Exclusive: Jamie Otis Maternity Photos

I had the honor of photographing a very special maternity session this past week! Jamie Otis and Doug Hehner from Lifetime’s “Married at First Site” are expecting a baby girl in August and I was able to style, plan, and shoot their maternity session.

A little over a year ago I photographed Doug’s brother and sister-in-law’s maternity session and Matt and Kerry were awesome enough to send my info to Jamie and Doug. Jamie contacted me and we immediately started planning this super special maternity session.

It was really awesome to be able to collaborate with someone who was equally excited about making this shoot look gorgeous while telling their pregnancy story. We went back and forth talking about props and dresses and ideas and came up with a beautiful photo shoot.

You see, this is not Jamie and Doug’s first baby. This baby is their rainbow baby. A truly special baby sent from Heaven. A rainbow to brighten their lives after the loss of their baby boy.

Their baby boy was named Jonathan Edward Hehner and there was no doubt that little baby Johnathan was present with us during the entire shoot. There were little signs of him everywhere and we can definitely thank him for the unbelievably gorgeous sunset that occurred that night too!

While it was a very emotional session for Jamie and Doug it was also simply gorgeous! We had the most stunning skies and sunset and everything we planned for the shoot went perfectly.

We started in the gardens at The Inn at Fernbrook Farms. Fernbrook Farms is a 230 acre farm to table wedding venue in Chesterfield, NJ and it is such a beautiful venue! The Inn at Fernbrook Farms emphasizes a setting of rich values, focusing on fresh picked produce and top tier event arrangements. If you are planning any type of event or looking for a breathtaking wedding venue, this is the place for you!

In addition to their wedding venue, Fernbrook Farms has an Environmental Educational Center where they provide hands on educational experiences and educate children about food, agriculture, and the environment. And thats is not all! Fernbrook Farms has a CSA and a nursery! The CSA (community supported agriculture) is like an “Adopt-A-Farm” where you join the farm and get fresh, organic produce every single week. How awesome is that? So if you are a local to Chesterfield and Bordentown you have to join this CSA. Fresh, organic, and local produce on your table every day? Sign Me up! And the Fernbrook Farms Nursery specializes in the growing of a vast variety of native Azaleas and Conifers among many other plants, flowers, and trees.

So while we were in the gardens of the farm we took tons of sweet photos of Jamie and Doug loving on each other and loving on their cute pups Lady and Foxy. These puppies were adorable and they even had matching outfits!! Lady and Foxy were just too cute sitting with their mommy and daddy and baby bump! I always say to bring your pets along for the session so that you can get a nice family photo.

After the family photos, Jamie changed into a gorgeous lace dress by Leah Maria Couture. We then had a beautiful setup where Jamie and Doug brought a big bouquet of rainbow balloons! Jamie and Doug were so sweet together with the balloons in hand. They even sat down with their basket that is dedicated to Johnathan and had an emotional moment thinking about him. The sun was setting behind them and everything was perfect.

I then brought Jamie to the sunflower field for some must have photos. The sun setting behind the sunflowers and kissing the back of Jamie’s hair was soooooo stunning!! I could die! I literally could’ve finished the entire night in this sunflower field!! But we were running out of light and had big plans for the next setup.

We prepped for our next wardrobe change where Jamie changed into an ivory maternity gown by TaoPan. This gown was perfect for the dramatic photos we had planned for the end of the session. We took some photos as the sun got super low and Jamie and Doug walked hand in hand watching the sun set.

The end of the session was like the grand finale! We setup rainbow smoke flumes from Sky King Fireworks for some dramatic photos. I love the way these turned out! This was my first time using smoke like this so I was a little worried about the result but I think they came out perfect for a first timer. I love them! And of course we had to end the entire session with silhouettes in the sunset. There is something so classic and beautiful about a pregnancy silhouette! Its always a must!

I want to end this post by saying THANK YOU Jamie and Doug for asking ME to capture these truly special moments for you two. There is nothing like bringing a child into the world and there is nothing more beautiful than pregnancy. I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant and that time in my life is so special to me. So this was an honor to be able to create art and freeze this moment in time in both of your lives. I am truly excited for you to be parents. It is the most wonderful thing in the entire world! And that baby girl is so lucky to have you to call mommy and daddy and her brother, her angel. God Bless! xoxo