From First Smiles to First Birthdays: Best Baby Portrait Sessions of 2024 in Saratoga Springs

I’m so excited to share another one of my favorite 2024 round ups: milestone and cake smash sessions in my Saratoga Springs studio! There’s so many incredible milestones that happen in the first year of life and it’s such an honor to be the one who captures them for parents. Whether we’re capturing your baby’s milestones or their cake smash session, I aim to create classic and timeless portraits in our all-white studio with minimal purpose so the focus is on your baby. Cake smash setups are a little more elaborate, but capturing your baby’s joy and experience is always most important! 

In the first year, your little one grows and changes so much. At 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, your baby is showing off all of the amazing things they can do! I’ve captured so many sweet toothy grins, a baby enjoying tummy time, and even toddling around the studio. Milestone sessions are a chance for your little one to show off - and a little way to freeze time so you can look back on these fleeting moments for years to come. 

When your baby’s first birthday arrives, it’s time to think about a cake smash!  I create a unique backdrop that reflects your family’s/baby’s interests. This year we had families ask for lots of creative ideas, from the Adirondack Mountains to French Bulldogs! All of our birthday sessions also include classic milestone portraits with our vintage high chair and a wooden cake prop, and of course the bathtub splash at the end! The bubble bath splash always brings out all the smiles!

I love that I get to follow families as their little one grows and capture each of the milestones that happen in the first year. It’s so special to me and it’s a part of my job I will never take for granted. Thank you for another beautiful year of capturing these special milestones!

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A Dusty Rose Cake Smash for Baby’s First Birthday

Happy birthday, Amelia Rose! This darling little girl just turned one and to celebrate, we planned an elegant rose garden cake smash. It was beautiful and so fun to put together. I love any chance I get to use my classic ONE letters - especially filled with flowers! 

As with all of my cake smashes, we started the session off with new portraits of Amelia Rose. Her mother and grandmother were also there to celebrate. There’s not much I love more than generational portraits, particularly when it’s easy to see how much of a special bond these three ladies have. I adored the light purple that Amelia’s mother chose as the base for their outfits. It looked perfect on each of these ladies and their own unique outfits worked well together in the light setup of my Saratoga Springs studio. 

After her studio portraits, Amelia got to change into a super sweet dress. I loved the layers of tulle and the gold accents paired with her floral crown. She was a little princess!  Amelia was one of the most excited babies I have ever had in the studio, and she truly smashed that cake! We were all laughing when she picked up the entire cake in her hands and brought it up to her mouth to bite. So sweet and I loved watching her personality fill up the room. 

Happy birthday again, beautiful girl! I hope you have a wonderful year ahead of you!

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Zhua Zhou Portraits and a Cake Smash for Baby’s First Birthday

This was my first time photographing a Zhua zhou, a traditional Chinese ceremony celebrating a baby’s first birthday. When Kayden’s mom reached out to plan her session, she told me she wanted to do it in two parts: a zhua zhou ceremony to honor their Chinese heritage, followed by a traditional western cake smash. I absolutely loved the idea and couldn’t wait for them to come into the studio! 

Zhua zhou is a ceremony marking the baby’s first birthday. During the ceremony, parents place an assortment of items in front of their child and the child chooses what they want. Tradition said that what the child chooses would determine their future capabilities and interests. Each item symbolizes a career path and helps reveal the child’s potential personality traits, too! Zhua zhou is really about parents sharing their good wishes and hopes for the future of their children. It was so special to be a part of Kayden’s ceremony! 

Kayden loved exploring the different objects, picking them up, and putting many of them into her mouth. Some of the objects were a ball (to represent an athlete), a steamed bun (to represent a little foodie), a gavel (a lawyer), a scepter (diplomat), a book (teacher), etc. She kept coming back to the bun, and her parents laughed at how much she enjoyed food and how she was their little foodie.

Next we did her cake smash, and this little foodie did not disappoint! She was certainly one of the most enthusiastic smashers I have enjoyed having in the studio this year, and I adored her session. We had the most beautiful cake from Indulgence Bakery! I loved the swiss dot pattern on the buttercream, and it may just be my new favorite style of a simple cake. Kayden was definitely a fan, too! 

Thank you to Kayden and her parents for trusting me to capture both parts of their family’s story. I’m so honored and I loved learning about this unique tradition! 

