Where to shop for clothes for family sessions? That is one of the most asked questions that I get from clients. I absolutely love discussing wardrobes with families and ways to ensure that the entire family looks cohesive, well put together and comfortable.

A few tips before we jump in:

-Patterns and textures always look fantastic.

-Style Mom first, then base everyone else’s outfits off of hers.

-Don’t be afraid to dress in a bold print.

-Avoid clothing with logos, bright neon colors and words.

-Don’t be afraid to accessorize.

-Not into dresses? That is okay, jeans or slacks work well with booties or heels. Don’t feel pressure to dress like other families.

-Utilize resources such as Pinterest or Instagram.

-Think of where your location will be taking place, use this when considering your shoes and clothing. For example, if your session is out in a field at the end of October, you may want to use cardigans over short sleeve dresses or tops to keep your child warm.

I will go over some of my favorite stores both local and online.

H&M | Madison East & West Malls + Online

-H&M always has sales going on, clothing for everyone and a fantastic variety of clothing options.

Old Navy + Gap | Madison & Baraboo + Online

-Old Navy and Gap has affordable pieces for your entire family, they also run really great deals throughout the year.

Target | Madison + Online

-Target is a family favorite for many families. The store caries a huge variety of clothing options for everyone in your family plus shoes and jewelry for every occasion.

Anthropologie | Madison + Online

-Anthropologie is widely known for their beautiful dresses and clothing. Their clothing can be on the more expensive side but the options are endless and the quality is top tier.

Other stores that are fantastic and favorites of many clients is Free People, Baltic Born and Amazon.

Locally owned stores are great too and they support our local small businesses.

Cosa Boutique | Verona

-Cosa is a delightful boutique with fantastic choices of clothing. Their pieces would go well with urban or fields.

Evie & Co | Waunakee

-Evie & Co is a great option filled with wonderful pieces that are on the basic side to help with layering for your sessions or to give a more minamalistic look.

Tradition Market | Middleton

-Tradition Market is a great choice if you want to take your child into the store to view options and try on. They have a large variety for not just babies but kids as well.

I always recommend to families that if they have a question on wardrobe, please reach out and I am happy to help assist in finding something that works well for your family or recommending a store.

Madison | Sun Prairie | Baraboo | Waunakee | Middleton | Portage | Fond du Lac

Your kiddo is turning one in a few months, the time has flown by. Are you wondering how you have made it through sleepless nights? Teething baby? Hundreds of diapers? You made it because you are amazing. Let’s talk Cake Smash Sessions.

Cake Smashes are the perfect celebratory session for this milestone in your baby’s life.

Originally, the cake smashes in the Rio studio were consisting of balloon garland, busy backdrops, and not a lot of focus solely on baby. As I revamped what I thought a cake smash should look like, I fell in love with the simplicity of what they could be.

I pictured a solid backdrop, beautiful outfit and a custom cake from the local baker in town. I had a vision and I went with it.

Zero regrets!

When I think of cake smashes, I think of wanting the focus to be on that sweet baby, to showcase their amazing and growing personality not colorful balloons, busy backgrounds and loads of props. I want the cake smash to truly be all about your baby.

Classic. Timeless. Beautiful.

Let’s talk about Norrie’s Cake Smash. Norrie came in to the studio right around her first birthday. I picked a nude colored backdrop to go well with two beautiful outfits from the Mini Client Wardrobe. Norrie wore a light pink bodysuit with hood that went perfectly with the nude background and posing box. She smiled and laughed with not a care in the world. When her mama changed her, I cleared the posing box and brought out the most wonderful cake from Nikki’s Cakes. I will be honest, she absolutely rocked the handmade onesie and bonnet set. It looked absolutely perfect on her. Norrie thoroughly enjoyed her cake and dove right in. Like all cake smash sessions, baby is given a wooden spoon to help with digging into their cake but they also love the spoon to show off just how well they can feed themselves.

How does the process work? Let’s chat about it.

1. You booked your cake smash session. The contract is signed and the retainer is paid. We get a date picked for the cake smash session.
2. We discuss colors that you may have in mind. Some parents want colors that go well with the colors of their home so they go well with their interior of their home. Some parents choose for the colors to go well with their baby’s bedroom. Many parents hand complete creative control over to me. There is no wrong answer, I promise.
3. I place the cake order with my local baker, Nikki’s Cakes & Specialty Cakes out of Rio.
4. The day of your session comes, I pick up the cake and head to my Rio studio.
5. We start the session off with portraits. I start it this way because not every baby responds to cake the same way. I make it my goal to at least get some beautiful and classic portraits of your kiddo.
6. Once the portraits are finished, we move on to changing your baby’s outfit and setting up the cake. Don’t be concerned if your baby hates the cake, wants nothing to do with the cake or cries. It is normal and your baby isn’t the first one to have this reaction. Other babies absolutely love the cake and dive right in.
7. When the session is finished, we get your baby cleaned up and changed. Within 24 hours, I get you a preview of you baby’s session.

