First birthday cake smash photoshoot with Poppy

After getting some beautiful newborn photos at a mini pop-up studio up in Telford last June, new mum Scarlett and dad Ryan knew they wanted a professional photographer to capture daughter Poppy’s next milestone.

Poppy is quite confident, especially around women. She’s a little more shy around men, apart from one exception: Grandad Edward, known as Bampy.

Scarlett and Poppy live with Scarlett’s parents, so Poppy gets to see Edward every day.

Scarlett tells me that Bampy is the only person who gets an extra special, crinkly nose smile from Poppy, and that Poppy already has him wrapped around her little finger!

This is one of the reasons why Poppy’s grandparents came along for her first birthday cake smash photoshoot at my Bicester studio.

While it’s always an incredible honour to capture three generations together, it’s especially important when the grandparents have a close relationship with the little ones in the family!

June is a busy time for this lovely group.

Scarlett celebrated her own birthday at the start of the month, with food out at Torino Lounge and the Bure Park pub.

Poppy enjoyed all the festivities, especially when the cake arrived covered in candles and everyone started singing ‘Happy Birthday’!

Scarlett’s step-daughter turned three the following week: she lives in Wales but comes over every weekend.

Then it’s Poppy’s birthday on 16 June, so it’s very much a celebratory month (and an expensive one for the grandparents!).

Scarlett and Ryan will mark the occasion with 30 adults and 12 children coming over for a party, and they can’t wait to see Poppy’s reaction when she unwraps her walker and pop-up tent.

Poppy loves to clap and hear her favourite nursery rhymes (current hits includes Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet Song) but the music she loves best is – fabulously – the Eastenders theme tune!

She loves having a long sleep overnight, adores crawling around to explore everywhere and most of all she loves food.

So far, the family haven’t found anything that Poppy doesn’t enjoy – even lemons!

Indeed, she tucked into her birthday cake during the photoshoot with me – albeit with the most delicate of servings on her dainty fingers!

Then, after a lovely time interacting with us all and grinning at nanny and Bampy, the family headed off to do some shopping and get started on wrapping up all those birthday presents!

Happy birthday, Poppy! ?

P.S. Ed runs ECS Garage Doors. By chance, my husband and I had been meaning to get our garage door looked at for a long time, as it had started to open at a wonky angle (with a lot of screeching each time, too!).

I asked Ed to look at it, and he and his eldest, Alex, popped back later in the same day and were able to quickly fix it.

They also spotted a potential security issue and corrected that at the same time for no extra charge.

I keep a little black book with all the details of helpful and trusted contacts and business owners in the area for when the need arises – Ed, Alex and ECS Garage Doors are definitely going in it!

“Couldn’t recommend Sarah enough she was so kind and welcoming! Lovely set where the photo are taken and a great atmosphere for babies and children. Was AMAZING with my baby girl she felt so comfortable around Sarah and she enjoy her time there! Photos were amazing!!”

Scarlett, first birthday cake smash photoshoot client from Bicester, Oxfordshire

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If you’re interested in a first birthday cake smash photography session in Bicester, Oxfordshire, please get in contact.

Sarah Plater AMPA is an award-winning qualified, certified professional newborn and family portrait photographer based in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

She is the Master Photographers Association Young Families Portrait Photographer of the Year 2022 and Newborn Photographer of the Year 2019 for the Central Region (covering Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).