Hello beautiful belly, Welcome to Charleston!
If you haven't thought about a maternity session while you're here in Charleston. Do it.
Over the last few years I've realized that Charleston SC is a HUGE babymoon destination, and it totally makes sense! We're a town full of amazing restaurants, historical sites, gorgeous but easy strolls downtown, a sprinkle of sports, and plenty of beaches to just kick back and relax. Not to mention, some of the most picturesque places to have your maternity session! The views here are unlike any other place I've ever seen, and the variety is unmatched. If you're planning a babymoon getaway to Charleston, South Carolina but hadn't thought about a maternity session yet, do it! You really won't regret it since you'll have plenty of opportunity for pictures in your own home town in the future. I mean the great thing about it, there really isn't a bad time of year here for pictures. Our downtown stays about the same year round with some various seasonal blooms. And if you're a beach or spanish moss person, that's good just about any time of year also!
Rainbow Row is one of the most recognized locations in Historic Charleston, SC but it's one of the most colorful, too. My personal favorite time to shoot there is early morning when there is less foot traffic, but the lighting in the later afternoon and early evening is also pretty spectacular. It gets a ton of sun in the earlier hours of the day so unless you get there around sunrise or just after it is usually best to wait until later evening. If you're just taking a walk by though, any time of day is great.
My typical circuit for Rainbow Row includes Tradd Street, sometimes Meeting Street, and Longitude Lane which you'll all see here. I love the variety in this section and when I have a mom with lots of dresses picked out it's a relatively short distance to travel to get some contrasting colors to make it all pop.
Variety in what you wear for your maternity session is key.
Part of what I love about maternity sessions is helping my clients choose their wardrobe for the session. You can absolutely choose to bring your own wardrobe, but if you're here visiting you run the risk of set in wrinkles from travel, lost luggage (it's happened!), and not knowing what shows off your bump on camera the best way. Sure there are lots of places to buy cheap dresses online like Amazon and a dozen other websites that import from other countries. But what you save in money you give up in quality. And we all know it never looks like the picture. Actually, a little insider info and a good way of knowing the dress is definitely NOT like the one in the pictures is if the model's head is not visible in the product image. That's because, they stole the image from a professional photographer, didn't own the rights to the image, and don't have a model release signed from the person in the image. That's why they cut off the model head!
Every piece in my Client Closet Wardrobe is hand selected by me from companies that SPECIALIZE in making dresses for pregnant women. And with that, they make dresses that fit a variety of sizes, too. You may find it hard to believe that these dresses do actually fit sizes 4-14 and some fit 6-16/18, but I'm telling you- it's the truth! I can help customize the selections from the Closet based on your current or pre-pregnancy size, bra size, and your height. Most dresses are long enough to fit any height but I do have some shorter dresses that I know are limited to who can wear those too. I bought every piece in my Client Closet and I've seen all of my dresses on a variety of moms and sizes. So that is definitely something you can put your trust in me to help you with. I enjoy it!