If you’re a parent living in Northants or surrounding counties and are looking for a fun way to celebrate your child’s first birthday, a cake smash photo session might be just what you need.

That moment when you hand your baby a cake for the first time – Northamptonshire cake smash photography

Not only is a cake smash photo shoot a memorable and enjoyable experience for your little one, but it also results in adorable and lasting photos that you can cherish for years to come. Here’s why parents of babies approaching their first birthday should consider booking a Northants cake smash photo shoot.

1. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience

Your child’s first birthday is a special milestone that only happens once. A cake smash photo session is a unique and fun way to celebrate this milestone and capture the joy and excitement of your little one’s first taste of cake. By booking a professional photographer, you can ensure that these precious moments are captured in high-quality photos that you can cherish forever.

2. It’s a fun and messy experience

Kids love to get messy, and a cake smash photo session is the perfect opportunity for them to do just that. Watching your little one dive into a cake and get covered in cream and icing is a hilarious and heart-warming experience that you’ll never forget. Not only will your child have a blast, but you’ll also get to sit back and enjoy the show.

Northants cake smash photo shoots aren’t just about the cake

3. It results in adorable photos

The photos from a cake smash photo session are guaranteed to be adorable. Your child’s expressions of joy, surprise, and curiosity as they explore the cake are priceless. Plus, the colorful and messy backdrop of the cake makes for a fun and unique photo shoot. You can use these photos to create personalised birthday invitations, thank-you cards, or even decorate your home with a canvas print.

4. It’s a stress-free experience

Planning a first birthday party can be stressful, but a cake smash photo session is a stress-free way to celebrate. I will handle everything from the setup to the clean-up, so you can sit back and relax. Plus, since it’s a one-on-one session with just you, your child, and the photographer, you don’t have to worry about coordinating with guests or dealing with any potential party mishaps.

A Northants cake smash photo shoot is a fun, memorable, and stress-free way to celebrate your child’s first birthday. By booking a professional photographer, you can ensure that these precious moments are captured in high-quality photos that you can cherish for years to come. So why not book a cake smash photo session today and create some unforgettable memories with your little one?

This little boy’s parents have lots of animals, and he’s growing up around them – Northants cake smash photo shoot

Northants Cake Smash Photo Shoot Options

You have two different options when it comes to booking a cake smash session with me. We can either do it outside in an area appropriate for the time of year, eg in a wheat field, a field of flowers, or somewhere with gorgeous autumnal colours; or we can do it in the warmth and comfort of the studio.

Northants Outdoor Cake Smash Photo Shoots

We are really lucky in Northamptonshire to have lots of beautiful countryside on our doorstep, much of it accessible to the public. There are so many different places we can make use of, depending on when the cake smash session takes place.

What do you mean, you don’t want any of my cake! Outdoors cake smash photo shoot

Outdoor cake smash photo shoots obviously rely on a bit of flexibility in terms of the weather, but they can happen at pretty much any time around Baby’s first birthday – they don’t have to religiously take place on the day itself.

Personally, I love to get outside for a cake smash session – and not just because it’s easier to clean up the mess afterwards! The natural light can really make the shoot, and there tends to be the option to move around and change the background, something we are more restricted with during a studio session.

Nom-a-nom! This little girl absolutely loved her outdoors cake smash photo shoot!

Northants Studio-based Cake Smash Photo Shoot

If you need your cake smash session to take place on a specific day regardless of the weather, a studio-based cake smash photo shoot is your best option (and it might be your preference anyway!).

I offer studio-based cake smash sessions a couple of times a month only (due to the limited size of the studio, it takes quite a bit of effort to move stuff around between newborn photo shoots). Since they are not desperately time sensitive, I find this works fine.

I will make use of my portable studio lighting during the cake smash photo shoot, which produces a more consistent look than a natural light outdoor shoot. You will have some editorial control over the colours we make use of and the props we do (or don’t) introduce into the scene.

Studio-based cake smash sessions – Northants cake smash photography

I have recently purchased a metal bath tub that we can use as a final setting for pictures during your baby’s cake smash setting, if desired.

In-studio cake smash sessions now conclude with a bath, for those who want them

Northamptonshire Cake Smash Session Pricing

Cake smash photo shoot, either on location or in the studio Basic Package – £200

What’s included?

