WHAT IS A CAKE SMASH AND SPLASH SESSION?
Congratulations, you’ve got through the first year of motherhood wahoo!
So now we best celebrate your bambinos first birthday in style yeah?
Let me tell you about the Cake Smash and Splash sessions.
Do you want your images to be edited, finished and returned back to you in time for you to use on your child’s birthday for the invitations or that all important facebook post? If so, I recommend booking in a date around a full month before the date of your child’s birthday (so your little one will be 11months at the time of the shoot), OR why not come see me on the day or week of their birthday? This is a lovely thing to do the morning or afternoon of their birthday, you’re often both of work this day anyway so why not put that time off to good use and come watch your child go to town on a birthday cake (haha) and allow me to capture and create memories for you to display in your homes forever more.
The 3 stages of the Cake Smash & Splash Session
CLEAN
The clean stage. We will capture a couple of gorgeous portraits of your little one on their own, playing with balloons, sat on a cute little chair, holding my O N E letters and generally being their cute little selves. You may bring a different outfit for this part of the session and another outfit for the cake smash if you wish. Maybe this outfit is super special and you don’t want to get cake on it for example. Please also feel free to bring any of their favourite toys and teddies to incorporate into this part of the session if you wish.
CAKE
My favourite part. THE MESS! So I won’t lie to you, it’s going to be messy.
This is more often than not your child’s first taste of sugar/buttercream/cake, not in every case, but in most. Don’t be surprised if your child doesn’t love the cake, some will, some won’t. Be ready with a bag of wafers, or crisps or something to stick in the cake so it looks like they’re going to smash it but actually they’re just picking out all the hidden snacks that we’ve secretly hidden in the cake haha. On the flip side some will literally sit and devoir the entire thing, so at that point i’ll take it off them before they make themselves sick and I’ll wish you the very best of luck with the colourful nappies that you’ll have the pleasure of changing that evening.
SPLASH
The part that ALL kids love. The BATH! I have a selection of 3 baths for you to choose from; a large enamel old school bath bowl, a silver tin bath and a gorgeous white roll top baby bath (my fave). You can choose (if you’re bringing twins they’ll only both fit in the enamel bowl). I try and encourage them to splash as much as they can and I love getting their hair and eyelashes all wet and there is nothing funnier than when they try and eat the bubbles and get a bubble beard - CUTE!
WHAT TO BRING
Clean outfit
Cake Outfit
Cake
Bubble Bath
Towel
Change of clothes for child to go home in
Change of clothes for parents to go home in (just incase)
Toys/Teddies you want to include
Snacks and Drink for child
DO I NEED TO BRING THE CAKE?
YES!
In the past I used to provide the cake, however the more and more cake smashes I was doing the more allergies I was coming across and I couldn’t take the risk anymore. There are some fantastic cakes that you can buy in the supermarket now that are absolutely fine for the cake smash session.
WHAT TYPE OF CAKE SHALL I BUY?
It’s up to you how much you want to spend on your cake firstly. You are more than welcome to go extra fancy and contact a baker and have one made. More often than not a cake maker will know what type of cake to make for a cake smash session (a small round cake, covered in buttercream) - equally, there are plenty in the supermarkets these days that are totally fine.
Basically, you just need a cake that is easy to smash/pull apart/make a mess with. Think about it, a hard royal icing cake is so so tough your baby isn’t going to be able to tear that up, so the softer the buttercream the better, and your little baby will be able to get their hands stuck in and wipe it all over their chops.
It’s self explanatory but DO NOT BUY A CAKE THAT CONTAINS ANYTHING THAT YOUR BABY COULD CHOKE ON, if you do please please ensure that you remove them ahead of your cake smash session.
HOW DO I CHOOSE MY BACKDROP?
If you have a look on my Instagram page - www.instagram.com/emilygreenphotography at the ‘Cake Smash’ highlights tab, I have a whole catalogue of backdrops for you to choose from there. Please let me know of your choice ahead of your session so that I can ensure I am all set up for you correctly on the day.
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the Cake Smash and Splash sessions. Click below to book now!