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An Ice Cream Truck Cake Smash for Adelaide’s Second Birthday

Who says cake smashes are just for one year olds?! My son did cake smashes all the way up through his fifth birthday, and I’m sure he’ll want one again as he gets older. So of course with our daughter’s second birthday this month, I knew we had to do a sweet little cake smash to celebrate our birthday girl.

Adelaide has been a fan of ice cream ever since her first taste of it last summer. She had her own little way of pronouncing it for months, calling it “i-ga”, and we all knew what she was talking about. She would run over to the freezer whenever we opened it up, shouting “i-ga! i-ga!,” and pushing aside the top drawer and looking into the bottom where we keep the ice cream.

With our favorite local ice cream shop open again for the season, Adelaide hasn’t missed a beat and she continues to be a big fan of ice cream. When thinking of a theme for her second birthday, I knew immediately that this would be it! I chose to keep the decor simple with just a watercolor ice cream truck and some ice cream cones on the floor as confetti. Her pastel rainbow dress was the perfect match to the beautiful colors, and I couldn’t resist doing our favorite new hairstyle on our little toddler – pigtail buns!

She LOVED IT! She was cute & dainty, dipping one little finger in the frosting at a time. Grayson (6 years old) accompanied us in the studio and took pictures on his own little digital camera the whole time. I loved seeing how excited he was to capture her smiles, and how he kept exclaiming, “Ahhhh, this one is so good!”

While I can’t even believe that we have a two year old already, I’m excited to celebrate our sweet girl. She is most looking forward to blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, and she talks about it every day. Happy birthday, baby girl!

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A Mountains and Moose Cake Smash: Using watercolor cutouts to create a cake smash backdrop

Happy birthday, Maverick! This cute little guy is one of our recent baby graduates of the Collective Membership. For the last year, I’ve had the joy (and honor) of photographing Maverick’s milestones. I’ve gotten to know him and his parents pretty well. I can’t believe it’s already time for his first birthday cake smash! We planned a super fun mountain and moose cake smash, to echo his nursery theme at home. It turned out so perfect! 

I am a huge fan of watercolor art. There’s something about the soft colors and the way the edges bleed into each other, not to mention the delicate details. I like to decorate our home with watercolors, and I enjoy incorporating it into my styled portrait sessions, too! When families come to me with a specific theme idea for their baby’s cake smash, I often look to see how I can include watercolor artwork cutouts in their setup. Maverick’s cake smash theme turned out to be the perfect chance for some watercolor cutouts! 

One of my favorite places to find these designs is from independent artisans on Etsy, and you know I love supporting other artists and small business owners! I purchase the design, and print it as large as possible on a 40” poster. Places like Staples can do this for you, and you want to make sure to use a matte finish paper to avoid any shine being reflected back at the camera in the studio. Then I cut it out and use it to create the backdrop. I have done this for countless themes for my clients (and even for my own children’s portrait sessions and birthday parties!), and I love the variety that it lends to my sessions without cluttering up the studio with even more expensive props. Plus, as a minimalist at heart and a huge fan of reduce/reuse/recycle and avoiding one-time-use props and items, this works for me!

Bringing everything together for Maverick’s theme was especially fun, and I scoured the internet for adorable moose artwork. His nursery has a moose & mountains theme, with a mural that his father hand-painted, and we wanted to incorporate that into his first birthday portraits. I adore how it all came together, and the moose really are the cutest little moose I have ever seen!

Happy birthday again, little guy!! I’ll miss seeing you in the studio every few months - but I’m so proud to have captured your big moments this past year.

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A light and airy cake smash with blue and white balloons

Baby Alex is one! Alex is an extra special little guy to me because he lives in our neighborhood and is one of the 7+ babies born in the last year. It’s been such an honor to watch him grow up and to watch his dads become parents. Although I can’t believe it’s been a year since his newborn session, I was excited when it came time to plan his light and airy cake smash to celebrate his first birthday! 

His dads wanted a classic session that was light & airy with blue and white balloons. They found this adorable romper at Lex & Cleo, the cutest little baby boutique in downtown Saratoga Springs. It matched Alex’s eyes perfectly, and complemented the setup beautifully. Plus, you know I’m a huge fan of supporting other local businesses - so I was thrilled to hear where this outfit was from! 

