They’re here! Talk about a fun, tiny bit stressful day. Ella was a real champ. I guess Matthew was too for putting up with me!

The day started with me getting my hair done. I normally just get it straightened but thought I’d try something different since it was a curated occasion.

I then had another new experience: getting my makeup done professionally. I’d spent weeks looking through Google Images, searching everything from “natural looking makeup” to “makeup looks for brown skinned girls” just trying to find something I liked. I really only wear makeup to church and I’ve been told that you have to wear a lot of makeup for photo shoots. I definitely didn’t trust my relatively inexperienced hand so I set up an appointment at Sephora and it was actually really fun. She asked for my opinion on some things but was willing to take the lead when I didn’t know exactly what I wanted. I didn’t even end up showing her all my Google Image screen shots! Typical.

We took the photos at this nearby park and it was exactly what I envisioned- scenic and Fall are the words that come to mind. There were a lot of other people doing photo sessions there but there were a lot of different walkways and beautiful scenes to capture.

It was so much fun finally seeing all of us in our outfits! There’s nothing like a vision coming to life.

The only things I had to especially purchase was Ella’s dress and my vest, which felt like a personal victory. I wanted us to be coordinated without being too matchy and I thought Ella in her cream dress tied everything together.

Our photographer was honestly amazing. We’d taken pictures with her once before and I’m so glad we used her again. She was fun and easygoing but would tell us exactly what to do and asked for what pictures we wanted. I wanted some pictures of just Ella, just me and Matthew, and one of Ella looking back while Matthew and I faced away from the camera.

Overall, it was such a great experience. As we got nearer to Ella’s bedtime, she was less cooperative but we were nearly done at that point. We got a lot of great pictures and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out! I’m excited to continue this tradition in the years to come as our family grows.