Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty. Some birthdays feel different. You want to mark them with something more than a dinner and a cake, something you’ll still think about years from now. For many women, that something is a trip to Paris.
Here are a few ideas to make that birthday trip truly yours, including one you may not have considered.
Give the day a shape
A milestone birthday in Paris works best when it isn’t over-scheduled. Choose one or two moments that really matter to you, and leave room around them. A long lunch, a walk with no destination, an evening that you planned weeks in advance. The city does the rest.
Choose experiences over things
A milestone is a good moment to ask yourself what you’d like to remember. Not what you’d like to own, but what you’d like to have lived. For some women, it’s a dinner in a place they’ve dreamed about. For others, a private tour, a class, a show. And for some, it’s a portrait of who they are at this point in their life.
A portrait of you, at this age
We rarely have beautiful photographs of ourselves as adults. Holiday snapshots, yes. Portraits taken with time, light and care, almost never.
A boudoir session is an intimate portrait session: lingerie, a shirt, a sheet, always within the limits you set. It isn’t about posing like a model, and you don’t need any experience. It’s about photographs in which you recognize yourself, at this age, in this chapter of your life.
Many of the women I photograph in my studio near Brussels come for exactly this reason. One of them, who came for her 40th birthday, wrote:
“I wanted to honor the woman I had become: 40 is no small thing in a woman’s life.”
Southa, photographed in Belgium · Translated from French
A boudoir session in Paris
With the Paris Boudoir Experience, the session takes place in a Parisian apartment reserved for you, with tall windows, moldings and parquet floors. Professional hair and makeup are included, I guide every pose, and your handcrafted album is shipped to your home after your trip.
It can be a gift to yourself, or a gift from someone who knows you well. Either way, it’s a moment set aside only for you, in the middle of your birthday trip.
A few practical tips
- Plan the session early in your stay, after one good night’s sleep. You’ll enjoy the rest of the trip knowing it’s done, and jet lag will be behind you.
- Get in touch as soon as you know your dates. Paris sessions are planned well ahead.
- Bring a piece that means something to you: jewelry you received, a shirt you love. Birthdays are made of details.
- Keep the evening free. After hair and makeup and a session, a quiet dinner is often exactly what you want.
If you’d like to know more, read what to expect from a boudoir photoshoot in Paris, discover the Paris Boudoir Experience, or tell me about your trip.