1-hour cake smash photo shoot, either on location or in the studio

Use of my props and blankets

Watermarked images edited in both colour and black and white displayed on a password-protected web gallery, that you can share with friends and family

5x up to 18”x12” prints of your choosing

The edited high-resolution digital files of the images you choose for printing in both colour and black & white, that you can print until your heart’s content

Additional images can be purchased at a cost of £12.50 per shot, including an up to 18”x12” print and the respective edited high-resolution digital files in both colour and black and white

If you spend an extra £200 on additional images, I will throw in all of the edited high-resolution digital files from the session in both colour and black and white.

Qualifiers will also receive a £50 credit towards a future booking with me and a 25% discount on my new range of stunning heirloom print products.

Cake smash photo shoots aren’t just about the cake. We have time to capture some adorable shots without a cake in sight!

DIGITAL-ONLY SITTER SESSION PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE – £350

You might not automatically think it, but the high-resolution digital files from your session are the most valuable part. They are what enables you to print and keep printing the images captured.

By the time you get to see the gallery from your session, I will have already spent several hours editing the pictures.

I use an amazing printer for the prints supplied within my packages, and the reduction in cost for a digital-only package is unlikely to be as significant as you might expect. However, people keep asking, so…. 🙂

Please note, this package includes a £50 credit towards a future booking with me.

Some cake smashers are more delicate than others!

PEOPLE WANTING TO RECEIVE ALL THE EDITED HIGH-RESOLUTION DIGITAL FILES FROM THEIR SESSION HAVE THREE OPTIONS:

1. If you do not wish to receive any prints at all, the total cost is £350 (including the £200 Cake Smash Photography Basic Package fee). Delivery of the edited high-resolution digital files will be via a password-protected digital download link.
2. If you DO wish to receive the 5x up to 18”x12” prints from the Cake Smash Photography Basic Package fee, the add-on cost is £175 (making your total spend £375). Delivery of the edited high-resolution digital files will be via a password-protected digital download link. Your prints will be shipped to your mailing address.
3. If your total spend from the session is £400 or higher (Cake Smash Photography Basic Package + £200 of add-on purchases, either extra prints or wooden USB / print box combinations – see below; NB – Heirloom Print Product purchases do not count towards this), you automatically receive all the edited digital files from the session. If you take a wooden USB / print box combination, the high-resolution digital files will be copied to your USB. If not, they will be available via a password-protected digital download link.

Everyone spending £400 or more on an All-Digitals package will receive a £50 credit towards a future booking with me and will qualify for a 25% discount on my new range of stunning heirloom print products.

Please note that you do not need to decide on a package until after you have viewed your gallery. The £200 Sitter Session Baby Photography Basic Package fee is due before your session takes place regardless.

OPTIONAL EXTRAS – HEIRLOOM PRINT PRODUCTS

New for 2024, a brand new range of stunning heirloom print products is now available, specifically chosen to show off the images of your small person in incredible detail. Please see the separate link above.

A 25% discount off list prices is available to anyone meeting the spending criteria detailed above.

Northants Cake Smash Photo Shoot FAQs

Who provides the cake?

You provide the cake. I am very happy to recommend some incredibly talented cake creators, should you wish to go that way, however, an elaborate design might be overkill for something that is going to get destroyed (and likely not in an elegant way!) in pretty short order.

How long does the session last?

I allocate 1 hour to cake smash photo shoots, regardless of whether they take place outdoors or in the studio. That gives us enough time to grab a few family shots (please note, the studio is space-restricted, so group shots are limited to a maximum of four people; obviously this does not apply for outdoor cake smash sessions), some nice shots of Baby in his/her outfit and then we unleash them on the cake!

We have some personal items we’d like to style the scene out with? Is that OK?

Absolutely. I have a few blankets you are welcome to use, but if you have your own, then of course we can use them instead or as well as. The same goes for anything else you’d like to be in the shot, like stuffed toys etc.

We even have time to get some pictures of you and your baby during a cake smash photo shoot. Only the brave choose to do so after the cake has been introduced!

FURTHER INFORMATION

Take a look at the Newborn Baby Photography By Northamptonshire Newborn Photographer Karl Drage page for details of my newborn photography packages.

Check out the directory of Newborn Baby Photography Props, Fabrics & Backgrounds available for you to make use of in my studio.

Got a question about how the sessions work that’s not answered above? Check out the Newborn Photography Session FAQs.

You can find some 10-image sample galleries from previous newborn sessions on the Portfolio: Newborn Photography page.

Find out about studio-based Northamptonshire Sitter Sessions.

For larger groups of people, I offer Northamptonshire Family Photo Shoots.