Each month I showcase one of my portrait photography sessions to give you a glimpse into what you can expect if you were to book in something for you and your family. This time I’m sharing a gorgeous cake smash photoshoot for a very special birthday girl!
Mum got in touch to arrange a photoshoot for her little girl’s birthday celebration after a family member had come to me for their own little one’s cake smash photoshoot last year, so they knew they’d be in good hands booking with me. (I’ll be popping a thank you in the post for that referral very soon too if you’re reading this!!)
The first and probably most important part of any cake smash photoshoot is the consultation. I do most of my consultations on Zoom, but clients are welcome to book a phone call or come to the studio too if they prefer.
This is your opportunity to tell me everything you’re hoping to get out of your photoshoot. What’s important to you? What colours do you like and dislike? What would be your ideal theme for the cake smash photos? I also use this time to dig a bit deeper to try and discover what makes your family unique so I can create meaningful photographs that you’ll adore. If you’ve been to me before, then we’ll still do a consultation but it’ll just be a shorter ‘catch up’ version.
How does a cake smash photoshoot work?
The way I run cake smash photoshoots in my Gloucester photo studio are to have five key elements:
- The family photos
- (Clean!) Baby photos
- The cake smash (the messy part!)
- The mini bubble bath
- Baby wrapped up in the towel at the end
The unfamiliar environment and new experiences can easily tire and overwhelm your little ones, so we avoid lingering too long on any one part to try and keep them as happy as possible for all the best moments!
The Family Photo
The first thing we’ll always do is capture some up-to-date family photos for you. After all, everyone is still nice and clean and looking at their best! No matter how hard you try, it’s likely that you’ll end up wearing cake at some point during the session as babies love to come in for those post-cake cuddles! (It’s like they know!)
The Baby Photos
Next up we’ll get a few photos of your baby on their own. Typically this would just be on the birthday themed backdrop but depending how we’re getting on, we might get some on the plain backdrop too. Here we included baby’s cat teddy bear as as little one adored cats! Mum just had to say ‘meow’ and she would start chuckling – it was adorable!
With any sessions involving your kids, I love to capture their special toys or your heirlooms that have been passed down through generations. It’s amazing to see their growth compared to the toys or to compare with mum or dad as a baby with the same toy!
Some parents choose to have different outfits for the family photos and for the cake smash element, and depending what we chat about in your consultation, I can offer advice on what to wear if you’re unsure. For the cake smash element, I offer a simple selection of outfits for your little one, however most families prefer to bring their own. If you want to bring additional outfits for baby, you’re welcome to, however please do bear in mind that lots of babies don’t love getting in and out of clothes, so you might risk them getting grumpy before we get properly going with the cake smash.
The Cake Smash
We’ve done the clean part – now let’s get messy! Some babies dive straight into the cake when they see them, so I tend to warn parents to keep hold of their little one until I’ve popped the cake into place and managed to get back into position for taking photos, so we don’t miss those all-important first shots!
Some babies will go for it, eating away; some will need a bit of encouragement from mum or dad first. We’ve got a range of methods to try and get them stuck in and enjoying themselves!
Occasionally, if they’ve never had it before, we may find that babies don’t actually like the cake because they’re not used to the texture and sweetness of it (I wrote a blog in more detail about that here). Some babies also don’t like getting messy and refuse to touch it again, so we really do experience it all in the studio! Please don’t feel stressed if your baby isn’t doing what you want them to do; we’ll just move onto the mini bubble bath as that’s usually a crowd pleaser! I mean just look at this big smile!!
The Mini Bubble Bath
Whilst in the bath, we’ll let your little one splash about, enjoy the bubbles and even play with our studio rubber duckies! This is actually the bit that babies tend to enjoy the most during the session and I love capturing all their happy smiles and giggles.
The Towel Shot
At some point, the fun’s got to end and we have to wrap up the session. A lot of the time, by this point, babies are starting to get a bit tired anyway, so we’ll get them all snuggled up and dried off in their favourite towel (or use one of the studio ones if you don’t have one!) before trying to get one last adorable photo of them wrapped up if we can. We don’t always manage it, but when we do – they’re just the cutest!!
And That’s It!
I hope you enjoyed that glimpse into one of my cake smash sessions. They’re such a fun way to celebrate the end of a year of ‘firsts’ for your little one. If you’re thinking about booking something in for your little one’s birthday, check out my cake smash photoshoot page to find out more and get in touch.
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