Celebrate your successes! | Tacoma Boudoir | Tacoma Boudoir Photographer

As women, like it or not, our bodies go through so many changes!!! Puberty, pregnancy/delivery, and menopause are guaranteed to make your body jump through some strange, awkward, and downright unpleasant changes. And then there are the unexpected changes our bodies make as we ebb and flow through life.

One of these body changes can be a weight loss journey that you work hard for. And when you see the results that you are working towards, it can definitely be something to celebrate!!! That being said, our minds do weird things to us when we start to shrink. When we look in the mirror, sometimes our minds still envision us with that extra weight on our bodies—even though it is long gone!

Let me tell you, a boudoir session is a GREAT way to reconnect with yourself after weigh loss! Almost like your are introducing yourself to your new body. It is also a great way to celebrate and document your hard work!

I will let the client speak for herself as she shares her beautiful story below!

“Rewind back to March 2018. I had just gotten married, started a new job and my husband and I were hunting to buy our first home. Even though the wedding was over, I was struggling with the adjustment of my new job and all of the pressures that came after getting married. I had previously worked at a hospital where I was on my feet all day and commuting almost 2 hours each way. I had zero time for anything. I switched to a clinic job that was less than 10 minutes from our house at the time and realized that I was sitting a lot more and not being as active. I started to gain weight. This was a problem because I was having nightmares about not being able to fit into my wedding dress. It would keep me up all night until I would get up and try it on, even though the wedding was over. It slowly began not to fit and over the course of 3 months, I had gained almost 20 lbs. No bueno. I felt awful and didn't realize how fast it happened. At the time, a few ladies at work were doing this program that was covered by insurance. I signed up in June. This was the first time that I had done a weight loss program for myself. Usually, my husband and I gain and lose weight together. This time, I had reached a breaking point and something had to change. He was completely supportive, but was not eating the "science food" that the program provided. I spoke to the providers and realized that the number on the scale was terrifying and especially to POTENTIALLY (talking about family planning, here) add 40lbs to THAT number was NOT going to happen. It was really hard to keep motivation for something that had not even happened yet, but I was still at that point to do something for myself. I had a goal to lose 50lbs by my 31st birthday.

In January, I had lost about 45lbs and was feeling pretty good. Our first wedding anniversary was coming up on 2/6 and I had the idea to do a boudoir shoot for my husband. He knew nothing about it. Traditionally, the first wedding gift is something "paper". When I found Erinn's website and saw that an album was included in the price, I thought that would be a perfect "paper" gift, so I booked it right away, being that I had such a short timeline. I loved her perspective and how she really empowers real women. As I was shopping for outfits (my husband has always said that "lingerie doesn't do it for him", so it was kind of tricky to think about what he would like to see me in) I remembered that when I was wedding dress shopping, he said he wanted to see me in something that "makes me feel good about myself" I realized this was as much for me as it was for him. I was going to do this boudoir shoot because I had accomplished a goal and I was feeling confident and had some petty great self esteem.

The day of my boudoir shoot, I told my husband a white lie of where and what I was doing. After my hair and make-up were done, I changed into the first outfit and Erinn told me to lay on the bed. She sat in front of me, took a few pictures and showed one of them to me. It was a complete double take that brought me to tears. I had to try my hardest not to ruin the make-up that was JUST done, but I did not recognize myself. It was completely surreal and definitely took me a few minutes to pull myself together. I didn't feel awkward or vulnerable, but confident and beautiful. Her attention to detail and how she instructed movement really impressed me from the beginning. She did that throughout the whole session. By the time it was over, I had to hold all of my giddiness in so my husband would suspect anything. I told him that a friend and I got make-overs at the mall (sneaky sneaky) and he didn't ask any questions after that.

So, the day finally arrives after I had told a few white lies to keep the secret. We had been together all day, went out to dinner and come back home to open a bottle of a champage. We exchanged cards and I pull out the wrapped box. I started recording it on my phone as he starts to unwrap it. He askes why I'm filming and I said "It's going to be a good reaction." Then he says "Ok, you're making me nervous, but if I tell you to stop recording, you gotta do it." I agreed. At first he had turned it upside down and backwards, so I pulled it away and turned it the correct way for him to see it from the front. He opened the first page, got sort of a grin, turned to the second page and he immediately signals me to stop filming. So, I stopped. He looks up at the sky, says "Oh my God, this is awesome!" and he starts crying. As my heart was completely melted, I said "just keep going", so he continues to cry and look through the album and gets to the end and says "you're so hot!!". I was NEVER expecting a crying reaction from him. I asked him why he started crying (which made me start crying) and he said that "He never thought in a million years that I would do something like this" and the asked why I did it. I then explained that as much of it is for him, it is for me too. As I've accomplished a serious weight loss and before any "changes" happen to my body (again, talking about family planning here) I thought it would be special on our first anniversary and have something for me to look back on. He went on saying that he was so proud of me and how happy he was that I had gotten to a place where I was confident and had positive self esteem.

My husband absolutely loved the album and I find myself looking back at the session and truly feeling beautiful. Probably just as good as I did on my wedding day. I have told so many of my friends that they NEED to do a boudoir shoot just for themselves and that Erinn is SO amazing!!

Again, Thank you for being so accommodating and wonderful!

Love,

Miss A”

Hold on—I gotta grab a tissue!!!

xoxo—Erinn

Erinn Hargis is a boudoir photographer in the greater south sound. Erinn Hargis Boudoir Photography has a studio located in downtown Puyallup, WA. She services boudoir clients from Tacoma to Seattle, and other surrounding areas.