Oh, my goodness, this was the BEST smash cake session! If you’re not familiar with smash cake sessions, they’re when a baby turns one year old and they get a small cake that they are thoroughly encouraged to SMASH and eat all for the sole purpose of capturing adorable photos to celebrate baby’s 1st year!

This is Miss J and I took her older sister’s smash cake photos a few years ago. I was worried I wouldn’t get to do Miss J’s because her family moved to Atlanta last year, so I was thrilled with mom texted me and said they wanted to come up for photos!!

Her older sister’s shoot had a lot more color, but this year mom wanted to go with a more neutral palette, which I thought was just lovely. Now that we’re in our new house, I have a room up front for my studio and I finally have a space that has wood floors, so I can do smash cake sessions in my in-home studio now!

We always do at least 2 setups and we start out without the cake - obviously! I loved the way the background I had complimented her little purple paisley outfit. I edited these just a little more softly than I typically do. I tend to alter my editing styles just slightly to match the mood of the shoot and the people in it. I don’t think there’s a one-edit-fits-all!

The last cake smash session I had was a while ago, and she was NOT into her cake, which is more typical then you might think! But Miss J was ALL ABOUT IT. She even tipped over the entire cake stand at one point! It was hilarious and so perfect!

Each member of this family was a TROOPER! We shot in 90-something degree heat and no one wanted to reschedule, everyone was like, “LET’S DO THIS!” and they showed up with changes of clothes and bottles of water and ROCKED IT.

That blue-eyed dad, Scott Stevens, is an awesome country musician and I KNOW you’ll be hearing him all over country radio soon, especially with the awesome team he has behind him! It was a blast to be able to photograph him, his beautiful wife and their equally-as-blue-eyed son.

Their baby boy had just turned one, so this was kind of a family/first birthday combo session, which is totally fine with me! Half family session, half kid-only session! We started out in a creek - because who doesn’t love creek photos?! - but had to move locations when baby Henry wanted to try swimming and wouldn’t stop trying to launch himself creekside, we had to go! And that’s how we roll with kiddos!

Outside is a wonderful place to have a family lifestyle session because there’s plenty of places for kids to explore and play. I don’t ever force kiddos to sit still and smile because, if they’re not in the mood, then they cry and get angry and mom gets frustrated and it’s no fun! Genuine interactions are the memories we all treasure most.

Sweet Makenna here is the youngest of three and it was finally her turn to have the spotlight on her!  I have been shooting her brother and sister now for a few years, and it was time for Makenna to hop in the fun!  After the traditional birthday photos of the three of them (post coming soon - and it has a GREAT idea to capture your kiddos each year), we got to have some cake fun!

Typically, I shoot my families and kiddos in more of a relaxed, lifestyle way, but I'm a sucker for an adorable first birthday cake smash session, so I do book these, too!

We scheduled this sweet baby girl's cake smash on a separate day from everyone's birthday photos so as not get too overwhelming for her.  We also shot in my client's home in a room with wood floors and a nice window.  This is always a great option when available so that baby and mama are right near everything they could need, from wipes and changes of clothes right up to all possible naptime equipment!  Smashing cake can wipe a kiddo out!  Haha!

Most parents don't realize that, for the most part, your newly minted one-year-old is NOT going to be that interested in smashing cake!  Isn't that funny?  They don't know what it is, or that they can eat it, and it usually feels really weird to them!  Often, mom will have to take some frosting and wipe it on baby's lip and hope they get interested!  

Makenna was no different!  She was a little skeptical and kept wanting to crawl away.  She gave us more smiles during her previous birthday session with her siblings, but we still managed to capture some crazy cute first birthday photos!  I love the "It's my 1st birthday" onesie and rainbow tutu that her mom choose!  I make sure to pick up a bright pink cake that would compliment all the colors!