Combining Maternity and Newborn Photos: Easy Planning Guide for Perth Parents
The Season You Will Never Want to Forget
There is something about the weeks before and after a baby arrives that feels almost impossible to hold onto. Everything is moving so quickly, your body is changing, your emotions are running deep, and then suddenly your baby is here and the pregnancy already feels like a distant memory.
This is exactly why combining a maternity session with a newborn session is one of the most meaningful things you can do for yourself and your growing family. Not just for the photographs, but for the experience itself.
If you have been wondering how to plan both sessions, when to book, and what to expect, this guide is for you.
Why Two Sessions Tell a Richer Story
Becoming a parent for the first time is the most amazing experience you will ever go through. And your newborn baby is the most precious and valuable thing in your life. I do not take that lightly.
One of the things I love most about booking both a maternity and newborn session together is that it gives us the chance to get to know each other before your baby arrives. You get to experience my personality, the way I work, and what a photo session with me actually feels like, all before trusting me with your precious newborn.
And in return, I get to know you. How the pregnancy is going, what you are hoping for, whether family will be visiting, how much time your partner has off work. Those na
tural conversations reveal the most special parts of your journey, things you might genuinely forget to mention once your life has completely changed and you have a newborn to care for.
That connection makes every difference when it comes to capturing real, authentic moments.
A Practical Guide to Planning Both Sessions 
Timing Your Maternity Session
I recommend booking maternity sessions at around 34 to 36 weeks. At this point, you are still comfortable enough to move and enjoy yourself, and you have a beautiful, round belly that photographs wonderfully.
Booking at this stage also means we will have captured your maternity images even if your baby decides to arrive a little earlier than expected. There is peace of mind in that.
Another reason I love this timing is that your maternity gallery and your newborn session fall roughly a month apart. The memories of your maternity shoot are still fresh, and for many families, I deliver the maternity gallery around two weeks after the session, which makes it a lovely little gift to enjoy in those final weeks of pregnancy.
Spacing Between Sessions
With your maternity session at around 34 to 36 weeks, your newborn session naturally follows within the first few weeks after your baby arrives. This spacing feels natural and unhurried, and it means the two sets of images sit beautifully alongside each other.
The Beauty of Consistent Style
When you book both sessions with the same photographer, your images will carry a consistent look and feel, both in photography technique and in editing. This matters enormously when you come to create printed versions of your photos.
My personal favourite is fine art albums, and when your maternity and newborn images share the same visual style, the album tells a seamless, cohesive story of this extraordinary season of your life.
What Parents Often Stress About (And Why You Don’t Need To)
One of the most common concerns I hear is around dates and timing, particularly when it comes to locking in a newborn session before the baby has even arrived.
Here is what I want you to know: there is no need to stress about dates.
I ask for your due date early in the booking process and note it in my calendar. I keep a few slots open each week on either side of your due date, so that once your baby arrives and you are ready, we can confirm the session from there.
Equally, if something comes up before your maternity session, whether the weather is not cooperating or life simply gets in the way, we have enough flexibility to adjust without it affecting anything. The maternity session is booked with enough lead time that we have a comfortable window to work with.
My goal is always for the process to feel smooth and kind, so that when the time comes, you can simply focus on enjoying it.
Why This All Matters
Photographs become something so much more than images over time. They become the way you remember how it felt, the details that start to fade, the connection that was there even before your baby was born.
Choosing to document both the maternity season and the newborn season is a gift, not just to yourself now, but to your family and to the children who will one day look back at these images and see how deeply they were loved from the very beginning.
If you are in Perth and you are expecting, I would love to be part of this chapter for you.
Let’s Capture This Season Together
If you are thinking about booking a maternity session, a newborn session, or both, I would love to hear from you. You are welcome to reach out through my website to ask any questions or to start the conversation. And if you want to look at more of my work to see if we are a good fit, click here for my maternity information, and here for my newborn information.
Every family’s story is worth telling beautifully, and I would be honoured to tell yours.
