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

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