Alex loved the family photo portion of his session, but wasn’t a huge fan of the cake. That’s okay! We went with the flow, tried a few tricks, and moved on to the next part of the session to keep him comfortable. Not all babies love their cake, and that is 100% normal and okay! WE still captured so many adorable portraits of the birthday boy and I know his family is going to treasure them forever. His personality shone through as he played in front of my big ONE display in the studio and I couldn’t stop smiling at Alex! 

I can’t wait to hear stories of Alex admiring their new portraits on the wall of their home and I love that they're planning on sharing their mini accordion albums with the grandparents. Portraits are always a great gift for your loved ones!!

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A teddy bear theme cake smash for an Adirondack Mountain baby

Happy birthday, Bennett! I’m so excited that Krystie brought her sweet babies back to my studio for their youngest’s cake smash this spring. Baby Bennett is now one! To celebrate his first birthday, we created a super fun teddy bear cake smash setup inspired by the family’s trip to the Adirondacks. Bennett loved their time in the mountains and near the lake, and I love that they wanted to incorporate such a special memory into his portraits. 

For Bennett’s cake smash setup, I kept things clean and simple. We had a sweet cut out of some mountains and then he brought his favorite bears from home for a personal touch. With a rustic inspired ONE sign and some twinkle lights, his setup was complete. Mom and dad chose a super sweet brown overall onesie for the birthday boy and a custom crown. He even had a bear ear hat! It was perfect - and I think a great way to honor such a big moment! Bennett was all about the cake - digging right in, with lots of excitement and great expressions. I’m not at all surprised though! When his big brother Easton came in for his music themed cake smash, he was also super into his cake! 

Of course, before Bennett got all icing covered, we spent a few minutes creating new family portraits for Bennett, his parents, and big brother. Their parents put them in the cutest matching ivory sweaters that looked great in my neutral Saratoga Springs studio. Great choice! Bennett wasn’t too sure of me then, but by the time his moment in the spotlight came, he was ready! 

I’m so thankful this family has trusted me to capture their sons’ first birthdays in my studio. What a great family tradition! 

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Ready, Set, Smash: Top 10 Tips for a Successful Cake Smash Photo Session!

Let the messy, giggly, and utterly adorable chaos begin! I LOVE cake smash sessions to celebrate your baby’s first birthday! A cake smash session isn't just about capturing cute photos; it's about embracing the sheer joy and whimsy of your little one's special first year. While they’re super fun, I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to ensure that your baby has a great time and so you get the portraits you’re dreaming of to celebrate the end of this first year!! 

Before Your Cake Smash: 

Give your baby a cupcake or a bowl of frosting a week ahead of time and let them play and get messy. 

So often the feeling of frosting stuck between their fingers is a new sensory experience. Many babies need some time to adjust to that, and it’s easier (and happier!) if they get that experience before the camera comes out. Plus, if they know that they’re allowed to play and have fun, you’re going to have even better photos! 

Let your baby eat a snack or a meal while sitting on the floor in the week or two leading up to the session.

If they are used to being in a high chair 100% of the time, they will not know what to do when we seat them on the floor in front of a cake. Practicing this ahead of time lets them know that there are many different places where they may be able to eat, and not just in a high chair.

Bring your cake to room temperature so that it is soft and easy to smash. 

Cold cakes are rock solid, and babies always hate touching them. If your cake is soft, they’re more likely to dive right in and enjoy this special treat. Don’t forget to pack finger foods like puffs, yogurt drops, or cheerios to hide in the frosting if they are hesitant to try the cake.

Try on their outfit ahead of time. 

Not only is it important to make sure it actually fits, but it’s important to make sure that they can sit, stand, and crawl comfortably. We want to capture your little one moving around! 

During Your Cake Smash

Show that you can eat the frosting! 

Give your baby a taste of frosting on your fingertip, and show them that you can eat the frosting/cake, too! This helps them feel safe because they trust you, and it piques their curiosity in the cake. Anything that helps your baby be more comfortable with this new food is key.

Be patient. 

Most babies take a little time to really get comfortable during their cake smash. We will never force a baby to eat the cake, and we will take as many breaks as they need. Some babies dig right in, but others need a little more time. Don’t worry, and just remember that however your baby reacts, IT IS NORMAL and we’ve seen that in dozens of other babies before.

If your baby is a walker (or a super speedy crawler!), be prepared to get messy. 

Your job is going to be baby-duty to bring your baby back over to the backdrop every time they crawl or walk away. Just be sure they are always turned with the front of their body towards the light source when you place them back down on the setup. This will help us capture more photos quickly throughout our time together. 

