I knew I wanted our maternity photos in Joshua Tree from the moment we found out we were pregnant. I realized we would be there mid December for a Palm Springs wedding, so we should make it happen on that trip. I also was totally fine doing our photos while I was still on the smaller side (I wanted to have these photos and our baby shower done before I was huge and uncomfortable). For reference, I’m 26 weeks in these photos. So we met up with Carmen Santorelli the day after the wedding and did our photos. We luckily were able to bring Sawyer down with us too!! I mean, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do our maternity photos without him haha. I see a lot of bad maternity photos online that are just too cheesy, and I wanted to stay away from that. I wanted these photos to just capture this moment in our life and for us, it was just our yearly photos.
It took me a bit to really decide what I wanted to wear. I’m not a maxi dress kind of girl, and that’s what you see in 99% of maternity photos. I was browsing online for clothes and stumbled upon this high waisted star print skirt from Free People and KNEW that had to be part of my outfit. I found a bright yellow crop top to go with it, because if you know me you know I love a good crop top, and I added a turquoise choker and black Steve Madden combat boots. For my other outfit, I decided to wear this vintage black fringe dress that I’d only worn once before for outfit photos, since tight clothes aren’t my jam. But when you’re pregnant, tight clothes are ideal to keep you looking slim because it only accentuates your bump. I paired that dress with a gold Free People choker and my burnt orange Vans.
PS. My favorite photo from the shoot is the first one below, and is already framed in our house! And shop pieces from my outfit at the bottom of this post!
How to stay away from a cheesy maternity session:
Pick a location that is scenic
Pick outfits that still feel like you and make you feel beautiful. Just because it’s a maternity session doesn’t mean you have to wear a maxi dress or wear clothes that aren’t your style. For me, that meant something high waisted and a crop top!
Bring along your dog (or your other children)
Don’t bring props or signage. Just make the shoot about you guys and this moment in time. Props take away from the natural feel of photos.
Pick a photographer whose style is natural, candid, and less posed
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