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.

You may want to explore one clear version of yourself, or you may want your session to hold several facets of you. Some clients are drawn to softness. Some are drawn to power. Some want to explore sensuality. Some want to honor grief, survival, confidence, motherhood, aging, rebirth, devotion, desire, or freedom.

A few possible archetypal directions:

The Lover: sensual, romantic, embodied, receptive, magnetic.

The Queen: regal, composed, commanding, self-possessed.

The Witch: intuitive, mysterious, creative, powerful, connected.

The Muse: artistic, expressive, playful, inspired.

The Warrior: strong, direct, protective, unafraid.

The Oracle: wise, quiet, watchful, deeply knowing.

The Siren: seductive, fluid, hypnotic, untamed.

The Devotee: soft, sacred, reverent, intimate.

You do not have to choose one of these. You can bring your own words. You can also come in with no words at all and we’ll help you find them.

TAROT READING

Step Two: MEET WITH PAMELA FOR YOUR TAROT READING

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. Your portrait tarot cards will be edited in black and white.

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.

ASTROLOGY READING

Step Three:  MEET 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.

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, tarot reading, and astrology snapshot, 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 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

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 still 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.

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 images and choose the pieces that will become part of your final collection. Depending on your experience, that may include your spellbook, digital images, custom tarot-inspired artwork, altar box pieces, or other finished products.

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.

PLEASE DON'T...

*…drink red wine to calm your nerves. Don't drink a bottle of red wine right before you show up in an effort to calm your nerves! Drunk doesn't photograph pretty. HOWEVER, we're admittedly an advocate of a little bit of booze to soothe anxiety if you are super nervous. SO, we set a firm 2 drink maximum limit for our clients on the day of their shoot.  You're welcome to bring a small bottle with you to the studio. We also have cabernet and moscato wines available for you.

*…bring a construction hat (or other props). If you have jewelry that has sentimental value, absolutely bring it! But avoid jerseys, military apparel, weapons (yes, really), sports equipment, masks, etc etc etc for your first photo shoot experience.  

*…party the night before your shoot.  

*…spray tan before your shoot. I know you think many women feel better with a tan and that many women accomplish that by means of spray tans...but I assure you, even if you don't see the streaks and unevenness with your naked eye, the camera will pick them up. You will photograph a lot more tan than you think you look (especially given that my specialty is low-key lighting and black and white imagery). Trust me on this!!  On that same note, no tinted lotions or bronzers on your body. Even after this warning I get a lot of women who message me to say that they’ve been spray tanning for years and they cannot fathom not doing so before a photo shoot. Of course I will still photograph you, but unfortunately our standard retouch will not account for spray tan correction, so just keep that in mind. I promise you can run straight to the spray tanner right after your appointment.

*…forget to stretch.  Many of these poses, while they look effortless, are quite unnatural feeling. Take a few minutes on the morning of your shoot to stretch your arms, legs, hips, and especially your back. People are surprised to see how sore their muscles get after something as silly as a photo shoot, so any extra flexibility you can add by a quick yoga flow will only benefit you.

*…talk smack on yourself.  We don't want to hear about how you hate your hips. We want to hear about how you LOVE your legs. A great attitude will go a long way in having a fabulous and upbeat experience! HOWEVER...if you really feel the need to discuss the thing that bothers you the most about your body, just let us know by saying "I love my ___, but my biggest insecurity is my ___". We will be extra careful to play down your "flaws"...but we will ALSO make it our challenge to take the best damn image featuring your ____ so you have a new-found appreciation for it ;) 

SO...what are you worried about?

PHOTO REVEAL + INTEGRATION SESSION

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 for you so you don’t have to travel back to Salt Lake for your reveal, unless you’d like to! 

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 experience 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 our What's App Group. This is the space where we announce our Coven Meetings, which are a wonderful space for continued support.
 

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.

*BODY ISSUES.

What to Expect...

*A couple of days before your shoot, you can expect to get a confirmation from us, just making sure we are on the same page about your shoot start time, end time and location...and I'll also ask if you have any last minute questions! 

*On the day of your shoot, your makeup and hair will be done by a member of our glam squad unless you’ve requested a natural beauty shoot. You should have your face clean and moisturized, and your hair dry and ready to be heat styled when you arrive. Make sure to wear loose-fitting clothing or a lightweight robe while getting makeup done and let us know in advance if you have any skin allergies at all.  While you're getting lovely, Pamela will take a peek at your wardrobe selections and take care of anything that needs steaming so we can hit the ground running when you're done with hair and makeup. Once you're done with makeup, we will visit the client closet, finalize the outfits, and then you can get into your first look and throw a robe on over it, if you wish.

*Once the shoot begins, you can expect Mateusz to give you tons of encouragement and direction. He will not expect you to super model pose throughout your shoot. He will show you what to do, and encourage improvising whenever you feel comfortable. He will say things to elicit laughter whenever possible, too...so be prepared (or, actually, don't. It's better that way.)   

*The poses generally aren't very comfortable and your shoot will give you more of a workout than you anticipate. But we assure you, we know what we're doing. Get a good stretch in the morning of your session, and the evening after your session. A couple of ibuprofen might need to happen for those lower back aches, but it will allll be worth it!

*Your shoot time will FLY by. That's a good thing!! That means it wasn't awkward or boring. Just the right amount of fun! We do run a tight ship at the studio in regards to our schedule, so you’ll most definitely be out on time.

*At the end of your shoot, we will help you pack up your things and get you scheduled for your image reveal appointment so you know exactly when you’ll be seeing your images. We’ll also give you a high five because, GIRL, you rocked it.

*Within 3 weeks of your shoot, you will have your image reveal appointment with Pamela so that you can see all of your proofs and order anything you'd like.  You should be prepared to place your full order on the day of your image reveal and ordering appointment as we don't not store images long-term.

*At your photo reveal appointment, we’ll meet remotely on-line or in-person when possible. We’ll show a slideshow of at least 50 edited images and then go through your gallery one image at a time.  If you earned product credit through a referral, we’ll apply that to your product order. We know you’re going to love your images, and these reveal appointments are so much fun. We can’t wait to share your photos with you!

*Within 6 weeks of your account being paid in full, all of your purchased products will be ready for pickup or delivery, and often sooner! We’ll send you an email letting you know when your products are ready for pickup, or with your tracking number if you live out of the area and we are shipping to you.

*Within 6 months of your photo reveal appointment, you’ll want to do this again. Trust us ;)  Existing clients get dibs on photo shoot time slots because we believe in special treatment. 

*Any questions?? PLEASE don't hesitate to ask, darlin'! We're here to help!