I feel like I say this for every session BUT these first birthday portraits are so very special! But they really are! You see it’s been my absolute pleasure to document this wonderful little girl from bump to baby to now one year old! I’m so grateful that Kathryn and Ross have invited me into their home so many times now to celebrate their superb little girl, Elsie.
Our session began inside their Abergavenny home to create some relaxed family portraits. You see a cake smash session isn’t just about the smashing of the cake with me, I also like to create images of the whole family celebrating with my first birthday portraits! So before we let Elsie go absolutely ham on her sprinkle covered birthday cake we made time to get some shots of everyone together.
As I mentioned before I’ve had the pleasure of documenting this girls life on many occasions and there are some shots I love to recreate with the family each time. Below is my favourite series, of Kathryn stood in the doorway of her home. First looking out at what the future holds with baby still in her belly. Then Kathryn looking lovingly down at her newborn daughter and finally Kathryn and Elsie both looking out together at the rolling hills. The same image from maternity portrait to first birthday portraits. I think that’s pretty special.
We caught so many gorgeous images in Elsies nursery as I crawled around the floor, hiding behind the furniture and jumping out to make Elsie laugh. This gave us the chance to recreate another one of my favourite images from Elsies newborn session. Elsie and her parents sat together in her bedroom window. I think I love to recreate images with families because as a Mother I know just how fast this time goes by. One second your child is a tiny babe looking up at you, their world and the next their off crawling, toddling, running as fast as they can. It’s hard to comprehend how much they can learn, change and grow in what seems like such a short time. I feel that recreating images like these are the best way to document that incredible first year.
Now if you follow me on either facebook or instagram you know I LIVE for a breastfeeding shot. So I was so excited when Kathryn sat cosied up with Elsie for some milky cuddles. Breastfeeding is a wonderful thing to be able to do but it can sometimes be hard so I want to say a huge well done to both Kathryn and Elsie for making it to one year of feeding! Golden boobs!! <—-this is a thing, google it!
And without further ado, it’s time for the main event! The cake smash!! Cake smash photos are such fun images to have of your child and a great way to celebrate their first birthday. But my favourite thing about creating first birthday photos like these is just how much the kids themselves enjoy it! Getting stuck in to a whole cake themselves is a dream come true for every child I know! And I think it’s safe to say this was true for Elsie too!
As with most little ones this age she needed a little help to start. I’m yet to have a session where a child doesn’t stare in wonderment at their parents. Poor things, we spend all our time trying to encourage them to share and use cutlery then we throw this curve ball at them! But once she had a little guidance from Mum, Elsie was unstoppable!
You can probably see from these first birthday portraits that Elsie had a GREAT time! She had great fun playing with the texture of the cake, stroking and patting the sprinkles. She took big bites, handfuls at first then straight in, face first. We all had a good laugh when we realised that whenever Elsie took a bite straight from the cake she would go cross eyed too!
All in all it was a great day, a fun chance for this beautiful little family to celebrate their growing little girl and all her wonderful happy ways! I hope Kathryn and Ross treasure these first birthday portraits forever and that they always put a smile on their faces!
Think a cake smash looks like so much fun? I have a whole blog post on how to create one for yourself! You can find that here: D.I.Y Cake Smash
And if you’d like to see more of my work celebrating the journey of parenthood then you can find me on Instagram, come give me a follow and don’t forget to say hi!
Want to chat to me about having your own relaxed & natural family portraits created? Drop me a message anytime!