What to expect at your cake smash portrait session with

Michelle Petkovic Photography in Paralowie, Adelaide.

So you have booked in a cake smash and now are wondering what to expect? This guide will help you prepare for a successful cake smash session.

Firstly thank you for choosing us to take these photos of your little ones milestone. We pride ourselves on making your session as personalised, fun and memorable as possible.

Each session is custom designed to bring your vision alive . Our sessions are held in our Paralowie studio. In the warmer months we also offer the option of venturing outside to our outdoor cake smash location just 5 minutes from our studio.

PRIOR TO THE DAY:

THEME: We will work with you on designing your theme for the session; be it a simple white, floral or even little man theme. If you aren’t sure what theme you’d like you can tell us your preferred colour palette and we will create something just for you.

CAKE: Every cake is professionally made by one of our cake makers to suit the theme of the session. If there are any allergies or special requirements for the cake we will need enough notice to notify our cake maker.

OUTFIT: We always look forward to seeing the special outfit you bring along for the session. We will send you a list of recommended suppliers for cute little outfits. You are welcome to bring an extra outfit for the ‘pre cake smash’ photos or they can wear the one outfit the entire session. Be prepared for the outfit used for the cake smash to get very messy, in a good way of course! It’s all in the name of FUN!

TASTE TEST: We highly recommend letting your little one taste test some cake before the session. We really do see a difference in sessions where the smasher is already familiar with the texture and flavour of cake.

DAY OF YOUR CAKE SMASH:

Prior to your arrival we suggest you feed your little one breakfast or a snack at least an hour before the session.

You will arrive to Michelle’s very excited face (we love our cake smash sessions!). Everything will be set up and ready to go for a smooth transition through the session, but please don’t be alarmed if the session is not as smooth as you thought. Each child is different. We will work with your child and let them run the show with a little direction from us. We will also let you know when we need your help but always stay close by.

We will let your little one settle in and warm up to us. It can be a bit daunting for them coming to a new place and having us get in their face with a huge camera.

We will then start with the ‘pre smash’ photos in our main room of the studio. Here we will spend about 15 minutes capturing their gorgeous smiles and giggles.

We then move onto the cake smash in the next room. We’ll start be taking a pre smash image of the cake and set up without your child. THEN the real fun begins! We will let them go for gold and begin exploring the icing. Not all kids will go straight for the cake but we have a few tricks up our sleeve to try entice them to dive in. Quite often they like to stop for a quick cuddle so be prepared to get messy yourself. We will need you to help dig through the icing to get to the cake and break it up as we go, but don’t worry - we will let you know when. No matter if your child loves the cake or not we will still capture gorgeous photos for you to treasure.

From here we offer a bubble bath in our baby claw foot bath. We can take photos of this too to add to the story line but this is completely at your discretion. We try capture them splashing and playing with the bubbles and it often brings out the biggest smiles of the day! We can supply the bubble bath liquid but if your child has sensitive skin we suggest you bring your own. We will have towels and flannels on hand so no need to bring those items.

THE MESS:

We hope your little one makes lots of mess! We set up the session in a our new cake smash area to keep it all contained in one room. Big mess or little mess we always end up with cake everywhere! You should expect lots of it on your own hands and clothes, for this reason we suggest a change of clothes for yourself just in case. We will have plenty of wipes ready for you to clean your own hands etc as we go during the smashing part.

WHAT TO BRING :

• outfit for pre and cake smash photos

• change of clothes for after the session including yourself if you aren’t going straight home

• drink bottle or sippy cup of water

• any special soap

• any tiny snacks that your baby loves that we can add to the cake if they need something familiar to tempt them to try it such as rice puffs etc

TIPS FOR THE SESSION:

• during shooting it is helpful to the photographer if you are able to stand to one side out of the direct light source. This allows us to get those perfectly lit photos. If you aren’t sure please don’t be afraid to ask - we don’t expect you to know how it all works :o)

• also during shooting we find it works best if you let the photographer get the attention of your little one to achieve those full eye contact photo’s. Sometimes children don’t want to take their eyes off their parents and in this instant we will direct you where to stand which is normally directly behind us. We will let you know if we need some help to bring out those beautiful smiles.

• you are very welcome to bring along grandparents etc. We find it’s best to keep it to a max of 5 adults as our studio isn’t huge. Please just keep in mind during the session that it can be a bit overwhelming for baby if too many people are trying to get their attention at the one time while Michelle is shooting.

• we know videos, and phones can make our babies smile and happy and maybe even sit still, but we suggest keeping that for once the photos are complete as this can result in your child completely not wanting to be part of the cake smash and sometimes ends in tears and tantrums (hey it happens and that’s ok too).

At the end of our session together we will advise you when to expect your finished collection of images.

And there you have it!

These are such fun sessions and we look forward to each and every single one!

We can’t wait to work with you to capture your little love’s special time with us!