I am a mom who loves to celebrate. I love to celebrate every little milestone for my preemie miracles! After watching my babies have to learn the basic skill of eating, the basic skill of remembering to breathe while eating, I just find myself being in awe of every skill they learn as they grow. The first birthday on it’s own is a milestone for every baby, and growing up in polygamy where I saw babies who were more healthier than mine not make it to their first birthday, well that fuels my desire even more to celebrate my baby’s first birthday! The preemie transformation from 3 lbs to 16 lbs, from tube fed to diving into her birthday cake, new born to 1 years old, all the little milestones that happened in between, even the ones she is behind on are celebrated! I did this celebration with each of my girls, and now it is Rosevelt’s turn, but this does not mean her sisters are pushed aside… In fact, it is a family affair to celebrate the miracle of this beautiful girl and her integration into our beautiful family!
Becoming a baby sister was a big deal, and she is loved more than she will ever know! Being a mom to these beautiful preemie miracles is an honor I will never take for granted! It is my duty to raise them with confidence, love, respect, and to teach them how to have all of those things and more. It is my responsibility to give them room to grow and blossom into the beautiful women they will become, but for now let’s enjoy the little miracles they are. I know you’re just wanting to scroll to the pics so here are a few before I share my tips I have learned with the doing these cake smash photo shoots.
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN PLANNING YOUR CAKE SMASH PHOTO SHOOT
WHERE DO YOU PLAN TO TAKE THE PHOTOS: I love the candid interactions over the posed style so I try to create an interactive situation for them. In this case it was the park stuffed animal, tea party, picnic set up with blanket and pillows. I of course, stalked Pinterest for some visual ideas, and then utilized many of the things I had on hand. Studios work great as well, and can help take out the need to provide your own props and decor.
PICK A COLOR THEME: Picking a color theme helps you narrow down outfits, decor, and cake decorations. I was between the pink, navy, gold, and neutral colors that we utilized or black, red, and neutral tones. I think both would have looked great, but of course would have been a completely different look.
PICK THE OUTFIT: Here are a few of the outfits I was between for this cake smash photo shoot. Once, I pick my outfit I can build the rest of the decor colors from that. These pictures have links if you are wanting to recreate my look.
DECIDE ON DECOR AND PROPS: There are many options in the party sections of all the stores and even on Amazon for you busy moms. Here are some of the ones I utilized, you can click on the pictures to go straight to the link.
DECIDE ON THE CAKE: Of course the cake is a BIG part of the cake smash so this is an important part and I have learned to USE WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING to prevent from destroying the clothes and for easiest clean up. Butter cream frosting is stickier and buttery side of it is harder to clean up!! You can choose to make and decorate your own cake or order it from a bakery. For this shoot I ordered a basic round cake from our local bakery, and then added my own ONE cake topper. A cake stand is also a must to beautifully display your cake and position the cake at the perfect height for your one year old.
HAPPY SHOOTING: You can take the pics with your own camera or higher a photographer the choice is yours, but below are some pics my husband captured with his iPhone, while I was utilizing my Cannon Rebel. You will see that his pictures are suffice for any of you mothers on a budget, or even just wanting to capture some photos of your one year old at their birthday party!