Follow the photographer’s lead. 

Your photographer has a flexible workflow to introduce baby to the cake and to ensure they capture all of their standard shots, and your photographer will adapt to whatever mood your little one is in and whatever situation arises. Stay calm, and have fun!

Don’t panic if your baby cries. 

I promise you, we’ll help them get comfortable or move on to the next part of the session. And anyways, those always wind up being some of the cutest photos that parents love when they put on their crocodile tears. ;o)

Savor this experience. 

Really pause and take a moment to take it all in and remember this celebration of your baby’s first year. Look at their little smile, watch the way their hands grab at the cake with those tiny finger dimples, and listen to their joyful giggle as they clap and cheer. This is such a huge milestone for your family, so make sure you slow down to enjoy the experience. 

Don’t worry about getting your baby to smile or calling their attention – your photographer will handle that part. For now, just enjoy these moments as a parent and love on your little one who is about to celebrate a whole trip around the sun!

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A Simple Woodland Cake Smash Setup for Baby Boy’s First Birthday

How is Lucas already a one year old?! This was our fifth session together thanks to our Collective Membership, and Lucas absolutely loved the camera! He was so comfortable in the studio, and he had a blast digging into his cake to celebrate turning one. Seeing babies be super comfortable with me is definitely a huge perk of being a part of the membership! 

For Lucas’ first birthday portraits, his mom and dad wanted to keep the setup super simple. We brought in elements of the woods, including the gorgeous pine tree trunks and greenery. With lots of fairy lights intertwined with the leaves on the floor, the setup became more whimsical and fun for this sweet boy. His outfit was also simple, but Lucas looked absolutely adorable in his overalls! 

My favorite portraits from his cake smash are actually where Lucas is smiling up at his mom and dad. His eyes just light up when he sees them, and I hope they always look back at these portraits and see the love that they reflected right back on to him. It was so precious to see those moments happen in real life and to have saved them forever for Lucas and his parents is beyond special to me! 

Happy first birthday, Lucas! I can’t believe you’re already such a big boy!! 

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A sugarplum fairy winter wonderland cake smash with Saratoga Springs baby photographer

Happy 1st birthday, Ella Kate! We’ve been documenting all of her milestones during her first year as part of the Collective Membership and yet, I can’t believe she’s already one! To celebrate the end of her first year, we created a beautiful Sugar Plum fairy winter wonderland cake smash inspired by her mother’s ballet memories! 

Ella Kate’s Mom was a ballerina as a child, and she brought her old ballet slippers and pointe shoes to incorporate into the setup. I loved that sweet personal touch to the winter setup - and it was fun to sneak in something that means so much to her mom, too! Winter wonderland is always a popular theme for babies, so I love that we learned more into the Sugar Plum fairy inspiration for Ella Kate’s portraits! The setup really came together with soft whites, peachy pink, and the sweetest ballet dancers lined up across the backdrop.

As always, I incorporated some portraits of milestone portraits of Ella Kate before we even got to the cake. I’ve fallen in love with using my white wooden high chair with my babies in the studio! It’s always been one of my favorite props because it’s so classic, but it’s fun to be using it regularly again. Paired with the wooden cake (a popular prop for the babies, too!), it’s a great touch to any cake smash. After Ella Kate got to play with her cake, we also wrapped up with my favorite bubble bath setup. I’m all about sending you home with a clean baby! Plus, who doesn’t love a little one playing in bubbles?! Parents always love these portraits! 

Happy birthday again, Ella Kate! Thank you for allowing me to capture another beautiful milestone for you!

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Timeless First Birthday Portraits with a Cake Smash

Baby Kennedy isn’t such a baby anymore! This little girl is now a year old! We celebrated with timeless first birthday portraits in my Saratoga Springs studio. Mom wanted a simple and classic session and to keep the focus on her birthday baby, which I totally get. With that in mind, we wanted to create really timeless portraits. I think we did it - and I hope you’ll think so too. Kennedy’s session really reminded me that sometimes less is more when it comes to a cake smash setup! 

We chose to do a simple backdrop of super white seamless paper, and let this baby girl be the star of the show! I’m a huge fan of simplicity, and I loved how timeless these portraits turned out. For some of the session, she got to sit in my favorite white highchair for her cake smash - with my infamous wooden birthday cake. Afterwards, we got her down and in her sparkly blue dress, she dove into the simple white cake we had for her. Kennedy was absolutely adorable and I LOVED watching her figure out how to get into the cake.  

