If you are planning on hiring a photographer for your pregnancy announcement photoshoot for baby #2 or even a maternity photoshoot for your first baby, I wanted to share all my tips to help you have a successful shoot.
We used Sami from Sami Shoots Photography (PA/NJ area) both times around. You can find her Instagram here and her website here to inquire about booking her.
The images I’m sharing in this post are some of my favorites from our photoshoot for baby #2. But you can take the inspo for your shoot no matter what baby # you’re on! PS, you can scroll through the full album of photos she captured here if you’re really looking for more inspo for yours.
Here are a list of ways that made planning the pregnancy announcement photoshoot much smoother (as well as some things I wish I could go back and change). I hope this is helpful!
Tip 1 | Planning + Inquiring
Plan a month ahead of time + inquire/order what you need then. There are some things you probably want to inquire about ahead of time.
Here is a list of some suggestions:
Hire your photographer
Do some research on photographers in your area. If you are in the NJ/PA area, I mentioned we used Sami from Sami Shoots Photography and loved her.
Otherwise you’re going to have to do some digging around Google and/or Instagram for a photographer in your area that fits your vibe.
You could also ask around to friends/family to ask if they know any good photographers in the area. Or you could even make a post on social media asking for suggestions (facebook post and/or stories would be best for this).
Choose your shoot date
Once you’ve found a photographer you’d like to go with, it’s time to choose your shoot date! Get that booked asap so you can really start planning all the other details.
Another thing to keep in mind is the weather. Ask your photographer if he/she is willing to schedule a back up rain date just in case weather is not what you were hoping for day of shoot.
The time of the shoot will vary, but most photographers aim for shooting during golden hour (for us, the shoot was at 7pm).
Keep this in mind for scheduling. Golden hour also happens in the morning too. Of course, you can still shoot photos during the day, but most of the time it is scheduled around golden hour.
Appointments
Be sure to schedule hair appointments, nail appointments, and any other beauty/grooming appointments you, your spouse and/or your kids will need prior to the shoot.
Order a cake
This is obviously optional, but I knew I wanted to use a cake in our photos. Plus, who doesn’t love cake? Especially if you’re pregnant!
I inquired about a cake and ordered one from Bredenbeck’s Bakery. I requested a vanilla pound cake with buttercream icing and it was so delicious!
This is the same place we ordered our wedding cake from as well as both birthday cakes for Liv’s 1st and 2nd birthdays. We love them!
Oh and two years in a row to celebrate our wedding anniversary! The one year I gave them the wrong number of years we had been married! My husband still laughs about this to this day because it said ‘happy 3 years’ although we had only been married for 2! This October we will be celebrating 5 years of marriage!
Anyway….
This is how the cake turned out (shown in the images below).
I had them write ‘Coming January 2025’ in white icing since we are due with baby #2 in January.
It probably would’ve been a good idea to go with a different color for the font so that it would show up better in the photos. Keep this in mind if you’re planning on incorporating a cake in your shoot.
You could even put your last name on the cake or put ‘Baby (whatever your last name is here).’
Also, don’t forget to bring some forks and plates to the shoot with you so you’re able to enjoy the cake! I would maybe bring some plastic wrap as well.
Discuss other details with your photographer like location, your vision for the shoot, and anything else they should know about what you want for your photoshoot.
Finding out the gender
Depending on how far along you are and if you took the blood test, you could incorporate a gender reveal into your photoshoot.
I got my blood work done a little over a week before the shoot. So I thought I had plenty of time to get the results back.
Unfortunately for me, I got the results literally in the middle of the photoshoot. I did not realize until we were in the car on our way home from the shoot that the results were available.
I had plans for Sami to look at our results and have us close our eyes, hand Liv either pink or blue flowers to hand to us (depending on the gender) and she’d be able to capture our reactions when we opened our eyes.
So instead, we had her shoot photos of the 3 of us with pink flowers and then with blue flowers so that we could use either pink or blue for our gender reveal social media post once we found out.
Little did we know, we would find out on our way home from the shoot.
Some other fun ways to incorporate finding out the gender during the shoot:
Have a cake filled with either pink or blue and use pretty wine glasses to do the reveal.
Shop wine glasses here:
You could bring this popular gender reveal option: canons. They have different types: confetti, powder, streamers and some that are combined.
We used canons for our gender reveal the first time around and loved using them.
You could even blindfold each other and paint the other with pink or blue. And then remove your blindfolds so your photographer is able to capture your reactions. You will obviously want to wear white for this!
Another idea is ordering two yummy little cupcakes with either color inside for you both to bite into (or more if you have kids/toddlers included in the shoot).
The last idea I have is getting a gender reveal balloon where you pop it together to reveal pink or blue confetti.
Shop those ideas here:
Tip 2 | Lists will keep you organized
Make a list of all the things you will need + detailed tasks leading up to the shoot.
