Ah, one of my favorite parts about being pregnant: the maternity shoot! I don't know about you, but I have always loved everything about pregnancy and motherhood long before I had my first baby.
I would spend hours on Pinterest looking at everything motherhood, and I would pin things for my future pregnancy. And my favorite pastime was watching labor and delivery vlogs on youtube. Hey, don't judge! I know I'm not the only one!
I always thought the maternity photoshoot was something so special and creative. Personally, when I was pregnant with my baby, Luna, I couldn't decide which creative route I wanted to take. "Should it be indoors and fancy? Should it be outdoors and boho," I thought.
I finally decided I wanted an outdoors photoshoot. My husband and I both love the outdoors. We love hiking, skateboarding, going on walks, etc., so the outdoors was a more natural option...literally.
Whether you choose to do your photoshoot indoors or out, I think you'll glow the best when you're representing your true self. The camera will capture your authentic and genuine happiness.
The Location
So, I decided on an outdoor fall maternity photoshoot. There was just one problem. I am from Las Vegas and there isn't much but desert all around. I wanted green grass, waterfalls and sunflower fields but instead I had rocks and dirt to work with. If you're from Las Vegas, you know what I'm talking about.
Although Las Vegas is in the desert and photoshoot locations are limited, we found a few locations we contemplated.
Red Rock Canyon - Cute but my 50 extra lbs of baby weight said nope!
Mt. Charleston- Cold, so it limits my wardrobe options
The Wetlands- Have never been there before, and I didn't want to drive there to see if it was photo worthy... pregnancy exhaustion is real!
Aliante Discovery Park- Has the waterfall I wanted but limited scenic options
Lake Las Vegas- One of our favorite locations, but we took our engagement photos there
Floyd Lamb State Park aka Tule Springs- Ding, ding ding! We have a winner!
Floyd Lamb State Park gave us the perfect combination of bridges, grass, trees and fall leaves. Overall, I am so happy we chose Floyd Lamb as our maternity photoshoot location.
My Maternity Outfit
As you can probably tell, I live for a good photo moment. It's not so much about how I look, but more so because I love to make beautiful memories to look back on.
I definitely knew that I wanted my maternity outfit to be a long dress. Personally, I think dresses shape my body better, and they hugged my bump perfectly.
The only problem was that we were in the middle of the pandemic, so I couldn't go dress shopping. Due to my newfound weight gain, I really wanted to try dresses on in store, but that wasn't an option. The second problem was that I booked my maternity shoot last minute, so I had less than two weeks to find a dress online. Yikes.
Amazon was the route I went! I ordered two plus size maternity dresses with the intent of returning one. If I couldn't go shopping in person, at least I had options. I chose a mauve off the should dress and a floral off the should mermaid dress. I ended up choosing the floral print dress because it hugged my belly better. The mauve dress was classic and pretty, but it looked like a potato sack on me, so I returned it. Looking back on my photos, I am glad I went with the mermaid style.
Maternity Photoshoot Poses
I always feel awkward during photoshoots, but in the end I'm always happy I did them. We had a family friend take our photos, so we had to work together in finding maternity photoshoot worthy poses. To Pinterest we went! We looked at common and funny poses.
Here are a few poses we came up with.
My husband had joined me on the weight gain, and our family wasn't shy to let us know, so we did this pose, just for them!
My husband and I are also pretty silly, so we had to have a photo where it looked like he was pregnant. Thanks Pinterest for the idea!
The last photo pictured we took, so we could recreate it with Luna running underneath or bridge once she's older. Definitely a photo we can't wait to recreate.
Whether you choose funny maternity poses or romantic maternity poses for your photoshoot, I'm sure you'll look beautiful mommy-to-be.
Xoxo, Mars
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