It was also important to capture new portraits of her and her parents in the studio. Honestly, family portraits in the studio at this age are always so much fun! There’s also lots of laughs, big smiles, showing off their personality and new milestones achieved. Look at the big personality in the photo of Kennedy walking! Love it!!

Happy birthday, Kennedy! I loved planning and capturing your stunning timeless birthday photos. Enjoy this next year!

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Pink and Silver Winter Wonderland Cake Smash

Gabriella is one! To celebrate her first birthday, I had the chance to photograph her and her family again, as well as her winter one-derland cake smash! Andrea, Gabriella’s mother, is a member of our Collective Membership. We’ve documented all of her milestones with 4 sessions that follow her family from maternity all the way through the first birthday! It’s been so fun to watch her grow into the sweet little one-year-old she is now! PS. We’re currently  booking membership clients for 2024! This is perfect for your family if you’re planning to do 2 or more sessions over an 18 month period (not just for baby’s first year clients, either!).

Winter wonderland is a super popular theme in my studio. I loved the chance to put together another classic version of the winter wonderland cake smash. For Gabriella, we focused on a pink and silver color palette. I even got to bring in my new blush pink backdrop fabric that I have already used many times this winter (ha!). The sparkly cone trees were the perfect addition to her winter theme. Gabriella looked adorable in her pink and white tutu, complete with a silver crown. She was a winter queen for her winter wonderland smash, for sure! 

As I always do with cake smash portraits, I captured new family portraits for this sweet family of four. They chose a beautiful blue and white color palette, which was the total opposite of the pinks and silvers we used for the cake smash. Side by side, the entire session looks amazing together and I hope that this family will treasure the portraits forever! 

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A dreamy cake smash at the beach with Cape Cod Baby Photographer Nicole Starr Photography

Back when my son was a baby, I did a cake smash on the beach for him the summer after he turned one. That turned out to be my first ever cake smash at the beach, and since then I’ve done many first birthday celebrations at the beach while visiting Cape Cod every summer. Our daughter celebrated her first birthday in June, which was perfect timing for a cake smash later in the summer during one of our trips to the Cape! I absolutely love creating this special memory with my babies. 

We went to my favorite beach right at sunset, and we set up right in the surf where the water was coming up in gentle waves onto the sand. I love the effect it had in the portraits – completely dreamy! Adelaide looked so precious in her pink dress and enjoyed her cake. She actually dug right into her cake, and her expression when she is leaning into it with both hands and her tongue out just cracks me up! Her big brother helped towards the end and I can’t express how it made my heart swell to see my two babies playing together in the surf and the sand. 

This was definitely the messiest cake smash I’ve ever done between the frosting and the wet sand, but it was so worth it! Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl!

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A horse racing themed cake smash in Saratoga Springs

Happy birthday, Ivy! This darling little girl was born last year during the famous annual Whitney Race and upon her arrival, Heather immediately knew what her first birthday portrait theme would be: horse racing! I always love a chance to break out this uniquely Saratoga Springs backdrop and setup, and to do so in honor of a Whitney Race baby was even more special to me. Ivy’s mom not only used the theme for her portraits, but planned the entire birthday party around this theme too! SO fun. 

Before our cake smash, I met Ivy, Heather, and Lee in a wildflower field that they’ve grown to love over the last year. It’s a field the family frequents to gather their fresh fruit and veggies, so it holds a lot of meaning to the three of them. Ivy had the cutest little blue and white dress for our portraits in the field. She looked absolutely adorable, and everything just had this soft flowing vibe to it. 

After our time in the field, we headed back to the studio for Ivy’s first birthday portraits. Heather loved my vintage high chair and big ONE letters made of metal, so we made sure to incorporate them in our studio time. Heather chose the sweetest blue linen dress for Ivy to wear during her smash. She actually pulled some of the pastel orange and peach out of the backdrop for her cake, too. Such great attention to detail! It really helped everything for the smash come together. 

Ivy was gentle with her cake but had a blast. I loved seeing her little smile come out as she touched the icing and even got to play in our bath after the smash. She was utterly adorable and I had a great time with her and her parents marking this major milestone! Happy first birthday, Ivy! 

