SACRED BOUDOIR PREP GUIDE

INTENTION MAPPING

You can book your Intention Mapping Session right here: https://calendly.com/silkandsaltphoto/intention-mapping

Step One:  START REFLECTING

Before your Intention Mapping session, we invite you to spend a little time thinking about what this experience is really about for you.  Not what you think you’re supposed to want.  Not what someone else would choose.  Not what looks impressive online.  What do you actually want to see in yourself? Examples: reclaiming sensuality, stepping into visibility, closing an old chapter, celebrating a body transition, reconnecting with pleasure, embodying power.

Here are a few questions to sit with before your Intention Mapping session:

• What version of myself am I ready to meet?
• What part of me has been quiet for too long?
• What do I want to feel when I see these images?
• What am I ready to stop hiding?
• What am I learning to claim?
• What kind of beauty feels most like mine right now?
• What would feel healing, powerful, sensual, playful, honest, or brave?

You do not need polished answers. A few words, messy notes, voice memos, screenshots, song lyrics, poems, or half-formed feelings are all welcome. This part is not homework. It is kindling.

Join the sisterhood

You can always reach out to us via email; but if you want a broader audience, a safe space has been created so you can engage with other women who have experienced a Silk + Salt Studios shoot or have one coming up! Start to get pumped about your shoot, ask any questions, calm last minute nerves, and interact with other empowered ladies in the Salty Witches Coven What's App Group. This is also where you'll find announcements for our monthly Coven Meetings, a wonderful resource for continued support and community.

ASTROLOGY READING

Step Two:  MEET VIRTUALLY WITH MATEUSZ FOR YOUR ASTROLOGY SNAPSHOT

Your astrology reading is a focused, creative part of the Sacred Boudoir experience and it helps us create a set of three symbolic images that can become part of your altar box folio.

Rather than offering a full birth chart reading, we’ll use a few key placements from your chart as inspiration for your session design, symbolism, styling, mood, and imagery. This may include your sun, moon, rising sign, Venus placement, Mars placement, and dominant elemental energy.

The purpose is not to define you, predict your future, or tell you who you are. Instead, we’ll use astrology as a symbolic language to help us explore the version of yourself you’re stepping into and the energy you want your images to reflect.

Your astrology snapshot may help guide details such as:

• the emotional tone of your session
• colors, textures, or styling inspiration
• archetypes or themes for your portraits
• symbolic elements to include in your images
• ideas for your spellbook, personalized cards, or optional Celestial Folio

You do not need to know anything about astrology before your session. We’ll keep the process grounded, simple, and focused on creative direction.

Think of it as another way to gather meaning, a mirror made of symbols, helping us shape images that feel personal, intentional, and connected to the woman you are becoming.

TAROT READING + COACHING

Step Three: MEET WITH PAMELA FOR YOUR TAROT READING AND COACHING SESSION

Your tarot reading is a creative and reflective part of the Sacred Boudoir experience. We’ll use our own Major Arcana deck as a tool for exploring the themes, archetypes, symbols, and intentions that are most alive for you right now. This session helps us better understand the version of yourself you’re stepping into and the kind of imagery that will feel meaningful for your shoot.

During your reading, we may explore questions like:

• What are you ready to reclaim?
• What part of yourself is asking to be seen?
• What old story are you ready to release?
• What energy, archetype, or version of yourself are you ready to embody?
  
  

The insights from this session may help guide your creative direction, including styling, mood, posing, symbolic elements, and the themes behind your personalized portrait cards. You'll receive three personalized black and white tarot cards as part of your Sacred Boudoir Major Arcana Deck.

You do not need to know anything about tarot before your session. You also do not need to have a specific question prepared. We’ll guide you through the process in a grounded, supportive way.

This reading is not meant to tell you who you are or what you should do. It is an invitation to reflect, clarify your intention, and begin shaping the visual story of your Sacred Boudoir experience.

Pamela will also bring in other tools, modalities in which she is trained, where helpful, to coach you through your transformation. These modalities include neurolinguistic programming, timeline techniques, and hypnotherapy.

CUSTOM SACRED SESSION BLUEPRINT

Step Four:  PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Your Custom Sacred Session Blueprint is the creative plan we build for your Sacred Boudoir experience.

After your Intention Mapping Session, astrology snapshot, and tarot reading, we’ll gather the themes, symbols, archetypes, and intentions that feel most connected to the woman you are becoming. From there, we’ll create a personalized direction for your photoshoot.

Your blueprint may include:

• the central intention for your session
• archetypes or energies we want to express through your images
• mood, styling, and wardrobe direction
• colors, textures, props, or symbolic details
• posing and emotional tone
• ideas for your spellbook, personalized tarot cards, or optional Celestial Folio
• any boundaries, preferences, or themes you want us to honor

This is not meant to box you in or make the session feel overly scripted. It simply gives us a thoughtful starting point, so your images feel intentional, personal, and connected to the transformation you want to embody.

