Behind the Scenes: My Better Homes & Gardens Photo Shoot

Yesterday I got to indulge all my diva-esque fantasies, as Better Homes & Gardens magazine photographed and interviewed me for a Style piece that will be included in their March 2011 issue.

My call time was 9:00 am. When I got there, I met Johnny, my new BFF and the stylist for the piece. He showed me all the shoes and clothes that we would be working with.

Sadly, I did not get to keep any of the beautiful clothing or shoes!!!

After we tried on the clothes and decided which outfits we would shoot, I put on a robe and headed over to Stephania’s hair and makeup table, where she set about trying to make me look pretty.

You would not believe how much makeup they put on me! I really thought I looked overly made up, but apparently on camera it’s all going to look really natural.

After they got me all dolled up I went back to the changing room and put on the first outfit, which was this hot pink dress.

Even though it looks like it fits well, it was actually kind of loose on me. Johnny spent a good 15 minutes pulling and pinning the dress in the back so that it would look like it fit perfectly. After putting the dress on I headed over to the accessories table for jewelry, and got lotion rubbed on my legs (ahhhhhhh).

Then it was finally time to start taking pictures, so I headed over to the set which was a contemporary, sleek office environment–just like the office in my home (HA!).

They made me sit in the same exact position for like an hour! It got a little uncomfortable, to be honest! In between takes, Stephania would come over and fix my hair and/or makeup.

The photographer, David Land, was super nice and supportive. We talked a lot about our kids–he has a 14-month-old son who is adorable. I don’t have a shot of David, but this one shows the back of his head while he’s shooting me!

Here’s another behind-the-scenes shot:

After about 2 hours (no joke) it was time to change into another outfit, this one a cute pair of gray pants with a hot pink shirt.

My third outfit was a very fun print dress:

The photo shoot portion of the day took about 4 hours, and after that it was time to sit down with Kelly, who is writing the piece that will accompany the photos. We had a great conversation about organizing, motherhood, style, life, technology, food… we covered just about everything!

By around 5:00 pm it was time to head home. What a day! I loved every second of it. Thank you to everyone Better Homes & Gardens for such a fabulous experience!