Weddingbee Blog

In my last post I showed you all what I brought to my boudoir shoot, and talked about the lead up to the big day.

**WARNING: if you are easily offended, please just click over to the next blog post. Mom, family members, or anyone who doesn’t want to see me in the equivalent of what I’d wear to the beach, this is your exit cue. You may also not want to look at these pictures while at work.

First I want to share some tips for you ladies thinking about getting boudoir shoots taken. Some of these are my own tips, based on looking back at my pictures, and some came from my amazing photographer, Tiffany, of Adeline & Grace Intimates.

Some general tips:

• It sounds silly, but practice your “sexy face” in the mirror beforehand. I wish I’d had more facial expressions to work with, but my “sexy face” always ended up looking mischievous in the mirror to me.
• Shake it out. Some of my best shots came when I took a second to just shake loose my hair and body, then pose again. It helps you not get too tense, because if you’re concentrating on sucking it in, smiling, and where to put your limbs, it will show on your face.
• Drink some wine, champagne, or an energy drink before you start. I recommend a 5 Hour Energy drink, it’s so small it won’t fill you up, and isn’t carbonated to bloat you.
• Get your makeup done professionally. I went to MAC and also got false eyelashes; it was way too much makeup in real life, but looked amazing in photos.
• However, MAC took 1.5 hours when they said they’d be no more than 45 minutes to an hour, so plan ahead so you’re not rushed.

Some tips on how to pose if you have a less-than-perfect body. I’m not hugely overweight or anything, but could definitely stand to lose a few pounds, and like everyone, I have my problem areas.

• Talk with your photog about what areas you don’t want to show. Creative cropping can do wonders, for example, if you don’t like your tummy, only show from the boobs up or waist down.
• I recommend corsets to both boost your chest, and suck in your middle.
• As a rule of thumb, keep in mind when posing that what is near the camera will be bigger, and what is further from the camera will be smaller. So if you don’t like your thighs, pose with your legs away from the camera.
• I found natural light and black and white photos to be more forgiving to cellulite than studio lights.
• Lie down on your back to flatten your stomach, but keep a bra on so your chest doesn’t flatten out to the sides.
• Photographs with your face upside down or sideways helps hide a double chin.
• Sitting in a chair, leaning forward with your arms crossed gives you great cleavage and covers your stomach at the same time.
• You can give yourself cleavage by using your arms to push your chest together, but be careful as this also squishes out your arms, making them look bigger too.

Even if you don’t have a perfect model body, I still encourage you to do a boudoir shoot. It was so empowering, and really boosted my self esteem! I never thought I’d get the chance to feel like a Victoria’s Secret model, or like I was on ANTM. I’m just so amazed that I can look that good, and I know I’m going to love to look back at the pictures when I get older and have to tuck my boobs in my waistband! It was almost more of a present for me than Mr. Cola!

Alright, now on to the pictures from the day.

**NOTE: I know some of you readers will be shocked that I would post some of these pictures online, but as I said above, I’m only posting photos that are on par with the pictures many people post of themselves at the beach or pool on Facebook. And I’m not a very modest person. Plus, my name isn’t Google-able in connection with this site, and you all already saw my cleavage in my dress shopping blog posts. I’m cool with it!

{All photographs were taken by Adeline & Grace}

My wonderful photographer also made me a slideshow with music, which I’ve edited a little to cut out the more racy pictures. I know when I was researching, I wanted to see as many sample photos for pose ideas and outfit ideas, so that’s why I’m sharing this with you now. Note that there are some photos in this that show my booty in boy shorts, so if you don’t want to see that, then feel free to skip this video!

{All photographs in this video were also taken by Adeline & Grace}

Well, there you have it, my boudoir shoot recap! I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed working with my photographer, Tiffany! She made me feel completely at ease during the shoot, she has an awesome studio with a ton of different options, and she turned around almost 200 pictures for me to choose from in about a week. I highly recommend Adeline & Grace Intimates if you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and considering doing boudoir photos. And her wedding photography is pretty amazing, too. I love our photographers, but kind of wish I’d discovered Tiffany’s wedding portfolio sooner!

If you were to do a boudoir shoot, what style would you do: Victoria’s Secret Catalog, Maxim Magazine Cover, Artsy, Nude, or something else?