I use TickTick for literally all personal and work tasks and it helps keep my metal load insanely organized. I am obsessed with this app.
Here are two lists I’d recommend making:
Shoot to do list
Keep one main list to house all the tasks you need to get done before the shoot date. Things like research a photographer, choose a shoot location, order outfits, make sure the car is full of gas the day before and so on and so forth.
Day of shoot packing list
This is just to make sure you don’t forget anything the day of. Some things to include on the list (depending on what you personally choose to bring): fresh flowers, water, snacks, props, change of clothes if it’s a long drive, bug spray and/or sunscreen if the shoot is outdoors and so on.
Tip 3 | Hair + Makeup
It’s definitely a good idea to know how you want to do your hair for the shoot a few days prior. Pinterest has a lot of inspiration.
Another option is to get your hair professionally styled at your favorite hair salon. But if you’re planning on doing it yourself, here are some of my tips:
If you’re going to be curling your hair, my best tip would be to curl your hair the night before using a heatless curling set and pull them out once you arrive at the shoot location.
This way they have plenty of time to curl and stay curled (depending on how soon you take them out, you risk them falling out too soon).
But if you’re planning on using a hot iron (curling iron or wand), you’re obviously gonna want to do this the day of the shoot and not run a comb or your fingers through them until right before to avoid them falling out too quickly (unless you’re one of the lucky ones who was blessed with hair that holds curls very well).
I really wish I kept my curls in until we arrived at the location. I have fine hair that falls out so quickly when I attempt to curl it. It was also very humid that day so my hair immediately frizzed up!
Like I said before, I used a heatless curling set which is so much better for your hair.
You can shop hair tools mentioned here:
Makeup is another thing you can get professionally done, but if not, definitely be sure to have an idea of what you plan on going for for your look. Again, Pinterest has a lot of great inspiration for different makeup looks.
Keep in mind though, it’s better to put a little more than you’re used to putting on because it doesn’t show up too well in photos. The photos sort of diminish the appearance of your makeup. It makes it appear much lighter and less defined than it actually is in person.
Tip 4 | Shot List
One thing I would definitely recommend doing is coming up with a shot list for your photographer. This of course is optional, but would definitely make the day a lot smoother for both you and the photographer.
Sit down and make a list of shots you definitely want to capture and then browse Pinterest for more inspo to add to your list. You can send this to your photographer and let her know what shots you definitely don’t want to miss.
I did not do this and really wish I could go back and do it over because there are shots I realized afterward I wish we captured. One of those shots were solo shots of my husband with my daughter (we only got ones of myself with her alone).
Be sure to get pictures of your kid(s) solo with each parent separately.
Tip 5 | Outfits + Wardrobe Tips
One thing that will make or break the photos is wardrobe. Depending on the shoot location, your photographer will know best what colors/shades will turn out best in your photos. Be sure to ask them about that.
Since our photos were shot in a field with lots of greenery, Sami suggested we stick to wearing whites, light blues, light greens and light browns.
Make sure all outfits are light and planned out as well as ironed/steamed the night before.
If you don’t have one already, you can purchase a steamer or iron and ironing board (I think steaming is much easier and much more efficient at getting wrinkles out of clothing).
Shop our outfits (including the white Abercrombie lace dress I wore):
Tip 6 | Shoot Location
Some shoot locations are public and free, some need to be reserved ahead of time and some locations come with a rental fee depending on where you want your shoot to happen.
Your photographer will most likely already have a list of locations to send you for suggestion so definitely discuss this with them.
Here is a list of some ideas:
(Free) in-home / in your baby’s nursery (if you have one this early on)
(Mostly Free) flower field or other field
(Free) beach
(Not Free) rent out a studio
Tip 7 | Props
Obviously props are not a necessity and you can definitely do without them, but I personally like to have some options on hand to add some details to the photos without over doing it.
Ask your photographer. They will most likely have most of what you will need. But the #1 thing you do not want to forget is your ultrasound photos.
Some items our photographer brought with her: flowers, a large linen blanket and a cute basket.
PS, be sure to keep the flowers in a cool, dry place and in water until the shoot and if you have to drive far (our shoot location was an hour from us).
Be sure they are wrapped in some sort of water until the shoot to keep them from wilting. I learned this the hard way, haha!
Some other ideas (depending on the shoot location + vibe you’re going for): fresh cup up fruit, ribbon, baby clothes, picnic basket, other cute baby items, a letter board or chalkboard frame with the due date or whatever sweet message you want to capture.
Consider including your pets in the shoot. This would be so sweet. We have a chocolate lab named Remington and would’ve loved to include him. However, he would be too much to manage during the shoot so we decided to leave him home.
This post shared all the tips I have for planning the perfect pregnancy announcement photoshoot. I hope this was helpful! And I really hope I was able to inspire you for your upcoming (or future) pregnancy announcement photoshoot!
Xo, Kristen
