Part of ThriftyHip’s mission is to help you discover new fun ideas, and in my role of maid of honor, I wanted to do something very special for my sister…

I’d read an article about boudoir in Vice Magazine and thought I’d try it out for a bachelorette party.  I did some Google searching for a local studio that would do it.

I found Grinkie Girls Photography and couldn’t have been more happy!  Grinkie Girls specialty is Pin-up Photography, but they also do boudoir.

Everyone had a great experience and raved about how unique and fun it was, scoring me major maid-of-honor points:)  It was an amazing day, and we all have something to look back on to remember it.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SHOOT

Personally, the entire experience with Grinkie (Christi Williams) makes you feel awesome about yourself. This was an especially rewarding experience for one of the girls that was pregnant (and therefore not feeling so great about herself looking her best).

“If you really want to make your partner feel good about herself, getting her a photography session as a gift would be a great way to do it.”

Grinkie offers a Bachellorette package, and it’s a great group event. I would totally do by myself again.

WHAT THE GIRLS THOUGHT / THE EXPERIENCE?

When I told everyone what we were doing for the bachelorette party, it was originally received with mixed reviews.

Here were the major apprehensions, and the story of the day/event/party.

WOULD IT BE CREEPY?

NO. 

I think the 1st thing on any girls mind when doing a sexy boudoir shoot would be, “is this going to be creepy?”

I think what I liked best about Grinkie Girls is they go to lengths to dispel any sense of discomfort.  The Studio is in a cool hipster loft with exposed brick, it’s nice, super clean (and has free street parking).

It’s run by Christi (photographer) and Lela (stylist) and they were both very professional, welcoming, and fun for the whole day.  They work really well together and handled our group like we were all old friends.

You can tell Christi really loves what she does.  I think she would have gladly spent a ton more time with us. At no point did we feel rushed or uncomfortable.

WOULD I LOOK GOOD FOR THE $$ ?

Admittedly, this was not the cheapest thing we could have done, but we left with lots of memories, not just of the day, but of how we looked. Because we were doing this as an event, we got a group discount and turned it in to a full day of photography, pampering, and drinks.

Like I said, the photos turned out soooooo good, (I was real happy mine required almost no touch up) and every single person agreed that it was well worth the money.

WOULD I NEED TO GET MY NAILS/HAIR DONE?

NO. At Grinkie Girls you could literally show up in sweat pants and look awesome.

They had a professional stylist (Lela Bells) there to help all of us out. Lela was our stylist. She was friendly, talkative, and plied us with wine.  She would have gladly spent more time on each of us, but about an hour total.

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR!?!?

LINGERIE. OTHERWISE TONS OF CLOTHES TO CHOOSE FROM. Grinkie Girls had a ton of clothes and props for us to use, so everyone’s photos turned out unique and different.  If you’ve got something super sexy or that makes you look great, bring it, but don’t feel like you have to.

I have to admit even though she had a lot of really great things to borrow, I felt the sexiest in my own clothes.

I’M NOT A MODEL. WOULD I FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE POSING?

NO. Both Christi & Lela helped to find the right props, poses, and angles for each girl.  Their suggestions were great, but the best was they were super funny and made me laugh and captured real smiles, which I think was part of the whole experience.

ISN’T BOUDOIR JUST FOR MY PARTNER?

I think that in my 20’s, I would have done something like this for my partner, but in my 30’s, this was really for myself.

I loved the way I looked, and it was a fun time with the other girls in the wedding party to do as well… but yes, major bonus: My husband loved them!