Hannah's 1 year old Cake Smash Photoshoot (Photoshoot Concept 1)

I never knew there was such a thing called Cake Smash photo shoot until I chanced upon a random youtube video earlier this year, featuring a cute little girl playing with a giant cupcake. 

Since then, I have been looking out for photo studios, cake smash cakes as well as the appropriate backdrop and attire for Hannah's first Birthday Cake Smash. 

Unfortunately, many elements from photography studios, to the cake for cake smash are kinda out of my budget for my current lifestyle; besides, I really wanted the Cake Smash to be uniquely belonging to a theme specially made for Hannah, hence I decided to take on the challenge of doing a FULL DIY Cake Smash with the support and help of a very good friend of mine - Benjamin who is also a professional photographer. I'd be sharing his contact at the bottom of this page so that you could link up with him for your photography needs. 

When I got the photos for the session, I was extremely happy and pleased to see how it all turned out. It was exactly how I wanted it to look like (if not, even better!).

In fact, I had 2 different photo shoot concepts and will only be talking about Concept 1 here. 

(Concept 2 will be featured in a separate blog post.)

CONCEPT 1

CONCEPT 2

In this post, I am sharing not only the awesome shots from the Cake Smash, but also some DIY tips on how to put everything together!

Deciding the Venue?

Since it is a DIY, I thought the best place would be at home for multiple reasons - Not only are we able to clean her immediately after the smash up, it is also a familiar environment that she has already warmed up enough to have free play (which is great for capturing those candid moments), and since it is as home, it is easier to do a massive clean up after deliberately dirtying the floor (as compared to if you did it outdoors). 

What is the theme?

Identify a theme to the photo shoot. It doesn't have to be complicated, like a zoo theme or a nautical theme, it can be as simple as just a color theme, say a blue and silver, or pink and gold. Something manageable for DIY.

For me, I wanted to use pastel pink but I didn't want an overkill with pink, and since I love green and in this case, mint green, where I found the the 2 colors extremely compatible. 

With that in mind, I googled and Pinterest 1 Year Old Cake Smash and created a mood board (i.e. the one below) of the images I liked. (With internet, it is super easy to be inspired!)   

Think about the backdrops and attire and action on them

Now that the theme has been decided on, it gets easier to rule out & shortlist the various elements for the photo shoot like what backdrops are required & what dressing will match.

Then, we put those inspirations and thoughts into actions.

To make it more specific, a checklist was created:

• DIY Tu Tu skirt - materials from Spot Light and Daiso. 

• DIY Ribbon Garland, accents of pink, mint & gold - materials from Minton Ribbons @ 36 Arab Street.

• DIY Giant Cake Smash Cup Cake 

• Ordering Balloons of Mint, Pink & White shades.

• Cake stand - random display boxes I found at home

• 3D O-N-E wooden block - materials from Spot Light

There was only 3 items that needed DIY - easy peasy!

And there you go! We are ready for the Cake Smash Shoot!

It may look like extreme hard work, but frankly, if you start early, this is really manageable with just 1-2 late nights! (Other than baking that Giant Cup Cake!)

DIY Tu Tu Skirt created especially for Hannah.

Read here on how I DIYed her no-sew Tu Tu skirt.

DIY Garland Backdrop

I love the combination of colors here!

DIY Giant Cake Smash Cupcake

Read here on how I baked her this Giant Cupcake

And so, the photo shoot results!

I'm amazed with how she used her tongue to taste the cake and refuse to use her hands.

The look of disgust when I stuffed her hands into the butter cream!

This was such an endearing experience for me, as a mum, and I am so glad I did this shoot to capture some very precious and candid moments of her at this stage in her life, her eyes that twinkle with wonder at every new thing she sees.

After all, she will never be this small again...

Photo Credit:

Benjamin Lim

E-mail: benlimkk@mail2world.com

Please feel free to email Benjamin directly for a quote on the photography package!

Read about Photo Shoot Concept 2 here!