your love so sweet. Some great props to incorporate that we didn’t have for this particular session is an ultrasound or a onezie or other little gifts that you have prepared to welcome your new member of the family. We’ll make a future post on some fun ways to incorporate these, but those are a great place to start! Another great thing to bring is a blanket that jives with your outfits. This can be great for dreamy moments laying in the grass together etc. – just really opens up another sweet little avenue of looks for the session.

We hope that this was somewhat helpful in answering any questions that you might have surrounding maternity sessions! If you have more questions, please drop us a line and fill out our contact sheet. We would be more than happy to chat through any questions you may have and help create the perfect maternity photography session for you!

Hope you enjoy some of these sweet moments
~
Trev + Laur