Here is our purple and pink cake smash setup, with a super cute owl banner.

We then took her to the side to do some quick portraits on a chair on a dirt path.

And here is where the cake smash starts! It’s always neat watching a kid react to a cake, especially when they look up as if asking “can I really just touch this?!”

And you gotta just fall in love with that super cute smile!

This is the cake smash photography session for our second kid, Hayden. Judy has been capturing families and their little ones for over a decade now, and our own family experience has only made it that much more special. Cake smashes are a popular option for a first birthday photo session, mostly cause it’s a perfect age to let a kid innocently tear apart a cake! It does require a sacrificial cake, but in this case we just got ours from the local grocery store (sometimes you are just too tired to do everything, especially with 2 kids)! You can see many more examples of our work on our family photography instagram page, along with many more examples of cake smash photos and more on this site.

The post {Hayden} First Birthday Photos & Cake Smash appeared first on Dreams + Darlings.

I love the frosting on that pink cake. All the better to smash the cake with tiny one-year-old hands!!

Here you can see the simple cake smash setup with wooden crates, pink and white balloons, and a pink blanket. She also had streamers hanging in the background using two wooden sticks driven into the ground.

And the first birthday cake smash begins!

That’s a whole lot of pink! Pink tutu, pink blanket, pink flowers, and lots of pink frosting.

Then the family (mom and dad) got into the action for some first birthday family photos, with a lot of pink cake frosting to boot!

And that is definitely a messy, but super fun and cute 1st birthday family photo.

Judy is an experienced family photographer of over 10 years, doing family photography sessions and wedding photography. She also has done cake smashes for both of her own daughters and it very familiar with working with young children. Dreams & Darlings can capture your 1yo cake smash birthday photos with fun and ease. These photos make for an amazing memento, but also are great for promoting a first birthday party (for invitations or a website). Make sure to give the shoot ample time before the birthday party to use the images for that. Make sure to look at our website for more examples of cake smash photos and first birthday photos.

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Starting Graduation Photos at the California Botanical Garden

The California Botanical Gardens are a special and hidden gem in Eastern Los Angeles County. It’s located right north of the Claremont Colleges, which is where we went for the second half of the graduation photography portrait session.

Claremont Colleges Grad Photos

After graduation portraits at the California Botanical Garden, we headed over to the Claremont Colleges for more grad photos. I think it’s considered one of the more beautiful college campuses un Southern California. Our recent grad actually graduated from UCSC, but her family is here locally in the Claremont area, which made the family photos much easier.

We then did some fun grad photos with confetti, placed on her cap.

Here is a great graduation photo of confetti being blown off the the top of her grad cap.

And of course it’s always a tradition to celebrate a graduation with a bottle of champagne!

Claremont Colleges Family and Graduation Photography

This is a great example of a graduation portrait photography session done in two locations in Claremont: the California Botanical Garden and the Claremont Colleges. Being from San Dimas, we consider the City of Claremont to be in our neighborhood. They are both local treasures and amazing for both grad photos and family photos. You can see many more examples of our work on our website, including many more examples of grad photos.

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