Well, I suppose this post is a little late, but come on now, we were too busy making sure every client got thier gifts in time to wrap them and put them under the tree!  We hope you all had an amazing Christmas and an wish you joy in celebrating a brand new year. Let’s make it a good one!

The pic above is from our cozy studio team Christmas party. I think we all really enjoyed being able to relax together and talk, especially knowing that every thing was done and that our break was to come! (We will be back in the studio on the 2nd.)

Erin and Lainey, both decked out for a holiday partay!

We just received this email from a client yesterday, and it gave me chills when I read it! Thank you so much for your kind words, Susan… and thanks for letting us share your experience here on our blog. xoxo, The Divas

“OMG Erin!! :-D I got my album and CD’s in this afternoon’s mail! You guys r-o-c-k in getting your work out so damn fast (less than 24 hrs, sheesh!)!! I was once again, stunned speechless as I beheld my beautiful photo album in my hands. I felt, and still feel, choked up in gratitude, appreciation and sincere thankfulness. Emotions that are welling up from the soul because of giving me such a deeply personal and truly unique gift that no other person has. Your lovely team that day has shown me a beautiful side to myself that I’ve never seen. And now that you’ve allowed me to peer behind the heavy curtains of self doubt and dancing threads of insecurities, a mystical force of confidence has seared itself into my character which allows me to fight those horrible thoughts, perhaps forever! :-) If I were to wish any one thing for all of womankind, is to spend the afternoon with your girls, such as the wonderous day that I had, all for the sake of “gifting” unto them what I have been blessed to have received. Please, please, please pass onto the entire staff my heartfelt thank you! ♥ Forever stronger, Susan”

When did the world start using celebrities, movie stars, and models as the standard for beauty? Why are THEY the only ones gracing the covers of magazines? Who says the everyday, average woman isn’t JUST a beautiful as the images staring them in the face at the checkout aisle in the grocery store? Today, remind yourself that YOU. ARE. BEAUTIFUL. Just as you are. Our desire is to help women realize their unique beauty. We want to help you celebrate who you are today. So, look at yourself in the mirror today, and ask yourself what is holding you back from realizing just how beautiful you truly are. We all know that it is not just about the outward appearance; there is something deep within a woman that wants to be known, and seen as beautiful, for who she is. What woman doesn’t want to hear that famous phrase Mark Darcy utters to Bridget Jones: ‘I like you. Just as you are.’ What will it take for you to recognize your beauty today? For some women, a boudoir photo shoot is just that – a way to reignite confidence and remember how beautiful they are. But no matter what it takes… a photo shoot, or a manicure, or writing in your journal, or praying and walking along the beach… do something today to remind yourself of how beautiful you are. You were made by a Creator who loves you… and you are beautiful. xoxo, Kimberlee (for The Divas)

If you want to see our earlier post to learn more about changes click here!

Miss Deena Cormier ….. Studio Manager

This fabulous woman has been with us for years and years. She and I (Marissa) have been best friends since we were in middle school and we even shared the same photography teacher in High School. If he could only see us now! Deena is an amazing photographer and she knows everything about this studio inside and out. Her love for the studio, and more importantly her love for our amazing clients, has given her the promo of Studio Manager. When K and I are traveling for speaking or workshops and are gone for weeks at a time, this fabulous lady will be able to run the place as her own, she does now already! Hip hip hooraaay to Deen!!!

Erin Ashley Greene …. Photographer and Customer Service Diva

First, I have to say I just love her name. I love it so much that I just call her by her full name all the time. It just has such a good ring. Say it …. “Erin Ashley Greene.” Ah.

This wonderful woman was working using her kind heart, organization and people loving skills working quickly up the ladder at a huge and fancy salon as a coordinator. Sounds nice huh? That’s why we were so honored when this amazingly sweet and talented lady wanted to be a part of our staff as a “Photographer and Customer Service Diva.” I instantly knew she would be perfect for the job and we were thrilled when she accepted! I cannot tell you how thrilled and perfect I think she for this and I am sure you will feel the same way the second you chat with her.

