Maternity photoshoot with Emily & James

September 2022 Update: The above image has just won a Highly Commended Award in the August 2022 monthly maternity competition run by the Master Photographers Association (MPA).

Judge Sarah Tate FMPA commented, “I think this is sweet. I like the expressions on their faces, the lighting is really lovely and soft and it really is quite cute. You’ve taken the height difference away and the way you’ve placed the hands so we can still see the bump is really, really lovely. Nicely handled, nicely put together – I really like this. It’s a shot that makes you go ‘ahhhh’ – well done.”

---

Emily and James should never have met.

They were both looking for love on Tinder, with the location radius set to just a few miles within their locations at the time: Emily in Milton Keynes and James in London.

Yet through some algorithmic mistake… or perhaps fate… the app showed their profiles to each other, and they both swiped right.

They met up and found they had a lot in common: their shared love of food and cooking, for example, and the fact that family is always their first priority.

They quickly became inseparable, with James helping Emily move her stuff into her first home, then joining her there a few months later.

They got married in 2020. Their original plans of a wedding day with all the works had to be downsized to an intimate ceremony with just a dozen people thanks to covid, but they made up for it with a big do a year later on their anniversary.

Now, they are having a baby together, with the due date falling on Mother’s Day next year.

Here’s the incredible thing: for both of them, this was their very first Tinder date, yet straight away they met their perfect match. 

They are both incredibly kind and caring, and I could see the tenderness between them during their early maternity photoshoot with me, as we created a series of images for them to announce their happy news on social media.

Emily and James remind me of myself and my husband in a lot of ways: she’s neat and well-organised, he’s messy and goes with the flow. Like me, Emily does a creative, sometimes chaotic job, while like my husband, James’ work is more structured.

Both of them are fairly quiet when around others, but very chatty when it’s just the two of them.

Both feel like they’ve found a best friend in each other. 

So if you know anyone on Tinder’s PR team, do get in touch.

You couldn’t get a more perfect endorsement of online dating than this super-sweet couple, who are so beautiful in every way: inside, outside and – most of all – together. 🙂

“My Husband and I met Sarah recently for our early maternity shoot. From the moment we stepped inside Sarah’s lovely home, she made us feel so at ease & comfortable. Both myself and my Husband had never experienced a photoshoot before, so we were pretty nervous, but Sarah made us feel so relaxed & comfortable immediately – which enabled us to have so much fun! Sarah made such an effort to get to know us as people and as a couple & was so complimentary and friendly. Then, we received our photos and we were over the moon! Sarah captured exactly what we wanted – everything as perfect!”

Emily, maternity photoshoot client from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

---

If you’re interested in maternity photography and you’re based in or around Bicester, Oxfordshire, please get in contact.

Sarah Plater LMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn and family portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire. She is the Master Photographers Association Young Families Portrait Photographer of the Year 2022 and Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).