Asheville’s #1 Maternity & Newborn Portrait Photographer shares pro tips for planning your Newborn Baby Girl Session at Asheville Portrait Company Studios!
Many Congratulations to you on the upcoming arrival of your little one! There is no doubt that this season of life has been such an incredibly joyful and exciting time for your family with so many things to consider, plan for and accomplish before your baby’s arrival! The simple fact that you have arrived here tells me that you understand the precious importance of prioritizing your infant’s very first professional portraits earth side! Within this blog post, I will answer many questions that you may have about what expect and how to plan for your Newborn Baby Girl Session at Asheville Portrait Company!
How far in advance should we book our session?
At Asheville Portrait Company, we value family & try really hard to prioritize having a healthy work / life balance. We believe that it directly affects our attitude, energy, creativity and ultimately our success!
As such, we can only take on 5 Newborn Portrait Session Bookings each month. We encourage you to book you session as far in advance as possible to ensure availability for your baby!
In addition to these basic logistical and time constraints, each of our Newborn Portrait Sessions is completely custom and tailored to our clients’ preferences for theme and / or color palette for their Baby Girl Session at Asheville Portrait Co Studios! While we do have a very large Newborn Photography Prop Archive which includes everything from infant sized baskets, boxes, buckets and bowls to textiles from posing bag fabric backdrops, newborn wraps, headbands, bonnets and tiny, delicate, handmade outfits for your Newborn Girl Session…
Because each session is custom and tailored to your preference for theme and / or color palette, we often end up ordering at least $150-$200 in new props purchased specifically for your baby’s portrait session in order to make your vision for this session come to life! Many of these items are handmade and ordered from artisans on Etsy or other specialty newborn photography prop vendors. Because of this, production and shipping can take a little time, so it’s best to book your Newborn Photoshoot as far in advance as possible to allow plenty of time for planning, sourcing, ordering, production and shipping!
Booking & Scheduling your Newborn Portrait Session in Asheville:
All that is required to reserve your Newborn’s Portrait Session on my shoot calendar is a non-refundable $400 Creative Fee & a Signed Portrait Contract. After these administrative items have been returned, I will add your due date on my shoot calendar as a tentative place holder & send over my Client Prep Guide which will answer many questions that you may have about what to expect and the guide will also help to prepare your family for a successful Newborn Photoshoot at Asheville Portrait Co! There’s a link at the end of the guide to schedule your Pre-Session Phone Consultation to chat directly with me about your session, to plan for it in terms of theme, color pallet, props needed, etc. After our planning consultation call, I will begin sourcing any needed prop items, order those and begin preparing for your Newborn Session! Once baby arrives, you’ll just reach out to share the joyful news & we’ll get you into the studio following week for your Newborn Baby Girl Session!
Why are Newborn Creative Fees Non-Refundable?
The $400 Newborn Creative Fee is Non-Refundable because the vast majority of this fee is used to purchase and procure Newborn Photography Prop items (props, textiles, headbands, clothing, etc.) Specialty Newborn Photography Props are incredibly expensive (a single headband can cost up to $40 – don’t believe me? Check this out: $40 Headband ). Anything remaining from this fee pays your photographer for their time to consult & plan with you prior to your portrait session, for their time to source and order any needed prop items for your session (approximately 3 administrative & consulting hours). In addition to all of this, Newborn Portrait Sessions require approximately 1hr to set up for and (1.5hrs) to tear down, clean up and sanitize any used prop items. Newborn Portrait Sessions last approximately 3hrs (shooting time) and require approximately 2-3hrs to edit and deliver your online proof gallery as well as another 2-3hrs to complete final edits and order and deliver any purchased print products or digital files from your print order after your session! That’s approximately 15 HOURS of time for just ONE newborn session!
How long to Newborn Baby Girl Sessions typically last?
I typically schedule newborn sessions weekdays between
9am – 4pm. You’ll have (up to) 3hrs with me in my studio!
Newborn Portrait Sessions are entirely baby led! Some of our time together is spent feeding, changing and soothing baby to sleep so that we can get those sweet, sleepy shots that everyone loves!
If baby is full, content and sleepy, you could be in and out of the studio in two hours!
(Please let me know ahead of time if baby is having tummy trouble or cluster feeding, we’ll simply re-schedule for a few days later to make it easier on everyone!)
What should we wear to our Newborn Baby Girl Session?
You’ll want to dress in ways that makes you feel comfortable and confident!
I have a client closet full of beautiful & flattering, flowy, Baltic Born dresses for post partum moms, if you’re having trouble finding something to wear!
I am happy to help you to put together your wardrobe for the session OR you can borrow something from my client closet if you’d like!
I typically recommend that parents wear white, muted pastels, gray or black depending on the vibe of their portrait session (we’ll discuss this in detail during your pre-session phone consultation) AND you’ll get more inspiration from my Client Prep Guide!
If you would like to learn more about Newborn Pictures at my Asheville, NC Newborn Photography Studio, you can find more on my website, including my Newborn Photography Portfolio, Frequently Asked Questions and Detailed Investment Information, all easily accessible on the site, located here: