Even at Eloise’s newborn session her mom knew she wanted to do a fairytale session themed session when she was older. I recommended doing it around 9 months because she would be old enough to sit up and have amazing expressions but not too mobile so she couldn’t run away! Mom sent me another session she found on pinterest and I found the original blog post here Wendi’s session was super cute, but I didn’t want to copy it directly, and thought about what would make the session feel more like my style. Eventually it hit me like a lightning bolt! I would do it in watercolors.

I ran the idea past Eloise’s mom and told her that I didn’t have anything to show her but asked her to trust me, and amazingly she was totally on board. I told her I wanted to do a watercolor theme and put Eloise into the illustrations.

I went everywhere looking for an actual oversized storybook, and couldn’t find anything even close. Finally I just decided to use a binder and photoshopped a book in later. Mom also ended up bring some fairytale books, which turned out perfect for the close up photos. I also knew I needed an oversized chair. I asked in a facebook group of local Monterey photographers is anyone had anything and a friend of mine Lorinda  said she had something that would probably work sitting in her garage. Only problem was the seat was broken. No problem, I know my husband can fix just about anything! And of course I volunteered him for the task! A little stuffing and a nail or two and it was good as new. Grandma made all the costumes by hand. Aren’t they incredible!?! And the scary wolf for the Little Red Riding Hood setup is actually the family dog.

I’m obsessed with how it came out! It took me days to do the illustrations and some came easier than others, but if I had to pick I would say the Cinderella set is my favorite.