Purchasing your first home, or a new home, is a big deal. Celebrate your new home with a photoshoot so you can cherish these memories for years to come. (And you’ll certainly want to print your pictures to display as art for your new house. Check out our ultimate guide to printing and backing up your photos for tips.)
When to have your new home photoshoot
When scheduling a photoshoot to celebrate your new home, there are a few things to keep in mind. If you have a lot of stuff to move and know you’re going to be feeling a little overwhelmed for the first few days, it’s best to wait until you’re feeling like you have room to breathe. On the contrary, you don’t want to wait so long that the “new house feeling” has worn off.
When we moved into our house, we waited too long. We kept thinking, “let’s just get a little more done around the house first. Let’s get some decor on the walls. Let’s get that room painted.” One thing led to another, and suddenly, our house is no longer new to us. We didn’t get any pictures of us as new homeowners.
The magic of a new house is that nothing has to be done in order to have great pictures in your new home. Unpainted walls? Great. Let’s paint them. Unpacked boxes? Cute, it looks like you just moved in (because you did)! If you keep finding a reason you’re not ready, you might end up never doing it at all. Our advice it to get your session booked within the first month of being in your home.
What to do during your new home photoshoot
This is a time to celebrate you. So celebrate! A photoshoot is also a great way to make your “updates” more fun. Painting can feel like a chore, but when you and your partner are doing it together over a pizza party and photoshoot? 100 times better.
Here are our 3 favorite ideas for a new home photoshoot:
- Order pizza and crack a bottle of wine
- Start a new tradition together
- Make some home improvements
Order pizza and crack a bottle of wine
When moving into a new house, you might not have easy access to your plates. It’s usually a headache to cook when you’re only half un-packed. A box of pizza and your favorite drink has such great “we just moved in” vibes that you can’t go wrong with this combo. (If you’re beer people, we recommend the smoothie beers from Eagle Park Brewing Co based in Milwaukee.)
Start a new tradition as new homeowners
Use your new home photoshoot as an excuse to start a new tradition together! This can be absolutely anything. Joe and I have had a tradition in our new home of having a “floor date” every other month. We order sushi, put pillows on the floor, and use the coffee table as our dinner table. It’s silly and fun and so mundane, but that’s what makes it so great: it’s not a hassle at all. We’d love to have photos of us during one of these date nights! Your tradition could even be the photo session itself. Make it an annual thing to celebrate each stage of your life with a photoshoot!
Make home improvements
With a new home comes lots of exciting projects. (Okay, they can sometimes feel like a hassle. But they don’t have to!) Whether you’ve got to change out your faucet, or paint a bedroom, or simply have unpacking to do, documenting those moments will be something you’ll never regret.
The longer you stay in your home, the more grateful you’ll be for the photos of your first days in your new home: unfinished projects, bare walls, and all.
