Boudoir Sesson

If you haven't heard about this trend, it's a fun one. The bride takes some tastefully steamy photos for the groom (often for his wedding gift). I engaged the lovely Lara Coughlin Photogarphy for mine. Also, I did mine a little early in the planning process because the album was a Pre-wedding/Birthday gift.

As with all photo sessions I did my research, but it's much easier to see other people's engagement sessions than their boudoir sessions for obvious reasons. There are two things to remember here: 1)What makes you feel pretty and 2)What does he like? If you've considered those things it'll be well worth it. A lot of what I found was all about long legs in heals. Not my thing. I had almost no leg shots taken and I was bare foot for 90% of the pictures. I feel pretty in boots so those were the only shoes I used.

It's not porn. It's tastefully suggestive pictures, no nudity. You should never feel uncomfortable if you trust your photographer. Have fun! Pictures of someone laughing are beautiful. Don't try to be someone you're not. Mike likes computers so I took some with the computer. They ended up being my favorite ones. If your groom like Star Wars break out the gold bikini, Princess Lei. It's a very significant gesture to say I'm comfortable with myself, I know what will make you happy and I trust you to have these.

For me, I suffered significant body image issues after weaning Riley and enduring major back surgery. I spent all of my 20's building a career that centered around people looking at me. I never minded the attention, one bit either. Pregnancy didn't shake my confidence too much either. In fact I felt my prettiest after Riley was born. I had the nursing reserve weight and a great rack. I even had a little hold over pregnancy glow. When my boobs deflated like balloons and I dropped 15+lbs in the wake of weaning and surgery it was rough. In my opinion I'd gone from my most attractive to my ugliest. It took a lot of healing and building myself back up to be ready and even excited to take some pretty pictures. For me, having a goal always helps. Knowing I wanted to take the pictures was a real motivator. I hate scales, I never use them if I can help it. It's too specific. I prefer "hey, my jeans fit again" or "my appetite's back!" as benchmarks.

My pictures came out beautifully. I couldn't have been happier. I used Shutterfly to build an album so there wouldn't be any human interaction at photo labs (awkward). Shutterfly's custom album builder is amazing they let you tweak everything! I was thrilled with the finished product. It shipped right on time too. I recommend giving yourself a few nights with edited photos before you tackle the album process. If you stay in your comfort zone, it really is a blast. As Mike put it "Alright! So when we're old and gray we have photographic proof of how hot you used to be."