Baby A and his cream and gold cake smash – Colchester Essex
I can’t believe a whole year has flown by since baby A’s newborn shoot and here is the gorgeous little boy back for his first birthday photoshoot. From start to finish he was the happiest little soul. Each cake smash is individual and his Mummy wanted quite a neutral theme so the photos were all about him. So we went for a cream and gold balloon arch, a big number one, white simple lighting, we started off taking some photographs in his normal outfit as it was super cute and some family images, then he was changed into his little cake smash outfit with super cute hat and bow tie. And then we slide the cake in and he just loved it. I always ask parents to give their baby a cake a couple of weeks before the planned cake smash and to let them super messy and covered in frosting so it’s not strange when they come in to get messy. Sometimes babies don’t like to get messy and love the splashing in the rolltop baby bath but baby A just loved every singe bit. When you do lots of cake smashes you become adept at reading when baby needs to move onto the next stage, typically cake smashes last 45 minutes to an hour.
After the cake was finished with, I clean up the cake as I like a nice clean set with the rolltop bath, Mum and Dad helped by grabbing baby A and getting him ready for the bath part of the smash whilst I check the temperature of the water in the bath and brought it in, and then he splashed away. The beauty about cake smashes in the studio is that parents don’t have all the mess to clean up. This beautiful little boy was such a joy to photograph again. Cake smashes really are the most amazing way to record your babies first year and a wonderful memory to look back on, alongside a really lovely sensory experience for your child.
Questions I am frequently asked about cake smash pricing
How much do cake smashes cost?
My cake smashes start from £150 including digitals.
Does my child have to have cake?
No! I don’t advocate using artifical sweeteners for cake smash cakes, I am happy to work with parents to find alternatives to cake. You could give your child fruit, or carrot sticks, in fact how cute would a Peter Rabbit shoot be with your baby munching on carrots. It is possible to use a dummy cake too and hide some tiny little snacks on the back to keep your child interested.
Why are cake smashes so expensive?
Before every cake smash the studio is extensively cleaned using steaming and safe anti bacterial sprays on surfaces where the food touches, an average cake smash takes a good 3 hours to set up and clean properly, without any editing of images or the clean up afterwards. Balloon arches and bespoke sets take even longer to make, so even if this figure is out of your budget there is so much work that goes into just setting up the cake smash without taking into account wear and tear on equipment, paper rolls if you’re having a coloured background that are thrown away.
Using balloons isn’t environmentally friendly.
I pride myself in always sourcing ethically produced materials. Balloons are reused not to save money, but to have less impact on the environment. I do this by tying a few together it’s ever so fiddly and then untying them afterwards – great fun, but definitely trying to improve my footprint. On white sessions I use vinyl which means we don’t waste paper either throwing it away.
Where is your studio?
I have a gorgeous dedicated home studio located at Polstead Heath, Colchester, Essex – near to Colchester, Hadleigh, Boxford, Assington, Bildeston and Ipswich to give you an idea of location. I have ample parking and dedicated client toilet.