One of the most practical questions about a full-service photography session is the one almost nobody thinks to ask until afterward: what happens once the session is over? You were photographed weeks ago. When do you see the photographs — and how do they become something your family actually holds?
The answer is the Design and Ordering Appointment — a return visit to the studio where you see your photographs for the first time and choose what they will become. It is the part of the experience that makes a full-service studio different, so here is exactly how it works.
The Short Answer
The Design and Ordering Appointment is a return visit to the studio a few weeks after your session. You see your photographs for the first time on a big screen, then design what they will become — an heirloom album, framed fine art for your walls, matted prints in a linen keepsake box, or a custom birth announcement — with guidance the whole way through.
In This Post
Why Do We Choose Your Photographs Together?
Because choosing alone is where beautiful photographs go to stall.
Picture the alternative: an online gallery lands in your inbox with hundreds of images, and it is on you — at the kitchen table, at eleven at night, between everything else motherhood asks of you — to narrow them down, decide what they should become, and figure out what looks right on your walls. That is a lot to hand a busy mama, and it is exactly the kind of decision that gets moved to next week, and then to someday.
So we do it differently here. Choosing your photographs is part of the experience itself, done together, in one sitting, with someone whose whole job is helping you choose well. It is the same reason the full-service experience includes the client wardrobe and hair and makeup: every decision that can be carried for you, is.
What Happens at the Design and Ordering Appointment?
A few weeks after your session, you come back to the studio — and see your photographs for the very first time, together, on a big screen. Not as thumbnails on your phone. At full size, in a quiet room, with time to react to each one.
Then we design. We talk about which images belong together as a story and which ones stand alone. We look at the spaces in your home and think about what belongs on the walls. We narrow, compare, and choose — and I will tell you honestly when an image you almost passed over deserves a second look. You are never rushed and never left to guess.
You leave with the decisions made. Not with homework.
What Can Your Photographs Become?
Everything at Petite Magnolia is built around one belief: photographs are meant to be part of your family’s home and history, not files on a hard drive. At your appointment, we design from a collection of artwork made to last generations:
Heirloom albums. The whole story of your session in one place — the album your children will pull off the shelf, and their children after them. I wrote more about choosing an heirloom album over the digital files, if you are weighing the two.
Matted prints in a linen keepsake box. For the images that deserve to be held. A box of matted prints lives on a shelf or a coffee table, invites hands in, and grows with you from session to session.
Framed fine art prints. The wall pieces — your family, in beautiful light, in the rooms where your life actually happens.
Custom birth announcements. When baby arrives, a designed announcement that shares her with the people who love her — something worth keeping, not just posting.
If you are still weighing what an experience like this represents, I have written honestly about both sides of that question: what newborn photography costs in Pittsburgh, and whether professional newborn photography is worth it.
How Do You Decide What Belongs on Your Walls?
This is the part that surprises people: we decide it together, room by room.
Albums hold the story; walls hold the feeling. The photograph that belongs above your mantel is not necessarily the one that belongs in your album — wall pieces tend to be the quiet, timeless images you can live with for years, at a scale that actually fits the room. Getting the scale right matters more than almost anything, and it is much easier to judge together at the appointment than alone with a tape measure afterward.
If you have ever hung something too small over a sofa and quietly resented it, this is the appointment where that never happens again.
What About the Digital Files?
You may have noticed that digital files are not the headline here, and that is on purpose — but they matter, and they are always available for purchase.
Digital files are always available for purchase, and most of my families add them alongside their artwork. They are your archive — they preserve every image for the long run, and they travel with your family wherever life goes. But they are not the finished product. The finished product is the album your daughter reads on the living room floor, the print she takes off the shelf in twenty years, the frame that moves to her first home. The archive protects the photographs; the artwork is how your family actually lives with them.
How Should You Prepare?
Lightly. Most of the preparation is simply noticing.
In the weeks between your session and your appointment, notice your walls. Which rooms feel unfinished? Where does your family actually gather? Snap a quick phone photo of any wall you are curious about — it helps us judge scale together. If someone else shares these decisions with you, bring them along; the appointment works best with every decision-maker in the room.
And if you walk in with no idea what you want? That is fine. That is what the appointment is for. If you want to see how the whole experience unfolds before this point, I walked through a complete session from planning call to artwork in this look inside a studio maternity session.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Design and Ordering Appointment
What is a Design and Ordering Appointment?
A return visit to the studio a few weeks after your session, where you see your photographs for the first time on a big screen and choose the artwork they will become — with guidance on selection, pairing, and scale the whole way through.
Do I need to know what I want before I arrive?
No. Choosing is the whole point of the appointment, and you will have help at every step. If you have noticed a wall at home that needs something, that is more than enough preparation.
Do I receive digital files?
Digital files are always available for purchase, and most of my families add them alongside their artwork. They are not part of the session fee — the session fee and the artwork are separate, and I offer a few collections that combine files and artwork as a starting point, then tailor them to what you actually want. The files are your archive; the artwork is what your family holds.
What artwork can I choose from?
Heirloom albums, framed fine art prints, matted prints in a linen keepsake box, and custom designed birth announcements. Each is made to last generations, and we design them around your images and your home.
Who should come with me?
Anyone who shares these decisions with you. Many mamas bring their partner; some come alone and enjoy having the choices to themselves. Either way works — the guidance is built in.
Still Curious?
If the idea of photographs that end up somewhere — on your walls, in an album, in your children’s hands someday — is what has been drawing you toward a session, I would love to talk with you about it. No pressure, just an honest conversation about what your family wants these photographs to be.
About Brooke
I’m Brooke Tennant, owner and lead photographer at Petite Magnolia Photography, a full-service maternity, newborn, baby milestone and family portrait studio at 628 East McMurray Road in McMurray, Pennsylvania — Peters Township, in Pittsburgh’s South Hills. I came to this work from the pediatric ICU and trained as a nurse anesthetist, and I’m a mom of four. Every full session includes the client wardrobe, professional hair and makeup, gentle posing guidance, and a Design and Ordering Appointment where we choose the artwork your photographs will become. See what to expect from start to finish.
Brooke is the owner and lead photographer at Petite Magnolia Photography, just outside of Pittsburgh in McMurray, PA. A former pediatric ICU nurse and nurse anesthetist, she brings a level of calm, safety awareness, and genuine care to every session that goes well beyond photography. She specializes in maternity, newborn, baby, and family photography with a focus on documenting the quiet connections, the genuine emotions, and those little moments that make each season of family life worth remembering. Her approach is simple: create timeless images that feel like you. She serves families throughout Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities — including the South Hills, Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, Sewickley, Peters Township, and Morgantown, WV. She believes photographs should document the love and connection your family shares right now, and that those images deserve to live somewhere more meaningful than a phone camera roll. That’s why she guides her clients through creating heirloom albums, fine art prints, and keepsake pieces they’ll return to for generations.