Welcome to The Boudoir Divas Erin Ashley Greene! You have no idea how blessed we feel to have you and we know that not only will you find that shooting boudoir is incredibly rewarding, but the amazing clients that you become friends is the best reward of the job!

Crystal Carr…. Photographer

You know her already! She’s been with us forever and is still here and rocking her incredible skills as a photographer! Lucky us, or maybe lucky, lucky YOU if she ends up being your photographer!

Peggy Rogers…. Make-Up and Hair Extraordinaire

You all know Peggy already! Peggy is one of the make-up n hair gals here and it goes without saying that she is pretty freaking amazing. We are lucky to have her. She is so fun to chat with while you are getting your hair and make-up done! She also works at Elite Salon and does wedding’s with her own co… Blush Bride.

You know us….. Marissa Boucher and Kimberlee West… Owners, Photographers and Photography/Business Educators.

Weston Boucher… Hubby, Founder, Late night tech support, Wedding Photographer

This talented hubby of mine has helped in so many ways. Although he doesn’t shoot boudoir (we are an all female staff) he is still a huge part of the biz. For example he stays into the wee hours of the night helping me put together new sets, and doing random things like hook up smoke alarms and fix all our equip.  If you have been following us awhile you know he is a big part of The Boudoir Divas in so many ways. Thanks babe for all your love and for being there for me when owning a business just sometimes feels like a little too much.

Elaine Boucher…. 9-5, Monday-Friday Diva Assistant

She is always here tucked away on her leopard print bed. She spends her day napping and taking turns staring at each gal until they feel compelled to come over and give her love. As you can see she is a true asset to the company.

To our Boudoir-Burlesque BASH!!! Yayyy!!!!! This is going to be so awesome! The invitation is open to ANYone! … all of our friends, family, past clients, current clients, future clients, industry peers… anyone who would like to come! It’s an open house for anyone who would like to see the studio.

If you have had a shoot with us recently, why not grab a few of your girlfriends and bring them in to see where you had your boudoir experience?! If you are THINKING of doing a shoot with us (or hosting a Pin-Up Party), then this is the PERFECT opportunity to meet our staff, take a tour of the studio, and see what we’re all about. Or just come, grab a glass of champagne, have a few snacks, and just hang with your girlfriends. OH – and did we mention we’re going to have a RAFFLE!? We’d love to have you come hang out!

Details: Thursday, August 18, at 6pm! If you want to come, just shoot us an email (so we can chill enough champagne for everyone!) – and then we’ll also send you our address & directions to get here (if you haven’t been to the studio before). Hope to see you there! xoxo, The Divas

Ahhhhh we cannot WAIT to see the burlesque performance by the fabulous LALAs!!!! We’ll also have

Interested in booking a boudoir shoot with San Diego’s premier boudoir photography studio!? Give us a call: 858.485.0443, or email us: SDstudio@TheBoudoirDivas.com {Our dates are filling up SUPER fast for the rest of the summer… give us a call if you are ready to get a tentative date on the calendar!}

*******************************************
A FEW UPDATES FOR YOU:
Based on some questions we’ve been receiving, I wanted to clarify a few things:
1) Cost: This is a FREE event! :)
2) Attire: You can wear whatever you want… the “Diva Team” will probably be wearing dresses (it’s always nice to have an excuse to dress up, right?!) :)
3) Time: It’s an open house – so come when you want, leave when you want! :)
4) Burlesque: The Lalas will be doing a short performance for us… but no, we won’t be having a ‘burlesque lesson’ (maybe we’ll do that at a future open house, though!)

As of right now, we have over 100 fabulous ladies who have RSVP’ed to the open house, so it’s going to be a LOT of fun!!!!! We can’t wait to meet and hang out with all of you!

