The Essential Guide to Cake Smash sessions
There are four must-have photo sessions the first year with baby. Starting with maternity (every mother deserves to feel beautiful), then to newborn, a quick milestone around 7-8 months old, and wrapping up with a celebratory Cake Smash session! This last one is a true Reese & Co favorite. The cake, the cuteness, the cake!
In our studio, we have all the details covered: outfits, cake stands & toppers, cake delivered from our favorite bakery, balloons, floral wreath backdrops. Guests can literally just book & arrive. But if you’re interested in a personal touch, we’ve got you covered with our best recommendations to have a wonderful Cake Smash session.
Styling
The Outfit
We regularly recommend classic and soft for all very young children. Soft colors and textures are our go-to. However, for a cake smash you can also choose a more celebratory look such as one of our Tutu du Monde onesies.
Here are our favorite places to shop for cake smash outfits and why:
Etsy This is where you will fulfill all your bohemian dreams, but also find some gorgeous linen options. Our all-time favorite store for a beautiful romper (boys and girls) is Freya Lillie. We love Issa Bug’s Boutique for girls (think ballet inspired bohemian). For boys, I love rompers from Edmund and Rose. However, options are limited and being based in Australia, you have to think well in advance.
Amazon Not a total favorite because we’d rather support small businesses, but you really can’t beat two-day shipping in a pinch!
Hope & Henry The ultimate in preppy classic.
Petite Plume Mostly shopped for on Maisonette, their rompers are soft, comfy and classic with pretty little patterns.
Maisonette bloomers Also found on Maisonette are adorable bloomers. This is one of the last sessions that works perfectly to be underdressed (literally). You could also just search “bloomers” on google to find loads of options. We also have a few in studio.
What to skip:
Shoes
Bow ties or anything for a grown man
An outfit a baby can’t crawl in. For girls, some dresses will get caught under the knees. Consider this when choosing her outfit. For boys, stiff pants can create the same problem.
Pants - these are the final days of baby rolls. Capture them while you can!
And lastly, bring two outfits! One for a beautiful portrait and a second option for the cake. Below our beautiful little guest wore a tulle dress to start, then stripped down to a simple diaper cover for smashing the cake.
The set
If you know us, you know we always recommend simplicity over busy. Our goal is for your baby to be the main character and the set to be the supportive cast. But this doesn’t mean it has to feel plain.
Here are few ways to keep your look clean while still adding a pop:
First, get an outfit for baby you love. You can go big with a ballet inspired tutu onesie or keep it simple with a linen romper or bloomers. Once that’s set, the rest of the set will play off the outfit colors and theme.
Second, cake design. Any florals, greenery, cake stand and topper should match the outfit genre (preppy, bohemian, classic) and colors. If you’ve kept your outfit simple, we highly recommend adding quite a bit of organic decor to your cake.
Now it’s time to decide if you need more, which simply begs two questions:
Did you go big with the outfit? With a big outfit (like a oversized tutu), you’ll want to choose between a highly decorated cake with nothing else in the set OR a very simple cake arrangement but add a pop to the background such as a large bouquet of balloons or floral wreaths hung behind baby.
Was your outfit choice simple, maybe just a clean lined romper or a simple bloomer? With a simple outfit choice, you have the option to go bigger on either the cake with loads of botanicals (and yes, boys can have botanicals too!) or adding more elements to the set like a balloon arch or an oversized balloon with a floral tail.
Our last bit of advise for your set: edit, edit, edit. You might love all the options above, but they don’t have to all be in every photo. Instead, incorporate each element at different points in the session. For instance, photograph baby with a large bouquet of balloons before introducing the cake. Then when you add the cake, remove the balloons.
Our Practical Tips
Don’t arrive hungry.
This might contradict your instincts. You want your child to eat during their session, right? So obviously baby should be hungry! Not quite. Unless you regularly feed baby an indulgent cake for lunch, your poor child will just be confused and angry. Instead, schedule your session for shortly after your baby’s morning nap. Wake up in time to have a large snack or early lunch. Then head in for your session with a happy baby who is ready to play with a cake!
Bring a favorite small snack.
This isn’t for snacking though. It’s for encouraging your child to play with the cake! Again, a cake is likely not familiar to your baby. So one trick up our sleeve is to stick a cheerio (or other favorite small snack) in the cake for them to find. We have plenty of other tricks for engaging your baby, but this one works like a charm.
Details.
Talk to your photographer about capturing little details like the hands on the cake, icing on toes, close-up images of lashes and a cake smashed face. These images are important for rounding out the story of this moment. We love providing these images in black & white film for nostalgic look.
This should be fun!
We’ve seen it all. Some baby’s dive right in, some need a little cajoling, some cry. There’s a reason we love these sessions so, so much and it’s not because they always go as planned. We have tricks to get smiles regardless of tears and to get sweet messy faces regardless of baby’s interest. So worry less, and just have fun with it. No matter what happens!
At Reese & Co, we want all of our sessions to feel as easy as cereal for dinner. When it comes to Cake Smash sessions, we have thought through all the details so, if you choose, you can skip thinking though all of this and just show up. We know you’ve got enough on your plate already!
ABOUT LAURA ESMOND, REESE & CO PORTRAITS, MATERNITY & NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHER
Hi! I’m so thankful you are checking out my work here at my website and blog. I’m happy to share with what makes our Denver portrait studio so special.
I love to take care of lots of the little details like helping you style your session. We have a small, growing studio wardrobe available to you. Hair and makeup is also available to add on before your session to make your portrait session as simple and stress free as possible (inquire if interested!). Our goal is keep your session stress-free and a little moment of luxury with your family.
Laura Esmond, at Reese & Co Portraits, specializes in Denver newborn photography and in maternity, newborn, and family photos in Denver and the surrounding suburbs of Highlands Ranch, Greenwood Village, Parker, Castle Pines, Englewood, Colorado Springs and Littleton. She is best known for her bespoke maternity sessions that truly spoil mom-to-be with hair and make-up and artful images of her growing belly.
If you love my work, and you are looking for a newborn photographer for your family, I would love to begin planning your session. With over 20 years of photographing maternity, newborn and young families, Iit still warms my heart to be a part of documenting a growing family.
If you are interested in a custom portrait session with Laura Esmond and would like more information about what makes our studio so special, please click here to learn more.
If you would like to reserve your Denver area maternity photos or newborn photos, in our north Denver portrait studio or south Denver portrait studio, please reach out here.