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A horse racing themed cake smash in Saratoga Springs NY with New York cake smash photographer Nicole Starr Photography

A Neutral Beige & White Balloon Garland Cake Smash

Happy first birthday, Westin! To celebrate this sweet boy’s first birthday, we planned a neutral beige and white cake smash in my Saratoga Springs studio. This session was a blast - and so gorgeous, too. I loved bringing Mom’s vision to life to celebrate her little boy!

Before we got into the cake smash, I captured updated mommy and me portraits of Westin and his mom, Chanel. Chanel wore a beautiful gray dress and Westin had a cream hand-knit outfit. He looked absolutely precious! I loved the texture on his sweater - little details like that always look perfect on camera and bring some depth to your portraits. 

Afterwards, it was time for Westin’s cake smash! Mom wanted a boho feel for the setup with all neutral colors and a classic balloon garland. I loved designing this set with beige, white, and cream balloons. I also pulled out some of my classic white lit ONE lights and with his cream colored cake, we were ready to go! Westin wore the cutest little crown with a cream outfit and he looked absolutely adorable while he figured out what to do with his cake. During the session, he also took his FIRST steps! I was able to capture that special moment on film for his family and I am so grateful I could. 

I hope this sweet little boy has the best birthday! I loved having him in the studio for this adorable boho inspired cake smash. 

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Baby Starr: Adelaide's First Birthday Cake Smash with Giant Floral ONE Letters

Our sweet girl is officially ONE, and it’s hard to believe that we’ve had her in our lives for a whole year now. Time truly did fly by at warp speed, and I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital and our son was cuddling her on the couch and saying in his tiny little voice, “Hi, Adelaide. Hi, honey. I love you!”

For Adelaide’s first birthday portraits, I wanted to do a classic floral cake smash with a twist. I purchased these 3-foot tall 3D metal letters and filled them with greenery, blush, and peach florals, with a few pops of anemones. I absolutely love how it turned out (and I can’t wait to use these letters in so many more cake smashes — check out another one here with BALLOONS inside the letters!).

This backdrop was truly a labor of love. The letters were handmade by an artisan in the Ukraine, and shipping took a few extra weeks to arrive. I needed a truly ridiculous amount of garlands to fill them with, and then I had so much fun adjusting the peach and white peonies, pink hydrangeas, white roses, and anemones to get them **just right** in the final setup.

It was all worth it, and our girl LOVED her cake smash!

Big brother Grayson wanted to help me in the studio. He has always loved being a part of sessions, and this one was no exception because it involved his baby sister and CAKE. He brings out the biggest smiles in her, and some of my very favorite portraits from this session are the ones where she is grinning and laughing at her big brother just over my shoulder.

I was sooooo happy when she leaned into her cake to take a big bite out of it! And I just adore those itty bitty fingers holding on to the frosting on the side of the cake.

Just look at how Grayson is making Adelaide smile in the one below! I love the bond that these two are developing.

Of course, baby girl absolutely loved her bathtub splash at the end. She didn’t want to get out of the tub when it was over! We had so much fun doing this session, and I can’t wait to frame a few portraits and add them to an album for our ONE YEAR OLD daughter!

Classic neutral cake smash with balloon letters

Happy birthday, Bennett! This classic neutral cake smash was super special to me because Bennett has the same exact birthday as our little girl Adelaide! I have been photographing this family’s milestones ever since they were pregnant with their first baby, and it’s such a joy welcoming them back into the studio and seeing their family grow and change. Bennett was the happiest little birthday boy and his session was a great time for all of us! 

Katie, Bennett’s mom, asked for a setup that was soft, neutral, and classic. We did a neutral “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” setup when her son Carter turned one, and I wanted to use colors that would complement his portraits. With that in mind, we stuck with whites, creams, and gold. I can already imagine the portraits being displayed together in their home! They’re going to be so pretty hanging together on the wall or in an album the boys will flip through together for years to come. 

For Bennett’s session, I picked up these gorgeous gold ONE letters. They’re my newest prop in the studio for our cake smash sessions, and I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a prop since I bought the tiny clawfoot tub six years ago! These handmade letter sculptures shipped all the way from the Ukraine, and I am already dreaming up all the different things we can “fill” them with for our birthday babies! Balloons, florals… the options truly are endless! I think the neutral ivory and peach balloons that we chose for Bennett’s portraits turned out to be the perfect option! 

Happy birthday, Bennett! I can’t wait to watch you grow! 

