Preparing For Your Cake Smash Session
Cake smash sessions are so much fun! I really do love them! What's our goal? Get messy!
Why book a cake smash session?
Your baby is going to be ONE! That is a HUGE milestone! Many clients will book newborn, 3, 6, and 9 month milestone sessions, and that 12 month session is the last big milestone until the age of two! Why not celebrate and let them smash cake? Its fun, its exciting, they love it, and the images are adorable. You won't regret it! You can also do things like spaghetti, donuts or paint. Anything that's messy works well.
Where do you get the cake?
There are many places that you can purchase your cake. Keep in mind that it's going to get destroyed and smashed, so I don't recommend getting an expensive cake, keep it cheap. Here are a few good options;
Any commercial store with a bakery has small cakes. If you aren't looking for something custom there are plenty of options. They can generally make a custom cake for a very affordable price as well. A 6" to 8" cake is more than enough for your little one.
Making it yourself is an option. A nice white cake, some colored frosting, add some polka-dots, it doesn't need to be fancy.
Any bakery in town can make a smash cake customized with the colors and flavor that you'd like, its just a simple smaller sized version.
What kind of cake should I get?
Vanilla. Vanilla cake, no chocolate. Inside dyes and frosting colors are entirely up to you. I do not recommend black, dark green or red frosting at all, it tends to not photograph that well. Light and pale colors are best for frosting like white, pink, light blue, light purple, etc.
Please also stay away from fondant. I know it looks cute and is totally customizable, but its hard for your little one to dig into their cake with that hard layer on it. Besides, its going to get smashed anyway. Stick with frosting. ;)
What if my baby is allergic?
If your baby is allergic to anything, I recommend making your own cake so that you know that it doesn't have any allergens in it. Or you could go with another option of messy food, I am happy to come up with ideas if you want to contact me!
What backdrops do you use/have?
These sessions get messy. I use a variety of backdrops and floor drops that I can either clean or paper that can be thrown away. For ideas on backdrops click here. If you have a certain theme you'd like, let me know and we can talk about what will work best.
If there is a specific theme or certain colors you are going for, let me know asap! We can plan things ahead of time to go along with your theme.
What should my baby wear?
For one year sessions some clients will bring just one outfit, others will use two. Whatever is used for the cake smash is going to get cake on it. That's a fact.
If you are doing this before their birthday party takes place and there is an outfit that you would like them to wear in the photo session that they are also wearing at the party, it might be best to do some non-cake photos before we let them get messy so that the outfit can stay clean.
Often times we just use a diaper cover, some parents bring tutus for girls, suspenders for boys, party hats, etc. The focus is on them getting that frosting everywhere.
Can we use balloons?!
Absolutely! If you do want to incorporate balloons, I ask that you bring non-shiny, non-metallic, regular latex balloons with or without helium is fine. Themed balloons are just fine however the Mylar balloons can be reflective and not photograph well. If you would like the balloons floating you'll want to either fill them before coming or bring a small helium tank along to fill them at the studio.
What do I need to bring?
Do not dress nice if you are not going to be in photos before we do the cake smash. You will get frosting on you, and it may or may not stain clothing depending on the type and color.
Baby wipes! Lots and lots and lots of baby wipes! This is how we clean up. Believe me, we have tried the bath, frosting just gets slimy when mixed with water, baby wipes work far better!
Bring along puffs, or cheerios, or something small that can be placed in the cake if your child doesn't show much interest in it so that they start to play with the cake.
Cake smash sessions are messy and exciting, be ready for frosting to get on just about anything that is on you!