To Cake Smash or Not to Cake Smash?

marie 30th October 2019 Uncategorised 21 Comments

Cake smashes have become very popular over the last few years, capturing some wonderful image of your little one’s expressions and reactions when they first see a huge cake to go all out on, to taking a bath to wash all that cake off their innocent faces – they are so much fun and offer a whole host of priceless photography opportunities.

More than just cake

Nonetheless, these sessions are more than just the cake. What some people do not realise is that we start the session with a lovely classic portrait first, capturing them in your favourite outfit or something from my ever growing collection of bespoke outfits. We then move onto your pre-chosen outfit, which includes matching bunting, balloons and a classic wooden number one for the finishing touch. After some lovely smiles from this pose, we then BRING OUT THE CAKE and wait and watch as their faces are of pure wonder and amazement.

The splash part

After some playing about, fun and lots of mess with the cake singing ‘Pat a cake’ with a wooden spoon in hand. It’s my favourite bit, the ‘splash’ part of the session, including a few yellow ducks and lots of bubbles, these really are so much fun and get the best smiles.

Now, photography is a very personal thing and not all the ‘smash and splash’ session involve a cake! Listening to clients wishes for a session is vital and I’ve done the same set up but without the cake part of it to ensure I achieve what the clients are hoping to get from the session.

Fruit smash

I’ve also recently started offering a ‘fruit smash’ session that are getting more popular. It’s a similar concept but the client opts for babies favourite fruit and enjoy a milk bath to maintain dignity! These are great if you wanted a healthier option, an alternative if you’ve previously had a cake smash or even if baby prefers fruit to cake.

What type of cake?

Two common questions I get asked is what type of cake do I need to bring? This is really a personal preference as we have a wonderful cake company we are teamed up with who offer amazing cakes and matches the colour scheme to my outfits which looks fantastic. Equally I’ve had the biggest home made rainbow cake I’ve ever seen made by a Grandma, alternatively a supermarket giant cupcake has also been a great option too. Ultimately babies don’t mind where the cake comes from there reaction is always priceless.

Before
After

When to book in?

The second question is when should I book the session in? Again another personal choice, but often clients like to use my images for 1st birthday party invitations, thank you cards or social media posts on the big day. So with this in mind we’d say a few weeks before their first birthday. Others choice to spend their actual birthday with us, having a fabulous time and what a better way to spend your birthday then eating cake in our warm and welcoming studio!

Blog offer

If you would like to book your baby in for a birthday session, I’m excited to be offering a special blog discount, just £35 (usually £49) including a 7×5 print, quote ‘BLOG’ when enquiry. Offer ends November 30th 2019.

For more information or to book please contact us.

Fellow newborn photographer Kent, Clare from Clare Long Photography, has a wonderful blog this week explaining sitter sessions, go and give it a little read if you have time.