Think of your Sacred Session Blueprint as the map for your visual ritual: a way to turn reflection into imagery, and imagery into something you can return to long after your session is over.

SACRED BOUDOIR PHOTO SESSION

Step Five:  PREPARE FOR YOUR PHOTO SESSION

Shoot location

This will be decided in your Custom Sacred Session Blueprint.  We will take your location and requests into consideration as well. We can rent any available studio in the Salt Lake City area, in the Ogden area, or anywhere in between. For an additional fee, we can also shoot outdoors or outside our normal travel zone.

What to bring

Please do not panic-shop for your session. You do not need to buy a whole new wardrobe unless that sounds genuinely fun to you.

We recommend bringing several options so we can choose what photographs best and what supports the feeling of your session.

Consider bringing:

• 3-5 wardrobe options you love
  
• A lightweight robe or loose dress to wear during hair and makeup
• Any lingerie, bodysuits, slips, robes, dresses, jackets, blazers, veils, skirts, or fabrics that feel beautiful to you
• Jewelry or accessories that feel meaningful
• Heirlooms, letters, books, perfume bottles, rosaries, lockets, gloves, crowns, scarves, or other personal objects
• Shoes, only if you love them
• Anything connected to your intention, archetype, or ritual
• A journal, if you’ve been writing about this experience
• A playlist idea, song, poem, or phrase that captures the mood
• A water bottle and any snacks you may want

If you have nothing to bring, that is completely fine. Our client closet is here for you, and simple pieces can be incredibly powerful. A sheet, a robe, a blazer, a slip, bare skin, or your favorite worn-in tee can become magic in the right light.

The number one wardrobe rule is this: Do not bring anything you already know you don’t like on your body. If you put something on and immediately want to apologize for yourself, leave it at home. Your images should not be a negotiation with an outfit that has already betrayed you.

Sacred objects and personal items



Because Sacred Boudoir is more intentional than a traditional boudoir session, you are welcome to bring objects that carry meaning for you. This could be something beautiful, sentimental, symbolic, strange, devotional, glamorous, ancestral, sensual, or simply interesting to look at.

A few examples:

• A piece of jewelry from someone you love
• A book that changed you
• A veil, scarf, or fabric
• A candle, crystal, flower, shell, or small altar object
• A perfume bottle
• A handwritten note or vow
• A tarot or oracle deck
• A mirror
• A meaningful garment
• Something connected to a personal transformation

Please do not feel pressure to bring props. The goal is not to clutter the session. The goal is to give us a few meaningful ingredients to work with, if they matter to you. If you are unsure, bring it. We can decide together.

Preparing your body

You do not need to change your body for this experience. You do not need to lose weight, get stronger, get smoother, get younger, get braver, get waxed, get tanned, or become a more polished version of yourself before we photograph you. You are allowed to arrive as a living, breathing woman with a real body and a real life.

That said, there are a few practical things that help you feel more comfortable and help your skin photograph beautifully:

• Drink plenty of water in the days leading up to your session.
• Moisturize daily during the week before your shoot.
• Avoid tinted lotions, bronzers, and spray tans.
• Get good sleep when possible.
• Stretch the morning of your session, especially your back, hips, shoulders, and neck.
• Wear loose clothing to the studio so tight seams do not leave marks on your skin.
• Arrive with a clean, moisturized face and dry hair unless we have discussed something different.
• Let us know about any skin allergies or sensitivities before your appointment.



If you are on your period, have a breakout, feel bloated, feel nervous, or wake up convinced you have made a terrible mistake, please know that you are wildly normal. We have seen it all. You are not going to ruin your session by being human.

Preparing your nervous system

Most women feel nervous before their session. Even the excited ones. Even the returning clients. Even the ones who have wanted this for years. Your body may interpret being seen as a very big deal, because it is.

So rather than trying to force yourself to feel fearless, we recommend helping your nervous system feel safe. The night before your session, try to keep things simple. Eat something nourishing. Drink water. Avoid partying or staying up too late. Lay out anything you want to bring. Give yourself more time than you think you need.

The morning of your session, you might try:

• Taking a warm shower
• Stretching slowly
• Putting on music that makes you feel like yourself
• Writing down one sentence that begins with “I am ready to see…”
• Taking a few slow breaths with one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly
• Reminding yourself that you do not have to perform confidence in order to be photographed beautifully

And if you are panicking, text Pamela. Truly. You are not bothering us. You are not being dramatic. You are not the first woman to have big feelings before doing something vulnerable and brave.

Coming in from out of town?

Check out this "Welcome to Salt Lake City" guide for recommendations for accommodations, food, and fun to make the most out of your time here! Salt Lake is home to some of the best skiing in the country! Also good to note: we can arrange a remote video Photo Reveal and Integration Session for you so you don’t have to travel back to Salt Lake for your reveal, unless you’d like to! 