Change is in the air around here. We have had such an awesome team and we know that it is the people that we select that make our fabulous Diva experience fabulous! Recently we had to say a very sad goodbye to Danielle, who Dad’s health (please say a prayer for him although he is in recovery now) had her jumping to her family’s aid in a time of need. In the same couple of weeks we said bye bye to Ashley as she left to work at Barona (she went to school for hotel management so it makes sense). That left Deena, Crystal, Kimee and I (Weston helped with a lot too) with a lot on our hands and on a mission to find the perfect peeps to fill these wonderful ladies shoes. It was a hard task but with the help of our network of amazing friends, and tons of resumes to sift through we found the gals!

Next week we will introduce the new Boss Lady in charge of running the whole place, you may know her, then we also found our new Princess of Production, we hired a perfect fit for Photographer and Customer Service, then we even added another Photographer and Make-up Artist. Whew!!! We were busy and we love what we ended up with. We will make their big debut on the blog and site next week.

For now here are some teasers….

Tune in next week to meet them all!! xoxo- Marissa & Kimberlee

Happy (belated) birthday to the wonderful, amazing, talented, fabulous founder of the Boudoir Divas Incorporated! We love you, Marissa! xoxo, Team Diva

Thanks so much for liking us. It feels so wonderful to be liked. We like you too. If you don’t like us yet, click here and then click like. :)

Hey fabulous clients! Did you know that $5 of EVERY SHOOT is donated to our fund to help women entrepreneurs in Malawi?! We just wanted to let everyone know about this… because we’re so passionate about it! Marissa and I recently took a trip to Uganda, Africa, to document the stories of women and children living in poverty.
We had the amazing opportunity to talk with these resilient women, to hear their stories, and to see first-hand HOW they have been able to survive – and thrive – despite the horrible circumstances they’ve been faced with, being born into poverty. It was incredibly humbling to see these women, and to hear the HOPE in their voices, despite what they are facing on a daily basis. Most of them women we met have been able to change their situation, and get OUT of poverty… and it was really cool to consistently see that a small business loan had helped them do this. We saw women with tailoring businesses and little shops – they’ve been able to make a living for themselves, and all they needed was a little hand up, to help them get started.

We are so blessed… we have been born into a society and a country that gives us SO MUCH opportunity. Marissa and I run a successful business, and we have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams, knowing that we are able to live OUT this dream of ours with The Boudoir Divas! We just want to give back, even though this seems like a small way. But we want to give a few women the opportunity to start a small business in their hometown!

One man we spoke with in Uganda defined poverty as “helplessness plus hopelessness.” It’s not about material goods or wealth. It’s about having no hope… no possible way for you to change your life… because there is absolutely no way to pull yourself out of your current situation. This is how a majority of the world is living. So when a small opportunity is held out to someone who is helpless & hopeless… their situation is now given new meaning as they are given an opportunity to change. They are no longer in poverty because they DO have hope. They DO have an opportunity to change, to do something about their situation. They are no longer helpless.

So, anyway… we just wanted to give a little more info to all of our clients about this program, and about how excited we are about this big dream! Thank you so much to EACH of our clients who book a shoot with The Boudoir Divas. You are a part of this big dream too! THANK YOU! xoxo, The Divas

Please click here if you’d like to find out how to become involved

Deena, Deena, Deena. What can we say to you? Words can’t even begin to describe how amazing you are… and how much we LOVE you! You are an integral part of our team, and we can’t imagine what we’d do without you! You are a wonderful mom, great friend, and you’re just SO much fun to be around. Whenever Deen is in the room, there is sure to be laughter and smiles. You light up our office with your personality. You make your clients feel drop-dead GORGEOUS. Your ‘Grateful Game‘ makes me smile EVERY time I get your email or text message. You are a fabulous album designer/pro-retoucher, and every piece of work you create for our clients is absolutely stunning. You are beautiful. You are fun. You are amazing. You are the $h*# rocker. And we LOVE YOU! Have a happy happy birthday (a day early) – you deserve it. xoxo, K & M (and the rest of Team Diva)

PS – Deen’s bday is actually Saturday (tomorrow!)… shoot her an email (Deena@TheBoudoirDivas.com), or post on her FB page, or give her a shout-out on her Twitter, or simply click below & leave a comment here to tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Thanks everyone!