Some friends and family recently helped throw me an awesome, memorable baby shower at the Queens Botanical Garden.  I knew about the shower well in advance so the one thing I wanted to add on my own was to hire a photographer.  I’m a big fan of hiring photographers, even for smaller events.  I think it lets everyone relax and not have to worry too much about taking photos and, then later, exchanging photos.  It gives me peace of mind to know that important moments are being documented by someone.  It doesn’t have to be complicated: for my shower, I hired the wonderful Mayumi, who offered a really reasonable, no-frills type of package.  Once you have the digital files, you can pick and choose the best images.  And, it’s a good idea to communicate with your photographer about your expectations beforehand.  In this case, I gave Mayumi a short list of “essentials”: photos that I really wanted to see (i.e. foods of the decor, food, photos of family together) and she did an amazing job!