Vivian Kate | newborn photos

Before my sweet Vivi was born I knew I wanted newborn pictures taken. I am so bad about using my nice camera and I wanted good, high quality pictures to frame around our home. While going through the planning process and also the actual shoot, a few things stuck out to me and I knew I wanted to pass them along to other mommas/soon-to-be mommas planning newborn pics.

Here are 5 tips to consider when planning and taking newborn pictures:

1. Choose your photographer wisely. Know their style. Make sure they are flexible and able to work around your schedule.

I began exploring options for photographers when I was around 5 months pregnant and quickly decided on Amanda Nichols. She lives about 2 hours from us but I fell in love with her bright, crisp, classic style of newborn pictures. Make sure you have seen your photographer's newborn pictures and like their style. In terms of planning, I told my photographer my due date and she penciled us in for a date after that. However, since Vivi came 3 weeks early, we texted back and forth to find a Sunday that worked for both of us. She was so great about giving me plenty of dates and letting me choose. It is super important that you use a photographer that is flexible because you never know when your baby will come! You don't want your photographer to be so busy that your baby is a few months old by the time they can squeeze you in!

2. Have a noise maker available.

Vivian kept waking up to the sound of the camera clicks so I turned on white noise pretty loud and she snoozed away, no longer bothered by the camera or our chatter.

3. Take baby's pictures alone before family pictures.

This was such a good idea and I cannot recommend this enough. We laid Vivi down and got all the shots of her by herself sleeping before we passed her around and held her. Our family pictures woke her up and it would have been nearly impossible to get her back to sleep peacefully for shots of her alone after that.

4. Feed baby right before the photographer arrives.

Fully belly= happy and sleepy baby!

5. Have all outfits, swaddles, and accessories planned out ahead of time.

This is so important and saves so much stress and time. I would also recommend trying everything on the baby before the shoot begins. I made a rookie mistake and had brand new bloomers that I was just positive would fit her. Wrong! So I hadn't tried them on until the shoot and they were huge, messing up one of my outfit ideas.

I was so scared Vivian was going to be awake and crying the entire time but she did amazing! These pictures are SO special to me and I could not be happier with how they turned out. We will cherish them for the rest of our lives!

Linking up with Annie