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Cake Smash Photography - Cake, Cake, Cake!!!!

22/5/2019

Cake smash Photography Leicestershire

So as you all know I offer the perfect session for any little one who’s birthday is coming up. I would say for their first birthday however I have done shots for 2nd, 3rd and even 4th birthdays too. I have even done 30th/50th cake smash and wine shoots!!

Over the past years of doing my photography I love every aspect of my work, but it is without a doubt, cake smash sessions are on a different level to all my other shoots. The main reason being is we get messy, VERY messy. Oh, and there is lots of splashing involved too. Before I put you off too much, I will add we do capture some beautiful images prior to the cake or the tub part of the session. I give my clients the option of whether they wish for these to be family images or images of little one. Here’s a few examples of our pre cake smash images.

I wanted to talk a bit about the cakes, what’s in them and where they come from. I have the most amazing supplier for my cakes, and she is simply amazing with whatever design ideas come to mind. I first met Dina from Dina’s cake creations when I started out, as I was looking for somebody who was able to keep up with my demand for cakes when I had sessions book. Of course, with sessions not always being booked in advance I needed to find somebody reliable and able to work on short notice and Dina exceeded all of this. Dina first started her interest in cakes as a child and always loved to help bake cakes when she could, over the years it progressed to her doing her child’s 5thbirthday cake. After she had done this, and family and friends saw her amazing work they all started to ask if she too could supply a cake for them. Over the time Dina made various cakes for family and friends and too took her very first order of a wedding cake and it all started from there, creating wedding, birthday, christening and any other occasion cakes. When I asked Dina for some information on her cakes, it was a lovely experience for her to look back at her work and see how far she had come. The work and detail which go into them are just simply stunning. They take Dina hours to complete and are truly a piece of art. Although that work does eventually get cut into and eaten.

I needed to know what was in them and if she was able to tweak them if any dietary requirements were needed. If you’re like me and don’t bake often you don’t have a clue what goes in them. So, the basic things you need for a cake are flour, caster sugar, butter and eggs. We also offer dairy/gluten free cakes in our session as we cant have anyone with allergies missing out! Dina even offers eggless cakes, who even knew there was such a thing?!?

We offer two types of sessions:

Simplicity Range

If clients chose my simplicity range, then theses are usually tall round 8in cakes covered in butter icing with little or no colour or theme to them. These are called naked cakes and sometimes can have flowers on top depending on personal preference. As you child is the main focus of these sessions, the clothing I provide is white or grey. Here’s just a few examples of the cakes and outfits for the simplicity range.

Giant Cupcakes Range

If you’re looking for a cake smash session with a particular colour or theme, then the normal range of cake smash sessions are what you’re looking for. Oh, and believe me we have had every theme going, from peter rabbit, hungry caterpillar, superman, daisy’s, mini mouse. We’ve even had parents make special outfits, buntings or props to use in with the images.

The sky is the limit when it comes to this range and you can have any colours bright or pastel, a truly bespoke session.

Dina is amazing at creating cakes from a mixture of ideas and themes. Here’s just a few of the themed session cakes she has done for me. I would like to say I have a favourite but each and every time Dina creates a new design is blows me away even more.

Of course, once all the cake part of the session is over. Your little one will enter into the tub and have a splashing good time; this ensures they are nice and clean for the journey home and is a lovely way of capturing them at a time where they are just sampling having fun. After all there’s only so much splashing, they can do it the tub at home without drowning the floor and coming through the ceiling.

If you’re in need of a cake, simply love her work or just wish to help a fellow small business owner out then head over to Dina’s cake creations, give her a like and some love on her posts or even pop her a message for any quotes. Remember all small business can be supported by you even if you aren’t purchasing anything, but simply liking a post helps.

If you'd like some more information then please click here to contact us, or here to book your session.

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Baby Isabella - Their IUI Story

17/1/2019

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Beautiful Isabella and her IUI story on how she came into the word

So it’s been a while since I last posted a blog, we’ve been so busy with lots of gorgeous newborns we’ve just not had time to catch up after the Christmas period.

A few weeks back we welcomed baby Isabella into the studio with her mummy and momar. Isabella had been long awaited by Cloey and her partner Nicole after their first round of IUI sadly wasn’t successful.

Their story started when they got referred via their doctor to the Leicester Fertility clinic. They had as many tests, examinations and procedures done via the NHS as possible, before having to go private to try and convince for Isabella. It took them nearly 2 years to get to the cycle part. We wanted to show everyone a little insight into the whole process as usually this is such a private journey but both Cloey and Nicole are very open and passionate about how they got her here. When we spoke with Cloey she said people don’t realise just quite how much you have to go through and explained it to us so here is a little bit from her.

‘You have to take medication before the IUI and months before, your whole lifestyle has to be changed before your allowed to start. Most appointments included lot of tests, forms, painful examinations, counselling appointments. Sometimes not knowing if it’s all going to work was emotionally draining, as sometimes the sperm donors’ numbers and motility etc can vary. Which gives you a less success rate. We were told IUI itself only had the highest success rate of 15%. We would have only been offered it free via NHS if we had 5 failed IUIs then the 6th would be IVF funded by NHS which is already thousands and thousands to get there. But obviously we would have carried on paying and paying for our miracle. It’s a long hard emotional roller coaster of a journey. A right mix of different emotions.
But when your there it’s like you never even went through what you did just to get pregnant and once you’re holding your baby in your arms every last painful examination, blood tests, medication, money and emotional stress seems like it was a life time ago.

