Unlike my post about Christmas, which was written almost three months after the last ornament was plucked from the tree and packed away; I'm going to share about Valentine's Day only three days after the fact! I thought about waiting until Easter just to keep up with my awesome track record, but I think this little party is just too good to not share right away!
While I actually spent this Valentine's Day in my comfy pants eating homemade pizzas with the family and watching a movie with my honey (that's as romantic as it gets lately with two kids and a puppy always hanging around); it was the weekend before that things heated up around here! Brace yourselves because this post is about to get all PG-13 on ya!
Local photographer Jessica of J. Ward Photography was running a great Valentine's Day special on Boudoir photo shoot parties, and some of my girlfriends and I decided it would be a fun ladies night get together and ultimately a great Valentine's gift for the men in our lives.
I originally intended to keep the party simple and just focus on the task at hand, but you know me, any excuse to doll it up! Besides, I am still learning to use my new Silhouette machine and wanted to put it to use. I cut out some cute lingerie, heels, and hearts, and stitched them together with my sewing machine to create these little mobiles which I hung above the dining room table.
I also used my machine to cut out vinyl sexy lady silhouettes, which are vaguely reminiscent of what you might find on an 18 wheeler's mud flaps. Although I assure you there were no truckers at this party!
And, as you can see in the reflection I had a clothes line of lacy undies strung across the room. I'm not sure if my husband was horrified or excited by this, but if I had to guess I'd say the latter! I offered each guest a pair of their choosing as a party favor. Needless to say they were new with tags on!
Finally, a little liquid courage goes a long way in getting up the nerve to pose half naked in front of a camera, so of course there was a little bubbly! I have used these champagne flutes dozens of times and I just love dressing them up. It makes an already special drink that much more special don't ya think?
As for food this is where I reeled in my "Martha-ness" a little bit. I store bought (gasp!) some yummy heart shaped shortbread cookies. I did however make chocolate dipped strawberries, but that's not exactly difficult. In fact it's down right easy with this stuff.
Really, even my two year old can do it. Perfectly dipped fruit every time. Of course you can melt your own chocolate chips, but you run the risk of it turning grainy or seizing up on you, this is so easy and you microwave it right in the container it comes in.
OK, now that I've provided Dolci Frutta with free advertising lets get back to the post, and probably what you've all been waiting for. The boudoir photos!
Before Jessica got to work her magic we were lucky enough to have local makeup artist and total sweetheart Christy work hers. Professional makeup was a part of the awesome deal. More intense makeup than you might normally wear and false lashes go a long way in enhancing these kind of photos.
It was so fun having all my favorite ladies getting ready together, doing hair and makeup. At one point there were four different curling irons plugged in in my bathroom! It reminded me of college when all of my roommates and I would be getting ready for a night out.
Here's a candid of me right before my shoot was about to commence!
Even with the aforementioned liquid courage and the fact that I'm not particularly shy, this photo shoot wasn't quite as easy as I expected. The photographer was wonderful and everyone agreed she made us feel comfortable and gave good direction, but there is still something inherently difficult about trying to look natural and sexy while also trying to pose at the same time. Got to hand it to all the supermodels of the world!
Supermodel I am not, but without further hesitation here are a few of my pictures.
If I could give two words of advice for those of you planning on doing your own boudoir shoot they would be
PUSH-UP BRA!
I found this cute lace bralette, you know one of those cute bras with no underwire? Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I don't really need the support of underwire, but sadly I did not consider how vital a role it would play in making the girls look their best. I know my husband knows what I look like both with and without Victoria's little secret, but looking now at the photos I wish I had just a little more pop on top! Oh well, you live you learn.
Of course sometimes a cute bra isn't even necessary, especially when you pose in one of your man's T-shirts while holding one of his favorite beers. I mean what's sexier than that right? OK, probably a lot of things, but it turned out to be a cute shot.
So excited a few of the girls also agreed to share their photos for this post. When you look as good as they do, why not! I love how different everyone's turned out.
Finally, one of my favorite shots of the night was a Valentine's Day gift to myself. To commemorate a fun night and some truly awesome friendships we got together and took this one.
I did crop it a little from the original to protect everyone's identity, although you can't really see anyone's faces anyway. It turned out really cute, even if there were injuries sustained during the dismount! It may disappoint my husband to know that six girls on a king size bed is a bit of a squeeze and therefore won't be happening again anytime soon. Ha ha!
Thank you ladies for a fun night!
Hope everyone had a wonderful, romantic, and maybe even a little sexy Valentine's Day!
xoxo
Kristin
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