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Classic Winnie the Pooh cake smash with Saratoga Springs baby photographer

Happy birthday, Jordan! This sweet guy is already ONE, which I can’t believe! He came by the studio recently for his classic Winnie the Pooh cake smash. We used the most gorgeous watercolor illustrations for his backdrop and had a blast photographing the birthday boy. It was a sweet and absolutely adorable session from start to finish!  

When Jordan’s mom suggested this classic Winnie the Pooh theme, I was so excited. I absolutely love this theme! I’m a sucker for anything painted with watercolors, and these Winnie the Pooh designs were the perfect touch to this backdrop and setup. We used some wooden ONE letters - they were a team effort to collect! When this mom walked into the studio, she immediately recognized them and asked me, “Ohhhh, you got the last letter?” She had seen my post on Facebook searching for the letter E, because I already had the O and N, but our stores around here had no E! I had friends, family, and acquaintances across the country checking out their Michaels stores for this letter. One lucky friend found it and shipped it to me from South Carolina! I’m so glad that we found the E to include in Jordan's portraits! 

We’ve documented all Jordan and his big brothers, Jacob and Jonas, since they were newborns. Each boy has had milestone sessions from newborn sessions to cake smashes, and it’s truly been a joy to capture these memories for them. I can’t believe this sweet family is moving to a new state. I’ll miss seeing them in the studio every couple of months, watching them grow, and catching up on life! Clients really do become like family, especially because we’re together a lot throughout the portrait experience. From planning your session, to capturing your portraits, gallery reveal, and artwork delivery - I LOVE getting to know every family who comes into my Saratoga Springs studio. 

Happy birthday again, Jordan! I can’t believe you’re one and our studio sessions are done!

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A Tiger Jungle Themed Cake Smash with Saratoga Springs Baby Photographer

 I can’t believe Rhys is a year old! It seems like just yesterday, we were planning his newborn session and then he came in for his milestone portraits. Now, he’s a one year old and we had to celebrate with a fun tiger and jungle themed cake smash in my Saratoga Springs studio. I have worked with Rhys and his family to capture all three boys’ first year - so I knew his mom wouldn’t disappoint with another fun theme! I absolutely loved creating a playful jungle setup for Rhys to smash some cake!! 

Like his brothers, Rhys’ cake smash centered around an animal: a tiger. Both of his brothers also had animal inspired cake smashes, each one had a special significance for the baby. Rhys was born in the year of the tiger, so we incorporated a tiger into both his newborn & milestone portraits. We made sure to bring the tiger into his cake smash, too. I absolutely love how this came together with the jungle leaves and the stuffed tigers! His mom brought him in a super cute tiger outfit to tie it all together, too! 

During the cake smash, Rhys wasn’t super into his cake, but his big brothers loved digging in! It’s one of the reasons I always say “yes” to big siblings who come to join us - so someone will enjoy the cake!! Happy birthday, Rhys! I’m so happy I was able to watch you grow this past year. You’re such a little sweetheart!! 

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Throw the Confetti: A fifth birthday cake smash with friends

My son Grayson and his friends all have birthdays within 2.5 weeks of each other. I met these moms when we were pregnant – one at prenatal yoga, another at the hospital birth class, and another was a maternity client of mine. Our babies were all born at the same time, and we have been so lucky to have a built-in support group going through exactly the same stages at the same time as one another.

When the babies turned 1, we did a cake smash with a Saratoga race track theme. It was cute and chaotic, and so much fun! With their fifth birthdays coming up, we knew this was a big milestone that we wanted to celebrate. For many of them, it was their first really big birthday celebration in years because of the pandemic. We got the original four together to do a (cup)cake smash with a confetti theme, and it was such a blast! All of their personalities came through, and it was amazing to us moms as we watched them in this session and reflected on how their personalities today were so similar to the way they each acted during the one year old session.

I chose a confetti theme because it was bright & colorful, and oh-so-classic. Each child’s cupcake had their favorite color confetti sprinkles on top (and yes, I painstakingly sorted the sprinkles by color one at a time the night before the session!). This setup was so much fun to make, and while adapting my regular cake smash set (baby sitting on the floor) to accommodate four grown 5 year olds was a challenge, we pulled it off with a bench covered in white fabric and confetti dots to match the decor. I love how it all turned out, and I’m so happy that we’ll have these memories to look back on years from now and show our little ones these early friendships.

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