I can't wait to capture
your sweet baby...
Welcome to my Cake Smash session prep-guide. This is such a fantastic age to invest in professional portraits because your baby's unique personality and expressions are starting to shine through.
I want your experience to be easy and enjoyable from beginning to end, so I've put together some helpful information that will prepare you for your upcoming session. If you have any questions or concerns at any point please don't hesitate to reach out!
Welcome to my Cake Smash prep-guide. This is such a fantastic age to invest in professional portraits because your baby's unique personality and expressions are starting to shine through.
I want your experience to be easy and enjoyable from beginning to end, so I've put together some helpful information that will prepare you for your upcoming session. If you have any questions or concerns at any point please don't hesitate to reach out!
xoxo
Melissa
book around nap time
A rested baby is a happy baby. We will be scheduling your session to fall between your baby's nap routine, so that we catch them when they're at their most alert and content part of the day.
I understand that routines change over time. We may schedule your session a couple of months in advance and 10am sounds like the perfect time, but then the week before the session things shift and you think 11am might be better. That's no problem at all, just shoot me an email and we will adjust the session time. We do NOT want to mess with nap time!
A rested baby is a happy baby. We will be scheduling your session to fall between your baby's nap routine, so that we catch them when they're at their most alert and content part of the day.
I understand that routines change over time. We may schedule your session a couple of months in advance and 10am sounds like the perfect time, but then the week before the session things shift and you think 11am might be better. That's no problem at all, just shoot me an email and we will adjust the session time. We do NOT want to mess with nap time!
Even after all of our best efforts to avoid nap time and to bring some favourite toys, sometimes babies are just not happy. In my experience more often than not (at this age) it is due to discomfort from teething.
If you think this might be the case for your baby I would encourage you to be ready with any of the remedies that you usually use. Whether it's baby Tylenol or a teething toy to chew on, whatever you like to use at home should come with you to the session just in case it's needed.
Sometimes babies are uncomfortable or shy in new places, which is completely normal. We will give our little model a few minutes to warm up to the studio and to me, but if they are still reluctant there are some tricks that I have found to be helpful.
Bring a favourite toy or book to the session. I can hold the object so that they look at me or we can place it just out of reach to urge them to crawl for some 'action' shots.
Another trick that seems to work well is to have mom play a video or song on their phone to get baby to smile or wiggle.
tell me more
bring something familiar
consider teething
01.
preparation
bring something familiar
Sometimes babies are uncomfortable or shy in new places, which is completely normal. We will give our little model a few minutes to warm up to the studio and to me, but if they are still reluctant there are some tricks that I have found to be helpful.
Bring a favourite toy or book to the session. I can hold the object so that they look at me or we can place it just out of reach to urge them to crawl for some 'action' shots.
Another trick that seems to work well is to have mom play a video or song on their phone to get baby to smile or wiggle.
tell me more
02.
preparation
consider teething
Even after all of our best efforts to avoid nap time and to bring some favourite toys, sometimes babies are just not happy. In my experience more often than not (at this age) it is due to discomfort from teething.
If you think this might be the case for your baby I would encourage you to be ready with any of the remedies that you usually use. Whether it's baby Tylenol or a teething toy to chew on, whatever you like to use at home should come with you to the session just in case it's needed.
03.
preparation
i have everything we need for your session, all you have to bring is baby...
With your theme of choice, I will custom design a complete setup just for your baby. I will supply all backdrops, props, balloons, etc.
I will also supply a beautiful custom cake from a local bakery. It will be a vanilla base with buttercream icing. Unfortunately I am not able to offer allergen free cakes at this time.
All you need to bring is the outfit, and baby of course.
smash
cake
If you haven't already chosen a theme for the cake smash portion of the session, then I would encourage you to browse through Pinterest to get some ideas. You can pick absolutely anything you want, the sky is the limit. You can leave the set design completely up to me, all you need to do is provide the outfit. When you have your outfit, please send me a picture of it so that I can be sure to coordinate the colour tones with the setup.
I have curated a Pinterest board of some setups that I have done in the past as well as some other cute ideas I have found that might get you started or give you some ideas.
You may be surprised to learn that more often than not the babies don't actually do much 'smashing' in these sessions. A lot of the time they are quite uninterested in the cake and the messy part is somewhat staged. Don't be surprised if I ask you to get in there and mess up the cake a bit. There are some tricks that you can try to help encourage your baby to do the smashing though...
01.
this is probably the most important one!
in the weeks leading up to the session encourage your baby to feed themselves, no matter how messy or unproductive it becomes. if they are primarily spoon fed then they won't know what to do when a cake is put in front of them.
not encouraging self-feeding before hand can actually backfire because when we 'stage' the messy part and put some cake on their hands they might actually freak out and cry because they don't like the feeling of it.
encourage self-feeding
tell me more
take me to pinterest
smash
cake
If you haven't already chosen a theme for the cake smash portion of the session, then I would encourage you to browse through Pinterest to get some ideas. You can pick absolutely anything you want, the sky is the limit. You can leave the set design completely up to me, all you need to do is provide the outfit. When you have your outfit, please send me a picture of it so that I can be sure to coordinate the colour tones with the setup.