Tips to make your cake smash go better?

1. Bring small snacks to encourage your baby to want to touch the cake. A great snack is Puffs.
2. Bring a favorite toy, this works well for sitting behind me and getting your baby to look at the camera and hopefully smile at something familiar.
3. Don’t go into the session with any expectations of what your baby will or won’t do. You would be surprised at how willing they sometimes can be.
4. I also recommend bringing a sippy/bottle so they can wash the cake down when they are finished.

Maternity Photographer | Newborn Photographer | Milestone Photographer | Cake Smash Photographer

Sun Prairie | Waunakee | Stoughton | Cross Plains | Baraboo | Rio | Fond du Lac | Beaver Dam | Columbus | Verona | Oxford | Wisconsin Dells | Reedsburg | Sauk City | Madison

Hey there, it is Becky with Finch & Mae Photography Studio. Thanks for stopping in.

I have a huge passion for maternity and newborn photography. It is the most magical thing to watch a mama that is expecting bring a baby into this world. I truly love it and I feel that more ladies need to do a maternity session.

I am offering 10 free maternity sessions with the purchase of any newborn session. Yes, you read that right. a free maternity session.

Being pregnant is one exciting and magical experience. I want you to feel beautiful and have a great time, do this for yourself.

You may be wondering why though? What made me want to do this?

With our last baby, I was diagnosed halfway through with ICP and to be honest, the entire pregancy became very traumatic very fast. What went from being something that I was so excited for became a pregnancy that was causing depression, fear and most of all heartbreak. I went from having a normal pregnancy to weekly doctors appointments, seeing a MFM, giving up my hospital of choice for one with a NICU, seeing an OB instead of our regular doctor, daily medications, ultrasounds, three NSTs a week, an early delivery of 36 weeks and so much more. I did all of this since 22 weeks. I cried daily on top of the itching and was so afraid that one day, our little girl wouldn’t make it. A local photographer at that time had reached out and offered me a maternity session and it was one of the best days of my entire pregnancy. I got to share the experience with my two sons, I wore pretty dresses and to be honest- it was the most normal part of the entire pregnancy.

Maternity sessions capture the love and joy that comes with being pregnant.

What comes with the free maternity session?

-30 Minute Session in my Rio studio.

-5 Edited Digital Images (you can of course purchase additional digital images, prints and products).

-Spouses/partners are welcome to join in for a few poses.

-Full use of the client wardrobe.

You are also more than welcome to upgrade to a full maternity session outdoors for a discounted price. This can include children, your spouse and is an hour long.

Ready to get your free maternity session?

Hey there, thanks for stopping by. I am Becky the owner of Finch & Mae Photography in Rio, WI. Finch & Mae Photography Studio is a maternity, newborn and baby photographer.

Milestone sessions are honestly so important to me. I love seeing babies change throughout their first year. Over the past few years, parents have been telling me how much they enjoy these sessions. Seeing the personality change, how big their baby has grown, the smiles. I have even had a dad tell me that he can hear his baby laugh just by looking at the picture.

These sessions are truly just so fun and honestly, they are super quick. Avery’s session was less than an hour and we did numerous outfits. Do I do numerous outfits for every session? The answer is simple, it depends on the baby. Some babies are completely chill and are willing to do anything where others are more reserved and there is no wrong. The purpose of a milestone session is to capture your baby with where they are at currently in their life. Some babies are completely aware of strangers and that they are not a person that they see on a regular basis where others just don’t care.

A common question I get is, do I provide the outfits? I offer a full mini client wardrobe for babies newborn -2. Your baby is of course more than welcome to use any of these outfits for their session. In fact, most parents have me pick the backdrop colors and outfits for their session.

What happens if my baby cries? I get this one a lot! Parents get concernd that their baby may cry during their session and I can’t say that it doesn’t happen or it won’t happen. At this age, babies are extremely aware of who is not mom and dad. What we do to keep baby happy is play music, we dance, bring snacks such as puffs, bring a favorite toy. I almost always get at least enough images for a full gallery and some of the sad faces wind up being mom and dad’s absolute favorite images in the gallery.

See you in a few months for you cake smash, Avery

Finch & Mae Photography Studio specializes in maternity, newborn, milestone, cake smash and family photography.

Sun Prairie | Madison | Cross Plains | Baraboo | Rio | Doylestown | Columbus | Beaver Dam | Fond du Lac |

Waunakee