If you’ve booked for a time just before or during nap time, get in touch and let’s change that right now! A tired baby does not make a good smashing baby.
Shoots can start any time between 9:30am and 1pm.

Cake Smashes can last anywhere between 45 minutes and 1 1/2 hours. It all depends on your baby and what you’ve chosen for their Cake Smash.
If your baby needs a little extra time to get used to me and their surroundings we can go at their speed.
If your baby is confident, smashes the cake quickly and we get lots of smiles, it doesn’t take as long.
If you’ve decided to include ‘splash’ photos at the end of the Cake Smash, that makes it last a little longer.

My home photograpy studio is in Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes.
The studio is made up of two adjoined rooms - one with a seating area and one where I take photos. There is also a large bathroom and baby changing facilities.
There is easy, off street parking right outside.

In all my years as a cake smash photographer I hardly ever see babies actually eat lots of the cake.
Most ends up squashed between their fingers or over the floor.
It’s like a big sensory play session.
That being said, some babies do get a few fistfulls into their mouth!

Any remaining cake is yours to take home if you like.

Please tell me in advance if your baby has any allergies such as latex so we can avoid balloons in the setup.
If your baby has food allergies, you can either get a cake that avoids that allergy or we can do a different type of ‘Smash’ photo shoot. For example that could be fruit or another of their favourite foods.

I have photographed everything from very confident to very shy babies.

If your baby is shy, I will make sure I leave lots of time at the beginning for them to warm up to me. I will also keep my distance and let you put them back into place if they wander off.

If you didn’t include it on your booking form, let me know what music your little one likes. We can play music or have a sing song to get those smiles.
I am also more than happy to play peek-a-boo, do fake sneezes, get fake tickled by parents - whatever it takes!

If you’re bringing toys to the photo shoot, only bring a toy you don’t mind being in the photos because you know what it’s like when they see a toy and refuse to give it up!

As I’m sure you understand, I do not offer refunds if babies do not smile or refuse to smash the cake

If you think your baby is getting ill, i’d rather we re-schedule than try and force them to eat cake when they don’t want to. Just let me know and we’ll chose another date.

A lot of babies don’t dive right into the cake but there are a few things we can do to make sure they have a great time.
If your baby has never tried cake before, consider giving them a cupcake in the week running up to your shoot. That way they can have a little practice and the cake on the day might not be a big shock. If they always eat in their high chair, eating on the floor also might be a new experience.

Bring some of their favourite small snacks such as cereal to hide in the cake.

Some babies need a little time to warm up. If we need to, I’ll give them a wooden spoon and you can let them taste some cake from your fingers. We may need to smash the cake up a bit before they touch it.

Cake Smashes only include photos of your baby.
If you’d like family or sibling photos, take a look at the Birthday Photo Shoots instead, which include a birthday set up but no cake.

Due to potential allergies, I ask parents to provide the cake. Try and pick something that matches your chosen background and avoid anything red or chocolate (because that can look a little nasty when smeared everywhere!) Choose buttercream icing or something whipped rather than fondant as it’s harder for them the smash and is a choking hazard. If you can, get the cake on a small board so we can transfer the cake onto the stand easily.

Make sure you take it out the fridge and it’s back to room temperature to make it easier and softer to smash.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no - it all depends how enthusiastic your baby is!
Please don’t apologise for the mess. The more mess the better! (and no you don’t have to help me clean up)

That’s absolutey fine.
If it’s your baby being naked you don’t want, you are more than welcome to put them in a swim nappy.
Otherwise we can skip this part altogether.

Baby!
Cake
Pre Cake Smash Outfit
Cake Smash Outfit
Outfit for them to go home in
Spare clothes for yourself (Because you know the one thing your baby will need once they’re covered in cake is a hug.)
Snacks to hide in the cake
Their favourite cup to wash down the cake
Bubble bath (if having splash photos. I do have some here if you forget)
A towel for after the splash photos (you can use one of mine if your forget)
Baby Wipes to give them a little clean

Around 2 weeks later, your 15-20 edited images will be uploaded to a private Online Gallery. You can download them directly from there.

RAW, unedited images are not available to view, purchase or have for free.

I will only use your images for any kind of marketing (website, social media, in print etc) if you have given me permission to do so on your form.
Otherwise they will be kept completely private.