What is a cake smash?
In short a cake smash session is a photo session that celebrates your child turning one years old with a themed set, a cake for smashing, and really fun messy photos of your baby enjoying their very first taste of the long standing happy birthday tradition. But there is so much more to a cake smash than that. For me, it’s a photo session that celebrates the babies first birthday, the parents first year, and saying goodbye to the infant stage of the child’s life.
Years ago when I first had my kids there was really no formal name for a cake smash. You had a party, you presented your 1 year old with a cake, and everyone laughed and clapped as they attempted to destroy the cake. The End. This was of course, before social media. In the times before social media there was no real way to show off what you did in a weekend, or how you celebrated your child’s birthday. Maybe a few emailed photos to close family and friends- but really there was no proof of the baby enjoying cake for the first time.
Fast forward to now and you almost feel like a bad parent if you don’t have a cake smash. You shouldn’t. My kids didn’t have one, and I’m a fantastic parent! They are great kids! Our lives moved on. HOWEVER I will say the photos are insanely cute and I would have loved to have had a themed photo form each of them at that age. What would I have chosen for my oldest, vs my youngest?
A cake smash is an in studio session that celebrates your little ones first trip around the sun. I believe that every photographer has their process but I can only speak to my process.
I like to start with updated pictures of the baby. I ask parents to bring in a simple outfit and we get modern photos using a neutral color backdrop and little to no props. I like for the child to have an uninterrupted moment to shine. There is no competing with a busy background- just beautiful photos of your child, simple and sweet.
I offer multiple cake smash session packages. If your family chooses to do family photos- then we will start our session with those. I LOVE family photos at this age. The achievement of a baby turning one is just as much for their growth as it is for yours. This was new to ALL of you, so we should celebrate ALL OF YOU.
Who can resist those gummy smiles and chubby little hands gripping your shirt- as the wise people will tell you, it goes by quick so if you can, capture now.
After the family photos and updated one year old pictures, we move on to the big reveal of their set. For me, I have a consultation with parents before the session to decide on a theme for the 1 year old. It can be/ has been anything from space, to cars, to stars, to rainbow arched balloons. The list of cake smash themes is long and never ending. I am always surprised by the creativity of the families that I meet. Some of them are very new to me and that is saying a lot, because I have been doing this for a long time! Whatever the theme, I enjoy putting together a custom set that matches the vision in you have of your babies first birthday. I create all of my sets in my studio- and I’ll always send you a quick video the night before to show you what the set looks like in real time.
It’s always a good idea to match the theme and color of the set with your babies outfit! I’m very big on this. I think if you want to see consistency in your images- and you really want the images to have that pintrest look- then you absolutely have to coordinate their outfits to the set.
The very last thing we will do is give the baby his/her cake, ironic isn’t it? We call it a cake smash but that is the shortest part of the whole session!
In my experience babies typically don’t care for the cake, but they enjoy a mess and THAT is what every parent is looking for and wanting.
Whatever your ideas for your child’s cake smash might be- chat with your photographer and allow them to help you bring that vision to life.
xo, Stephanie
