I had been in touch with Sofia’s mum for a while about doing a photo shoot with a difference, to mark Sofia’s first birthday with something really special.  Hayley really liked the idea of doing a cake smash, when you put a big cake in front of a baby and let them dive right in, so we made our plans to meet up at their house on an agreed date.

Unbeknown to me, Hayley was busy during the time in between our initial chat and the date itself, sourcing the most fantastic outfits, accessories, decoration and of course the cake to make this a really special day.  When I arrived a few days before the shoot to make sure the location would work, Hayley showed me the gorgeous tutu and customised baby grow she had for Sofia to wear, and had some lovely happy birthday bunting to hang behind her and a selection of balloons.  She had also commissioned Susan from ‘Corrie Couture‘ to create a wonderful little head band for Sofia.  After a visit to Sofia’s bedroom I spotted a beautiful tee-pee, another must-have prop for what was shaping up to be the perfect girlie photoshoot.  To top it all off, the family had two bulldogs who I instantly knew would be great in a photo, if only I could guarantee they would stay still…

On the day, the sun was quite bright so we set the tee-pee up in the garden facing away from the glare.  Sofia looked such a picture sat in the doorway, she just stayed where she was placed down and laughed and smiled away, with her favourite bunny by her side.  With lots of encouragement from mum and dad, and with the help of some very entertaining balloons, Sofia was as good as gold and I got some great photos.  We then moved indoors to a nice and airy room with a large plain wall to hang the bunting on, the perfect indoor set up (with a little help with some lighting from the hubbie).  Craig and Hayley tried very hard to get their two bulldogs to sit still, which did create a few minutes of hilarity and a few shots were there for the taking, but I decided to move swiftly on the piece de la resistance before Sofia tired of this photoshoot lark!

The gorgeous cake was made by the same lady who made Hayley and Craig’s wedding cake, it was really beautiful and looked too good to eat, never mind to have a baby smear it all over herself!  However, the icing was possibly a touch too hard for the task at hand, so Sofia took a bit of time to get messy, although she was totally enjoying herself in the process. And who can blame her, given the freedom to not only eat a huge cake but to cover yourself with it too, what a joy!  After a bit of inspecting and prodding, a wooden spoon was introduced to create some real mess, and with a little help from mum and dad, she managed to get some of the way there.  This was such a fun shoot with a lovely family, and the best thing was that they were able to salvage some of that wonderful cake to eat at the end, so perhaps the hard icing wasn’t such a bad idea afterall.

Fancy doing something similar to mark your child’s first birthday? Then please get in touch 🙂