For anyone who has had IVF treatment you will know the long and hard process this is and to get those two lines pop up on that stick is such a long awaited overwhelming feeling.’

It was lovely to follow Cloey and Nicole’s pregnancy journey on Instagram, and I remember seeing their gender reveal video; both of their reactions had me close to tears and knowing that they both had longed for their little made it so much more special to watch.

We also saw a part of their journey through window to the womb at Leicester when they had a private scan with them and shared a part of their story with their followers too.

Not only were they becoming mummy’s but Isabella also has a fur brother, skip. We also welcomed him into the studio, so we could capture some images of them both together and some family images too. If you’re a follower of my work you will know I’ve captured a few families with fur siblings, so it was lovely to be able to do this again for Cloey and her family. For their family images we captured them first all in matching outfits which was tartan print. It stood out lovely on the photos and was such a nice touch to add to the images. Here are a few images from skip and Isabella together and their favourite family of mine.

For this session we were asked to do some skin on skin images which I love doing; there is nothing more precious than holing your baby tightly and just taking that moment in! This moment is raw, pure, emotion and shows the bond between child and parent(s). After all they do say skin to skin contact has so many benefits. Studies show that skin to skin contact after birth and in the coming weeks help calm and soothe babies, stimulates digestion and an interest in feeding and simulates the release of hormones which helps with the bonding process.

I’m super excited that Cloey and Nicole have allowed me to share these beautiful images. With this being such a private and intimate process for them both I am truly honoured they chose me to capture such an important part of their lives. Here are some of my most favourite images from this part of their session.
Usually at this point we’d stop and give little ones a feed but Isabella absolutely rocked it for us and was still being amazing so we carried on straight through the session.

Keeping in mind with the colours schemes around the family home we stuck to greys and white beanbag fabrics.

We also did various props which included one of my favourite images of baby in parent’s hands. We ether do this with one of each parent’s hands or just with the hands of one parent. In this case we used both Cloey and Nicole’s hands for this. From this pose we also capture our new digital image of baby appearing inside what looks like the sac of when they are in the womb.

I could spend hours going on and on about this session and showing you all the images as it was truly an honour to capture and be a part of their journey. Plus, Isabella was such a star and made doing her session such a joy.

For more information on IUI/IVF treatment visit http://www.leicesterfertilitycentre.org.uk

For more information on the sessions I have to offer please visit the our website.

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Newborn Session, Growing Family

10/7/2018

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Newborn Photography Session, Leicester

I’d like to introduce the Pateman’s back into the studio, this time with a new addition to the family, Evelyn.

For this newborn session I got to capture adorable Evelyn and her big sister Isabella too. We first met the family over a year ago when they came to us for a newborn session when Isabella was born. It was so lovely to be able to see how grown up Isabella was along with meeting their new addition too. So of course the first thing we started with for their session was the sibling images. Isabella made it so simple for us and was amazing for her photos. We always ask parents to bring a few of their favourite toys so that we can hide them in the props which helps them to look in the right direction. If you’re a follower of my blogs, you’ll know sibling images are done as a composite. This is where we take the image of sibling and empty prop and then take one of baby in the prop one their own and add the images together. This is the safest way to get these images.

Mum and Dad had requested we did the session in a different style for Evelyn so when their images are on their legacy wall they would clearly be able to see a difference between the two girls, so we ensured we used different props and backdrops so the photos weren’t the same.

We captured some beautiful images of Evelyn on some of our floral backdrops. As you can see from these two images here we captured two images differently just by showing little elbows and shoulders in one but not in the other.

On top of this I always ensure I captured a few images at certain angles so that I Create different images by not disturbing baby too much.

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Family, nothing more important!

28/6/2018

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Family Session- Leicester

Here at bumps Baby Beyond as much as I specialise in newborn photography I offer a wide range of other sessions too. Our sessions include Maternity, Newborn, Sitter’s Cake Smash and Family sessions. I also offer various mini sessions throughout the year and family sessions.

A few weeks back I got to meet Zain along with his mummy and daddy. Mum wanted to buy her husband a present he could remember for his birthday, and what’s better than a present that last’s a life time!

I am so honored to capture families, we are so often the ones behind the camera taking the images of our children, but it is so important to exist. Exist in those photos with your children so one day, they have something to look back on, look back on and remember you being at their side.

After all these photos last a life time, so as much as you remember that moment in time you may forget the little details. The way they smiled, the way they laughed, the way their hair fell…all the little details that time has a way of forgetting.

I always discuss what to wear for sessions prior to them happening so that each client knows what to expect and so that all the colours work together in a beautiful contrast.

As you can see from some of these images here I also like to capture a range of images from standing up to laying down. This helps to ensure that each image captures at different positions and angles.

It’s also captures each moment as it happens and all the giggles and love that they have for each other.

We create some gorgeous long lasting images for this family and hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did capturing them.

A good friend of mine, in Preston Lancashire also offers family images, Emily Frances is a family photographer.