I have curated a Pinterest board of some setups that I have done in the past as well as some other cute ideas I have found that might get you started or give you some ideas.
You may be surprised to learn that more often than not the babies don't actually do much 'smashing' in these sessions. A lot of the time they are quite uninterested in the cake and the messy part it is somewhat staged. Don't be surprised if I ask you to get in there and mess up the cake a bit. There are some tricks that you can try to help encourage your baby to do the smashing though...
02.
our brains react a certain way to sugar, as i'm sure you would agree. babies react in all sorts of different ways when trying sugar for the first time. We don't really want to be testing these waters for the first time during the session with a pile of icing in front of them.
i would recommend at least giving your baby a bit of sugar a couple of times before the session to get them used to the taste and how it makes them feel.
give them sweets
tell me more
take me to pinterest
smash
cake
If you haven't already chosen a theme for the cake smash portion of the session, then I would encourage you to browse through Pinterest to get some ideas. You can pick absolutely anything you want, the sky is the limit. You can leave the set design completely up to me, all you need to do is provide the outfit. When you have your outfit, please send me a picture of it so that I can be sure to coordinate the colour tones with the setup.
I have curated a Pinterest board of some setups that I have done in the past as well as some other cute ideas I have found that might get you started or give you some ideas.
You may be surprised to learn that more often than not the babies don't actually do much 'smashing' in these sessions. A lot of the time they are quite uninterested in the cake and the messy part it is somewhat staged. Don't be surprised if I ask you to get in there and mess up the cake a bit. There are some tricks that you can try to help encourage your baby to do the smashing though...
03.
if baby isn't interested much in the cake, sometimes it's helpful to have familiar snacks that we can stick down into the icing so they want to go in for it.
cheerios or puffs are perfect for this because they are small and colourless so they aren't even noticeable in the images. but obviously it would need to be something that your baby is used to having at home and would recognize right away.
bring small snacks
take me to pinterest
no germs
Though all diligence is taken to clean the studio between clients, it is my policy that if you or baby have had any sort of illness in the days leading up to your session, that the session is to be rescheduled.
I regularly have brand new babies in the studio and their underdeveloped immune systems are a very real concern for me.
If your baby has a runny nose and/or fever due to teething and only teething, then that is fine. I trust that as a mother you will understand and appreciate these precautions.
Though all diligence is taken to clean the studio between clients, it is my policy that if you or baby have had any sort of illness in the days leading up to your session, that the session is to be rescheduled.
I regularly have brand new babies in the studio and their underdeveloped immune systems are a very real concern for me.
If your baby has a runny nose and/or fever due to teething and only teething, then that is fine. I trust that as a mother you will understand and appreciate these precautions.
I understand that this is an exciting event and you want to document every special thing that happens in your baby's life.
During the session I don't mind you taking behind the scenes images with your cell phone, provided that myself and the surrounding area are in the image. I do not however permit cell phone images of your baby in a setup that I have created without the surrounding context.
If you would like to share any 'behind the scenes' images on your social media I ask that you please tag me.
I do not allow older siblings to come along for milestone sessions. It is much too distracting for baby when their older sibling is also in the room. I want baby to be focused on me and looking at the camera.
I also only allow 2 adults to come with baby much for the same reason. The more people there are to look at, the less focused baby will be, especially if there are many familiar faces and I'm the boring stranger.
These policies are in place to ensure that we get the best possible images of your baby.
tell me more
no siblings
no cell phone pics
01.
studio policies
no siblings
I do not allow older siblings to come along for milestone sessions. It is much too distracting for baby when their older sibling is also in the room. I want baby to be focused on me and looking at the camera.
I also only allow 2 adults to come with baby much for the same reason. The more people there are to look at, the less focused baby will be, especially if there are many familiar faces and I'm the boring stranger.
These policies are in place to ensure that we get the best possible images of your baby.
tell me more
02.
studio policies
no cell phone pics
I understand that this is an exciting event and you want to document every special thing that happens in your baby's life.
During the session I don't mind you taking behind the scenes images with your cell phone, provided that myself and the surrounding area are in the image. I do not however permit cell phone images of your baby in a setup that I have created without the surrounding context.
If you would like to share any 'behind the scenes' images on your social media I ask that you please tag me.
03.
studio policies
products
pictures
print your
In this hyper-digital world some clients choose to not print their professional photos, but I would like to take a minute to try and explain why I feel it is very important that you do...
You have commissioned your photographer to create art. Would a museum have the same impact if you could only scroll through a digital gallery on a screen? Art needs to be printed (and large) to fully convey the emotion and sentiment of the imagery. What better place to display an art piece that encompasses your love for your child than on the walls of the home you've built together as a family.
Ultimately, the tangible value of deciding to print your photos is unparalleled. Your baby's milestones deserve better than a Facebook album or USB drive that lives in your junk drawer. Photos are meant to be viewed, so make sure you’re giving those memories a chance to be enjoyed every day.
contact me
send it
Please allow 24 hours for a response (during business hours).
Please allow 24 hours for a response (during business hours).
