One year. One whole revolution around the sun filled with first smiles, possibly some first steps and an unforgettable amount of memories.
The First Birthday Experience is more than just a photoshoot. It is a really fun celebration of your baby’s journey so far, combining fine art portraits with a playful cake smash followed by a relaxing splash bath session and all styled with elegance and care.
Worried about mess, overstimulation, or whether your baby will “perform”? Let those fears melt away. I create a calm, baby-led environment where the smiles unfold naturally and I have lots of tricks up my sleeve for more assertive babies!
Whether they prefer the cake or the bathtub, there is sure to be something they will love, and when you see those portraits, cake covered cheeks, sparkling eyes, tiny toes in bubbles, framed on your wall you will feel the magic all over again.
These aren’t just birthday photos. They’re a celebration of everything your baby has become this year, from a tiny bundle to a giggling personality filled Little!
Thank you for considering me to capture your baby’s first birthday! I look forward to welcoming you and your family into the studio to create timeless, beautiful portraits.
Cake smash and splash sessions typically take between 45 minutes to an hour as we move swiftly through to ensure your little one doesn’t get bored or restless.
These are definitely one of the most fun experiences I offer and I absolutely love them. Split into three sections, Portrait images in a more formal outfit, The cake smash itself, then into the mini bathtub.
These sessions are best photographed at 11 months, to give enough time to come back in and choose your images after. Due to high demand and limited slots in my diary, the best time to book in is when baby is between 9-10months old or as close to that as possible to ensure we have time to plan.
Each session gives us a collection of around 40 images that are all fully hand edited, professionally enhanced photographs intended to be cherished for years to come.
You will be invited to return to the studio one to two weeks following your session to review your final gallery, which will feature your gallery viewed on my big screen. At that time, you may select the Collection most suited to your preferences with lots of options from wall art, to prints, albums or digital only image collections.
All you need to book in is a £99 non refundable retainer which will be taken off anything you choose to buy once you have seen your images.
Once you have booked in your first birthday photoshoot we start with a quick call for me to learn your favourite colours and find out a bit about your baby and your family. I then start planning and even send you a virtual shop/style guide to your email of the best outfits for baby to wear that work with your colour vision, before getting started on producing some gorgeous balloons in your choice of colours and tones.
Outfit choices and textures are so important to reflect the fine art style that you see in my portfolio and so I offer my help if you would like it, to decide what you and your partner will wear if you do choose to be in some photographs. All you need on the day is baby’s outfits and a cake and I take care of everything else. Simple and so perfect.
Watch the video to see a behind the scenes of little Sahara’s first birthday experience!
If you are wondering how best to mark your baby’s first birthday (and making it through as parents!), there really is no better way than my very popular first birthday cake smash and splash experience.
During these photoshoots, we get to capture so many milestones like sitting up strongly, eating their first cake, bubbles and those sweet, happy smiles and giggles!
Around this time, you are getting to know your baby’s character, and it not only becomes a perfect celebration of them but also a lovely way to freeze those expressions and create the perfect memory to look back on. We start the Experience with some more formal portraits of your baby in their first outfit. Then the cake-eating/smashing time in their second outfit and finally some lovely photos in my tiny claw-footed bathtub for them to have a splash around.
You take your baby home nice and clean (and perfectly exhausted) while I work on the most beautiful gallery of photographs for you! My standard turn around time is around two weeks from the day of your session, with rush editing service available for an extra fee if you need them back quickly.
The best galleries have variety! I capture both the playful chaos of the cake smash and the serene sweetness of your baby enjoying their bathtime! Not to mention sweet portrait images at the beginning of every Experience before they get messy!
Your baby is the boss during these Experiences! Deliberately scheduled for longer than necessary this gives us time to take everything at their pace and factor in breaks, cuddles, and calm if they need it.
I handle all the details and make sure I provide all the information that you need to ensure a stess free experience on the day, that will be lots of fun!
I work to your brief and style the set bespoke to your baby based on the colours you select. No two cake smashes are ever the exact same here.
Your photoshoot is included as a complimentary part of our service, giving you the opportunity to enjoy a memorable experience at no extra cost.
To secure your session, I require a non-refundable retainer of £99 on booking, which will be deducted from your final order. My most popular collections, listed below, offer a combination of digital images and fine art prints presented in a keepsake box at a special bundled rate. However, I appreciate that every client has unique preferences. Some may wish to invest in wall art or albums with the option to add digital images. For full details of all available products and pricing, please follow the link below.
If you would prefer to purchase just a few individual images
or prints instead of a full Collection, that is absolutely fine.
Please note, a minimum spend of £399 applies, due to the time required for editing, ordering,
printing, and preparing the files.
Your baby’s first birthday is more than a milestone—it’s a moment of reflection, joy, and deep love. Booking your First Birthday Experience now ensures you’ll have timeless artwork that honours this chapter with beauty and heart. Let’s create something unforgettable together.
