All women experience things differently.  I have had women tell me that they were just not comfortable in their skin while they were pregnant, and I had other women tell me that they have never felt more beautiful, present or grounded in their body as when they were expecting.  This beautiful first time mother was in the latter group, so peacefully loving her body as it grew a little one inside.  I love that!

 You get home from work.  Unwind with a glass of wine.  Unleash the stress of the day.  And then you sigh and laugh.  You’re home.

While we were pulling together this new website for the boudoir part of our business, I was also thinking through boudoir locations.  It is not always easy to secure a fabulous location for a boudoir shoot.  In the last few posts I have been sharing specific ideas of places to do a boudoir shoot.  We have had three big announcements with this project – first the new boudoir website.  The last two pertain to where you can do your boudoir shoot.  The second part of our boudoir announcements is that we decided to create our own boudoir studio.  It’s been in my mind to do this forever, and when we bought the house we are currently in, I already knew the spaces I wanted to shoot in.  I finally collected my thoughts and just jumped in and did it!  I did it!  So with this post I am pleased to announce that you can now come to my home boudoir studio to do your shoot.  You will see this lovely lady’s first boudoir shoot on the blog in a few weeks.  She had such an awesome time with her first shoot four years ago that I just had to bring her back to do another shoot with me in the new space.  We love when clients become friends, and that is what happened between me and this lovely lady.  She wanted to share with you about her experience doing this second boudoir shoot with me:

“I can’t say enough about what an empowering and wonderful experience it is to do boudoir with Ashely. Do this for YOU. Do it to remind yourself that you are a beautiful, fabulous, intriguing woman and let Ashley help pull out a side of you you may have forgotten existed. Or just do it because you’re hot and your husband’s gonna love it! Either way, Ashley’s open heart and mind will make you feel completely at ease and I loved every second of the experience! Plus, look at the work she does. I mean COME ON. A big thank you too to the sweet and super talented Stephanie Sevilla for the gorgeous hair and makeup. Thank you both for making me feel beautiful!”

With all of that said, please enjoy this first public glimpse into our new boudoir studio space!

You might not believe me when I tell you this, but these two outdoor locations are inside the belt line in Raleigh.  The inside of this magnolia tree is so magical… if it were in my yard the inside would be it’s own hangout spot.  I love doing outdoor boudoir shoots but it is always tricky finding a location that is private and secluded, with permission for us to shoot there, with something for us to work with visually.  This bride-to-be was brave and trusted that we were in locations that were private.  Plus you can always remind yourself that there are bikinis that cover less than your lingerie, right?  One thing I hear often with bride-to-bes is that they have been working out to be in good shape for their weddings, so why not capture their hard work in a boudoir shoot.  This sweet bride-to-be said she was making her trainer proud by doing this shoot – in the end I know it she had made herself proud too!

 This was a unique boudoir experience – it was my first in home boudoir shoot.  I LOVE this idea… doing your shoot when you are home alone, seeing your nest with new eyes.  This lady started out in her man’s home office and then worked her way through the house, stopping by the kitchen, living room, bar, back porch and both bedrooms.  It really was an awesome exercise and experience to photograph someone this way in their own home.