Welcome to Bizarro World, a pretend world where your photographer doesn’t give you preparation advice before your family, newborn, or maternity photography session. In this terrifying world, you have to research preparation yourself with The Googles, and instead of pleasantly sipping a drink of choice before heading to bed the night before your session, you’re frantically trying to find ways to get ready for a session that is happening the next day.

Let’s entertain Bizarro World for a bit and pretend that you are that frantic, frazzled client, and you need help with the best ways to get ready for a session at the last minute. Here are some classic do’s and don’ts for prepping the night before your photo session:

Sleep.

Don’t roll your eyes at me. I understand that as a pregnant person, or a new parent (or even a toddler parent - I’m here with you), good sleep may exist in a fantasy world with Oompa Loompas and chocolate rivers. But if you can go to bed a little bit earlier tonight, and then not lay in bed thinking about all the things you need to do to prepare (because you’ve already prepared), you’ll be ahead of the game. Those of you with newborns, I get that this may not happen for you. Don’t panic. You can help fight the tired look by following #2:

Drink lots of water.

Dehydration causes puffiness, dark circles, dry skin and lips, ashen (or ashy) skin tones, and lethargy. None of which are preferable for your photos. Drink lots of water, and even more if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. Hopefully you’re reading this with time to drink water a bit at a time so you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to pee because you chugged a ton right before bed. Space it out a bit.

Trim everyone’s nails.

Hands are a big deal in maternity and newborn photos, so go ahead and trim and file (and repaint, if needed) tonight. Even family sessions can feature parents’ hands as you hold little kids or put arms around partners and spouses, so don’t skip it. Babies scratch themselves pretty regularly too, so don’t forget to get those little daggers too.

Don’t attempt a new beauty routine.

Masks are fun but unless you’ve done that particular mask before, don’t try it the night before your session. The last thing you need is to try something new and have a chemical burn or allergic reaction.

This one might be controversial.

Don’t plan on heavier than normal makeup. If you wear makeup, terrific, wear the makeup you want to wear. But if you don’t normally wear makeup, I suggest not going all out with it for photos. You might not recognize the person in the photos afterwards, and I can’t Photoshop makeup on or off your face for you. Wear what makes you comfortable and helps you see you as you.

Get your outfits ready.

I know you’ve already gathered your outfits, because you received the client prep guide with suggestions (or if you’re not a client of mine, you read the blog posts I’ve put together about outfits). But now is the time to lay everything out, make sure tags are cut off, wrinkles are steamed or ironed out, everything is clean, and that you have a backup outfit for anyone in a newborn or infant session (#blowouts).

Hype it up.

You’ve probably been talking about your session for weeks with your partner and kids, but if you haven’t, now is a perfect time to be excited, show your excitement to your family, and get them excited, too. Even hyping your session up to your newborn can help you get more excited about it. Talk about what we’ll do, the fun you’ll have together while I follow you around with my camera. Talk about how the camera will go click-click-click, and that you’ll all be able to look through the photos together afterwards. If you’re excited about it, your family will be excited, too. If you’re anxious, fussing about things that aren’t done and stressing everyone else out to get “everything” done in time, it might not be the fun situation you’re hoping your photos to be.

Pick up around the house if you’re having photos done at home.

This should be the easiest part of getting ready for your session. (Aside from drinking water. That’s pretty easy.) You don’t need to try to create a different home, to create a sterile environment, or pretend that you live in a clean house (who does, really?). You just need to do the basics: put away the dishes. Stash the laundry. Put your clutter piles into an empty laundry basket and throw it all into a closet. I promise I won’t go looking for it tomorrow. You just want your house to look slightly cleaner than it usually does. Tomorrow, we’ll open all the blinds, shades, and curtains, turn off artificial lights, and turn up the heat a few degrees if we’re doing a newborn session.

Don’t forget to fill out that questionnaire.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? I send all my clients a questionnaire to fill out before our session, even if we’ve done sessions together before. You may shrug it off as unnecessary, but your responses really help me (your photographer) plan your session around your family, and not just show up and wing it. You might say something in your response like “please include the dog in some photos” and then I’ll know to do that so you don’t have to remember to ask during our session. Or if you don’t like black and white images (or really do) then I’ll know not to spend time working on black and whites (or spend more time on them). My clients know that they’ll receive a questionnaire about 2 weeks before a session, with reminder emails along the way, but if you still haven’t filled that out, now’s the time.

Good thing you’re not looking for ways to get ready the day before your session, and you have lots and lots of time before your family, maternity, or newborn session is upon you. Right?

Need a better idea of how I’ll make you and your kids feel more comfortable at a session? Read this post about what happens when your kids are scared of me.

How to Prepare for a Photo Session (The Night Before)