What happens when you arrive

When you arrive, we’ll welcome you in and help you settle. You’ll have time to breathe, change into a robe or loose garment, and get comfortable while your hair and makeup begins.

While you’re getting ready, Pamela will look through your wardrobe and personal items. We’ll talk through your intention, your comfort level, and anything you’re feeling excited or nervous about.

After hair and makeup, we’ll finalize your looks and begin your session.

Mateusz will guide you through posing the entire time. You do not need to know what to do with your face, your hands, your hips, your mouth, your shoulders, your soul, or any other suddenly suspicious body part. He will direct you.

Pamela will support the flow of the session, help with wardrobe, watch the details, and make sure the emotional tone of the experience stays grounded and safe. You will not be left alone to figure it out.

Consent and comfort

Your comfort matters more than any image. We will guide you, but we will not pressure you. You can say yes, no, maybe, not that, not yet, or I need a minute.

You can change your mind.

You can ask for more coverage.

You can ask for less.

You can ask questions.

You can laugh.

You can cry.

You can be quiet.

You can need a break.



This experience is collaborative. We are here to create powerful images with you, not extract them from you.

After your session

After your shoot, we’ll help you gather your things and make sure you know what comes next.

Your reveal appointment is where you’ll see your spellbook design, your personalized tarot card design, and receive your digitals. We'll also show you options for wall art and other pieces that can become part of your final collection.

This is often where the whole experience lands. The shoot is one kind of magic. Seeing yourself is another.

One final note

There is no perfect way to prepare for Sacred Boudoir. You can come in feeling radiant. You can come in feeling tender. You can come in wildly excited. You can come in nervous, skeptical, emotional, bloated, curious, or all of the above before noon.

We do not need you to be perfect. We need you to be present. The rest, we’ll make together.

BE SURE TO...

...*fill out your questionnaire! It helps up provide a more luxurious, personalized experience for you.

*…trust us. We won't make you do anything that is going to make you look bad. We’re professionals. We’ve been doing this for a long time and we are masters of  killer poses, beautiful lighting, and appropriate camera angles.

PHOTO REVEAL + INTEGRATION SESSION

Step Six:  MEET WITH PAMELA TO SEE YOUR PHOTOS

Your Photo Reveal & Integration Session is where you’ll see your finished images for the first time and choose the artwork that will become part of your final collection.

After your photoshoot, we’ll carefully edit a gallery of images for you to view. During your Reveal, we’ll guide you through your gallery, help you narrow down your favorites, and choose the images that feel most meaningful to you.

This is also when you’ll make decisions about your artwork, including your leather spellbook, digital images, wall art, folios, or any available add-ons.

Your Sacred Boudoir collection includes a private digital gallery of the images chosen for your final order. If you fall in love with more images than expected, you’ll have the option to upgrade your collection, expand your spellbook, or purchase the Complete Sacred Gallery.

Because Sacred Boudoir is about more than beautiful images, this session also includes space for reflection. As you see yourself through the images we created together, we’ll gently revisit the intention you brought into the experience and notice what feels powerful, surprising, emotional, or important.

We may explore questions like:

• What do you see in yourself that you want to remember?
• Which images feel most connected to the woman you are becoming?
• What part of you feels witnessed here?
• What do you want to carry forward from this experience?

This is not therapy or mental health treatment. It is a grounded reflection and artwork selection session designed to help you choose the images that matter most and begin integrating the experience into your life.

You do not need to know exactly what you want before you arrive. We’ll walk you through the process, answer your questions, and help you choose the pieces that feel most aligned with your intention, your story, and the version of yourself you want to keep returning to.

SACRED DELIVERY RITUAL

Step Seven: RECEIVE YOUR ARTWORK AND TOOLS FOR TRANSFORMATION

Your Sacred Delivery Ritual is the final in-person appointment where you receive your finished artwork and personalized tools from your Sacred Boudoir experience.

This is when you’ll hold your leather spellbook for the first time, receive your Sacred Major Arcana deck, and, if included in your collection, take home your altar box, folio, or other ritual objects.

Rather than simply handing you your finished products, we’ll take a few intentional moments to reconnect with the original intention you brought into the experience. We’ll look at the artwork you chose, revisit the themes that shaped your session, and talk through how you can use your spellbook, cards, images, or altar pieces as reminders of the version of yourself you are choosing to embody.

This ritual is simple, private, and grounded. There is nothing you need to prepare, perform, or know how to do. It is simply a meaningful closing moment: a chance to receive your artwork with presence, understand the pieces you’re taking home, and leave with clear ways to return to them when you need to remember who you are becoming.

Think of it as the final seal on your Sacred Boudoir experience: the moment your images move from something you saw in the studio to something you can hold, keep, and weave into your life.