Are Maternity Photos Necessary?

I'm not sure when Maternity photo sessions really started popping up, but I know it's really just this generation, I think. My mom doesn't even have any pictures of her bump when she was pregnant with my brother or myself, let alone a bare belly shot. She didn't even wear tighter shirts when she was pregnant, so she's always commenting on my tighter maternity shirts. It probably all started with Demi Moore's maternity shoot. I love pregnant bellies, I always have, I'm just amazed that a woman's body knows what to do in order to grow a tiny human.

Anyway, I've been dreaming about being pregnant forever, and wondering what my body would look like during my pregnancy. I've been pinning maternity photos since I joined pinterest, and trying to figure out how I'm going to take my maternity pictures. I didn't want to spend a ton of money on them, and ideally I would love a friend to take them. Of course, one with some photography experience. This leaves two people, a friend I went to high school with and my sister-in-law's ex-partner. Mr. Skinny wouldn't really be comfortable with the ex-partner because she's not really in the family anymore and that might be awkward.

Back in December, I messaged the friend I went to high school with, Candice, and asked her if she would be around sometime in April or May-ish and do maternity pictures for us. She's a missionary, so I wasn't sure if she'd be around to do a shoot. She said that she was planning on being in Amsterdam in April-May, so that wouldn't work. I was kind of bummed, but wished her well and reminded her to let me know if her plans changed.

I didn't really think about it since then, I kept pinning some shots and looking at them. Thinking I could take them myself, but knowing that wasn't really very realistic, just pushing it to the side.

Candice sends out a newsletter 2x/month and when I saw her last newsletter saying that plans changed and she wasn't going to Amsterdam, I immediately messaged her and reminded her that I'd love for her to take some pictures for us. She wrote back and said that she would love to, just hasn't done a maternity shoot before, but said we could figure it out. I am super excited. She's going to take some shots, and then edit them and we get all the pictures to do with what we want. I am so excited! I've been pinning and looking for shots. I'm actually more excited for these pictures than I was for my wedding pictures.

But are maternity photos necessary? I take my own pictures each week, is it really necessary to pay someone else to take pictures of yourself? I think that it is. If nothing else, it's a beautiful part of life, and you'll get to show your baby what your body did when it was growing them. I would absolutely love to see what my mom looked like when she was pregnant with me. Granted, I'm sure boys wouldn't be as interested, but I would love to see what my mother-in-law looked like when she was pregnant with Mr. Skinny. I think it's a precious time in my life and it's definitely a time to remember and something to be cherished. I will love to have my pictures and I hope my baby will love them, too!

Here's a link to my pinterest maternity board, if you want to check out the shots I really like. I think some can be super awkward and some can be a little too sexy for my taste at least.

Tell me:


Do you think maternity pictures are a waste of money?