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The Illuminate Boudoir experience

intentional, affirming, impeccable

After you are booked for your session, the Illuminate Boudoir experience starts with a pre-session planning call before your photoshoot. We’ll talk through your ideas and vision for a session and plan out a photoshoot that captures what you want to remember about this chapter of life.

Your boudoir session will take place at my custom studio in Minneapolis. You’ll have an incredible two-hour photoshoot with time for 3-5 looks/outfits. I’m a posing expert and will give you complete guidance and direction throughout the session!

After the photoshoot, you’ll take a break for a few hours and return later that afternoon, where you’ll see your portraits the same day at your portrait reveal appointment. You’ll have approximately 60 final, edited portraits to choose from at your portrait reveal!

I’ll send you home with your digital images that night, and your printed album or box will arrive 1-2 months later! You will be amazed at how much your portraits come to life when they are printed - it’s truly magical to hold your portraits in your hands.

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“The fact that your photos get done the same day is mind blowing. I saw myself in a whole new light and I will never forget that feeling.”

- K

 
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Take a closer look at my boudoir photoshoot experience

 
 

Before your photoshoot

Booking & planning your session

Click here to learn how to book a boudoir session — it walks you through what to do if you are ready to get something booked now, or if you have questions first.

The Illuminate Boudoir experience starts with a planning call sometime before your photoshoot. We’ll talk through your ideas and vision for a session and plan out a photoshoot that captures what you want to remember about this chapter of life.

Once you’re booked for your photoshoot, I’ll send you a link to my “client toolkit” — it has all of my session planning resources guides in one place. And, I’m here for you every step of the way so you can reach out any time with questions, ideas, concerns, etc — I’m here for it all.

 
 
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Photoshoot day!

8:00 or 9:00 am

Arrive to the studio

You’ll start your day by arriving to my studio in Minneapolis! I have a designated parking spot for clients, and I’ll meet you right at the door. We’ll start the day by touching base: we’ll look through the outfits that you brought along (it’s common to bring extra outfits if you want some opinions on pulling looks together), and we will review your hopes for the session and talk through any last-minute questions or ideas.

Optional hair and makeup

If you’ve opted for professional hair and makeup styling, you’ll show up a little early and your stylist will meet you right at the studio! The hair/makeup artists I work with are talented at creating beautiful, natural styles that look amazing on camera.  I’ll introduce you to the stylist(s) and we’ll share your ideas with them and make sure that they know what you’re looking for, and then you can relax while they style you!

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9:30

Empowering photoshoot

My photoshoots last around two hours, and we’ll have time for 3-5 outfits/looks. A “look” can be a lingerie set, everyday clothing, or could be an implied nude/topless look wrapped in a sheet.

I find that two hours is the perfect amount of time to include lots of variety while taking things at a relaxed, easy pace so you never feel rushed.

I’m an expert at posing and will completely guide you through the session - I’ll even demonstrate poses for you! You'll leave feeling proud and amazing. 

Want to share your experience with a bestie?

If you would like, you are welcome to bring one encouraging friend along to your boudoir session day — for some clients, it helps them feel more calm/grounded or adds an extra layer of fun to the day. Make sure to choose someone who will help you feel positive, safe, and celebrated - and platonic friends only please (no romantic or sexual partners).

I also have some clients who find that having a friend along makes them feel more nervous during the photoshoot because they’re being watched while they pose. If you think you’d have a harder time focusing on yourself, then I encourage you to come solo and make the day just about you. The choice is totally up to you!

 
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12:00 pm

Afternoon break

After your photoshoot, you get an afternoon to yourself! Take yourself out to lunch, meet a friend for drinks, hop into a local yoga class, get a massage, wander a bookstore... Take some time for yourself. This is your day! 

While you’re enjoying the afternoon, I’ll review all the pictures we took that morning and choose the final portraits - about 60 final images. I’ll edit each picture with my natural editing style (read more about that here) and get them ready for you to see. I print off a dozen or so pictures from throughout your session and set them on my studio shelves, and I’ll prepare a slideshow with all 60 of the final portraits for you to watch!

 
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4:00 pm

See your portraits

You'll come back to the studio for the reveal of your portraits, and it’s so exciting and special to see your pictures the same day as your photoshoot!

When you come back, first we’ll head to my studio shelves so you can see the dozen printed images that I’ve prepared for you — it’ll take you right back to all the magical feelings from the photoshoot.

Then we’ll sit together and watch a slideshow with all 60 of the final images. It’s so special to see it come together! It’s an emotional moment and different for everyone — some folks feel really euphoric, some folks get really sentimental, others feel very proud, and it’s also normal for it to feel like a bit of sensory overload! It’s a unique experience to see so many pictures of yourself and can feel like a lot to take in, but I have a calm and intentional process to look through all of your pictures, and I find that as we explore them together, you’ll settle into a really grounded place where you have a sense for all of your pictures and which ones mean the most to you.

Then, together we’ll plan out your order! My clients are keeping their portraits in either a storytelling album (to tell the story of this chapter of life) or an heirloom box (with a stack of pictures inside), and you’ll get the matching digital images from your order as well.

 
 

after your photoshoot

Taking home your portraits

I’ll be able to send you home with the digital images after your Portrait Reveal on your photoshoot day, and your printed art will arrive a month or two later!

For clients local to the Twin Cities, I like to have orders all arrive to my studio first so that I can inspect them and make sure that they are perfect, and then we’ll arrange a time for you come to the studio to pick up your order. For out-of-town clients, I can arrange shipping directly to you!

Holding your final art in your hands is the final step of the boudoir process, and it’s such a magical moment - it’s absolutely magical to see how your photographs come to life in their printed album or box.

 
 
 
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“I absolutely love working with Alyssa — her inner light is infectious and you walk away from her sessions feeling like a million bucks.”

— AmandaJean

 
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