Eliana’s mum contacted me as her daughter was getting ready to turn one year old soon. She wanted to mark the occasion with one of my cake smash sessions. She also requested the session to include a family picture and sibling picture as they haven’t had one taken in so long. If you know me, you know that I feel family pictures are so essential to have. So I always encourage clients to have one taken and love when clients ask them.
My own family’s first birthdays have always been celebrated by letting their children play in their first birthday cake. So as an American photographer living in the UK, a cake smash session is a perfect way to celebrate one’s first birthday. We got Eliana booked in at my home studio in Doncaster for her session on a Saturday morning. I ordered her cake right away from “Alana Lily Chocolates & Cakes“, who is my go-to cake lady. We ordered one to match the cake smash background that Eliana’s mum had chose for her session.
She wanted a banner with her daughter’s name on it across the top of the cake, along with the number one. We didn’t have enough time to get them ordered, so I designed them on my Cricut Machine.
On the morning of Eliana’s cake smash session, I laid out all the little outfits for Mum and Dad to choose when they arrived. We decided that she would look fab in my mint, brown and pink outfits for the mini-session part of her cake smash session. All the cute little outfits are from Baby Love UK Photography Props. For the cake smashing part of her session, we chose the peach tutu with a number one written on the onesie and a crown for her head.
Now it was time for the fun part of taking the pictures. We started with the family picture. Eliana brought her parents and her two brothers with her to her session. The boys were incredibly handsome in their grey suits, and Eliana cute as can be in her pink dress.
As I want natural smiles from the families that I photograph, I do get a bit silly and make a fool of myself, but it is so worth it. Well, my silliness just sealed my bond with Eliana as we were the best of friends from then on out. She gave me many heart felt hugs throughout her whole session, which brought on many smiles and laughter from everyone. Not to mention utterly adorable pictures. Just look at the smiles she was giving me during her session.
The time that we had been waiting for was finally here – Smashing the Cake. Eliana loved her cake and the balloons. She dug into her cake with her hands, eating and playing a little. Then off to play with the balloons and then back to scoop into the cake with a wooden spoon. At one point, she even stuck her toes in the cake, which was so adorable.
Ok, now we have a one-year-old covered in cake—time to bring out the bathtub for a lot of playing and a little washing. Eliana had so much fun playing with the rubber ducks in the tub. It was so cute to watch her talking to them. I wonder what she was telling them! I bet it was how much she enjoyed playing with me just as much as I did with her.
Eliana’s mum told me, “Our experience with you was superb! You made us feel welcome in your home, and everything went so smooth and lovely. The pictures you took are so beautiful that we had a hard time picking them. We loved our time with you so much that we will be back again for our next family session.”
