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This past May, a previous bride (Elizabeth Birchmore Riss), who is now a friend and a mom to be, invited me to her baby shower.  It was a beautiful spring day and she was just glowing!  We chatted about it, and she had her hair done, added a lil’ makeup and found an incredible maxi dress.  I thoughts to myself, every pregnant woman should do this at least once!  Thus, this is where the inspiration came from for the this maternity shoot!

Ray & Sara Rice are dear, dear friends of mine, and I asked them if they would up for doing an Maternity Inspiration Shoot, and they both very excitedly said yes!  I mean, who wouldn’t right?  So here is what we did:

• Found Sara a cute maxi dress- this can be from a local boutique or you can find beautiful ones at department stores, etc!  We then found a thin belt from J. Crew to accent her bosom, and the tight fitting maxi looked stunning with her baby belly.
• Researched hairstyles that worked for Sara, and seemed to compliment her maxi dress.  We searched mostly on Pintrest– makes it so easy these days!
• Scheduled an appointment at an incredible local salon in Jackson, New Hampshire known as Debony Salon.
• Had Ray dress in something casual and simple- and most importantly something he was comfortable in.  And I mean, what guy doesn’t look good in a white button down and jeans?
• Picked an incredible location for the shoot, right at sunset

Pretty simple right?  Right!  One of the best parts for Sara was being able to kick her feet up, relax, and get pampered at Debony Salaon.  I went to visit her while she was getting the full treatment there by hair and makeup stylist, Tarmey Eliason, and Sara was in heaven!  I think her exact words were “man, I wish I could do this once a week!”.  I asked Tarmey to give me a description of all the things she did for Sara and she replied:

I welcomed Sara into the shop and offered her a glass of water or our signature AVEDA hot Tea.  Then Sara and I had a consultation about how she wanted to look and feel for the day.  After discussing what the plan was I whisked her away to the shampoo bowl area.  There I put her feet up and wrapped a warm steam towel that is soaked in our Dr. Hauschka Bath scents around her face and gave her a small scalp massage.  Next I used our Dr. Hauschka skin care line and did a light cleanse of her skin, followed by the Dr. Hauschka Toner and Aveda translucent SPF 15.  After this her skin was preped and ready for makeup!  Here at Debony Salon we mostly use the Jane Iredale line and a few Dr. Hauschka products as well.  Sara was wearing 2 lash extensions on each eye.  Using the lash extensions in the  corners of the eye gives it just enough of a romantic glam feel.  For Sara’s hair we wanted there to be alot of texture for the camera to see and pick up on.  I did a soft braid along one side and brought all the hair over to one side, making sure to create a braid and a twist here and there.  I wanted the hair to have interest no matter which way she turned.  It was a treat to do Sara’s hair and makeup! She looked beautiful!

And she did look beautiful, I mean g-g-g-gorgeous!  Wow!  My hopes?  I hope this inspires all you future mom’s to be to take an afternoon to pamper yourself, feel beautiful, and have a very special shoot to remember how absolutely incredible and beautiful you all are.  So have a peek below, and enjoy!