A baby will go through so many developmental stages during the first year of life. Many parents schedule photo shoots to document some of those baby milestones. One of the biggest milestones is probably their first birthday. First birthday photo shoots, also sometimes called cake smashes, are so much fun.
You’ll want to schedule the first birthday photo shoot about a month or so before the baby’s actual first birthday or birthday party. Many parents use the images as decorations for the first birthday party so you’ll want to have enough time to print everything beforehand.
This baby boy’s mommy was a previous client! I photographed mom and dad’s beautiful wedding at Sweet Pea Ranch in Upland not too long ago. They are such a fun loving couple and we had blast capturing their special day. So, when mom contacted me for her baby boy’s one year photo shoot, I couldn’t wait to see them again. After reading through her pre-session questionnaire, we decided to keep both the outfits and cake decor simple. When you come for cake smash photos in my Brea studio, I always have everything set up and ready to go for the photo shoot! Outfits, props, cake and balloons are ready for baby! This makes it super easy for parents.
We started with portraits of this baby boy wearing dapper outfits from my client closet. You don’t have to worry about what your child will wear for their first birthday photos because I have plenty of outfits for little boys and girls.
Just baby photos first
The first year photoshoot in my studio always starts with baby only pictures! This way I get a chance to photograph baby by themselves, before the cake. I like to document what your baby looks like at this stage of their life. Those adorable expressions, toothy smiles, and chubby cheeks. Especially, before they tear into their cake and get messy!
In this baby boy’s photoshoot, we started out with an adorable grey, waffle jumper with wood buttons. I also decided to use a lighter wood background to go with this look. I love how this little outfit compliments his skin tone and light hair! It really made his baby blue eyes pop! After I captured a few shots of just baby, I added in my favorite white wood bench prop! This is such a perfect prop for my cake smash photos in Brea because it gives baby a nice area to sit on. A soft grey wrap underneath it ties the whole look together!
Next, we moved on to another super cute and simple outfit that mom loved! This beautiful light brown textured romper is from my favorite vendor, Cora and Violet. It was actually custom made for my studio. For this set up I decided to use my cute natural wood chair prop! This is one of my most used props for my one year sessions! Babies love to sit up in their own chair and it gives them great support. My jute burlap layer is the perfect texture to complete this look! Neutral colors like this are so timeless and I love photographing them in my cake smash photos in Brea.
Time for the cake!
There are so many choices when it comes to the theme that you want to use for the cake smash photo shoot. I have done cake smashes with donuts, churros, and even In N Out burgers and fries so the sky’s the limit. I tend to favor the simple cake smashes with a cute balloon garland and a good cake for the baby to try and eat.
For this session, mom really wanted something simple with traditional boy colors. We went with a simple blue and white theme for both his cake and the balloon garland!
As soon as we brought out this little white smash cake, baby boy was all about it! He dove right in and loved touching the frosting and eating pieces of the cake. This cake looked perfect on my simple white cake stand, too! I always provide the cake stand, balloons and backdrop for all my one year photos shoots! I actually have for cake stands in my prop closet to choose from, depending on the theme. How cute is that blue, white, silver balloon garland? I love making these for my cake smash sessions. They are actually pretty easy to make and I love matching them to the colors that parents choose!
