I spent a good deal of time looking for a dress for my 2017 maternity photoshoot before realizing that I had to sew it myself! I wanted everything about this maternity shoot to be filled with meaning. In the end everything came together exactly the way I dreamed.

For a while I had an idea to make a photo by my cousin Raqeebah Zaman Photography into a fabric print. A fabric print from my cousin’s photo was the start of this beautiful project. There was no question that a floral print was going to be it. I had already chosen the photo and print design when I happened to watch Salma Hayek’s Frida movie.

Since I was having a daughter, everything about Frida’s story felt inspiring and I wanted to bring those elements to my maternity photo shoot.

I used spoonflower.com to design the fabric print from my cousin’s photo. I designed a few variations before deciding on the double mirror image repeat. I ordered a fat quarter of four different fabrics with the image design. The satin was the clear winner!

With that in mind, I found this floral headpiece on Etsy, earrings from Aldo, and my cousin and I worked together on the makeup the day of the shoot. This beautiful makeup look was done entirely by my cousin! She did this beautiful star design on my lips too!

Love how the details of the fabric design, headpiece, earrings and makeup come together in this photo.

Facts: when I finally went on maternity leave, I was so exhausted I didn’t even care about doing the photo shoot anymore!

I’m happy I had my final burst of energy this day and got these beautiful pictures! Forever thankful to my awesome cousin, Raqeebah Zaman Photography.