Cake Smash Welcome Guide

It’s your little ones first birthday! What an exciting milestone to have had your little one in your life for a whole 12 months! This session makes the perfect images to share on social media and print to treasure this special time forever but many mums and dads also use them for thank you cards or incorporate into your child's first birthday party.

How does the session work?

A cakesmash shoot can last up to an hour but it all really depends on your little ones love of cake! I tend to find most babies of this age last about 40 mins for the actual shoot so I split the shoot into three sections to get as much variety in your gallery as possible (no one needs 30 photos of just cake, right?!).

Once your little one is settled and comfortable with me a typical session normally looks like this………

We start without the cake and use a variety of chairs/benches/props against your chosen background design/set up
Then we move onto the cake - theres no stopping at this point ha ha, cake will be going everywhere, we’ll all be getting a bit messy and we’ll be having great fun.
It’s bath time in my bespoke baby sized bath! The babies go crazy for it, splashing around and having lots of fun and it makes for the cutest pictures.

I normally suggest we schedule your cake smash around 2 weeks before your little ones birthday so we have plenty of time to edit the images and get them back to you and for you to print/utilise at your end before the big day.

You’ll receive all of your digital images on a password protected gallery ready for you to download, share etc. You’ll normally recieve around 25-35 completely unique shots but potentially many more. If I think it’s a great image and you’d like to see it I’ll always add extra images into your gallery. I like to really focus on connecting with your child and capturing their personalily so you’ll find me being completely daft with them - anything to get that giggle or smile for the perfect image.

Some parents like to introduce their children to cake before the day, just so they've had a taste but this is completely up to you of course.

Designing your shoot……..

Once you’re all booked in - we can start discussing colour schemes/design - my favourite part!

I provide all of the props and backdrops and I’m always happy to create new colour schemes if you can’t see any examples of what you are after on my website/socials. I just need a few weeks notice so I can purchase additional items etc if I don’t have them in stock.

Once we’ve picked a colour scheme/look we can can then decide how to decorate - I’ve got an array of bunting, garlands, fans, decorations, balloons and if you prefer we can create a stunning balloon garland/arch - theres an additional cost for these as I outsource the work but it’s so worth it!

I have a lovely selection of cake smash outfits available - please see below and you are of course very welcome to provide your own.

I can also provide your cake for you to save you the hassle of ordering, collecting (especially with a small baby in tow, right!) and will have it all ready for you big day. I’ve partnered up with Katie’s Cake Kitchen based in Billericay and she’s created for me an 8 inch cake, simply finished and designed so you don’t have to spend a fortune on cake that your baby is going to be throwing around (however if we play at a high level we maybe able to save some to take home) - Just hit add cake when youre making your booking and I’ll take care of everything for you.

The Outfit Choices

You are of course more than welcome to bring your own and I also have pink and white girls tutu’s in addition to what’s shown here. Perfect to team with a vest.

On the Day…………..

Sounds obvious but as much as possible try and ensure your baby is well rested and maybe plan breakfast so baby is just a tiny bit hungry (not starving!!!!)

My address is 60 Norton place, Ramsden Heath, Billericay, CM11 1JJ - I’ll remind you of this a few days before your appointment alongside instructions of where the studio is actually located etc

Please do your best to arrive on time - no easy feat with a baby I truly understand. I do have turnaround time after each session but out of respect to my next clients I’m sure you’ll appreciate I have to finish the session on time and I want to make sure I give you a full session and get as much variety in your images as possible.

Payment is due on the day - Cash, Bank transfer and Card are all accepted

On the day bring a towel, wet wipes and potentially an outfit for yourself if you plan on going anywhere nice afterwards ha ha! We will all normally be quite messy by the end!

If you have any questions at all, please just ask!

P.S Whilst I’ll never say no, this session isn’t ideal to grab extra images with siblings/parents - the reason being that we’ll be completely set up to go with your backdrop/decorations when you arrive so that will need to be the background that we would use and if I can be completely honest having additional children/parents in their normal clothes in the images just looks a bit odd 🤣 It cuts into our shoot time and your babies staying power for the rest of the shoot.