Aren’t these cake smash set ups adorable?
These are just images I found online. I’d love to do more like these and I get a lot of requests for cake smashes but sadly I don’t book many of them because of price.
I totally understand everyone has a budget for photography and that’s ok! Client’s value things differently. You might think paying upwards of $600-$700 for a cake smash is crazy but will gladly pay double that for a phone. Only one of them lasts a lifetime.
Sometimes, you need to either adjust your expectations or adjust your budget though.
If you have a baby about to turn 1 and you start googling for ideas and you see photos of set ups like these and you just love them!
Yes I absolutely CAN create set ups like these for your little one! Yes, I CAN create your vision. I would gladly do everything I can to make sure the experience is everything you want and more. I just cannot do it for less than it costs me to:
Ready for it?
– Plan and communicate with you (2-3 hours)
– Buy the backdrop and props (many come from the US so are usually double the cost). The cake or smash food.
– Set the whole thing up the night before the session (1-2 hours)
– Shoot the session (1 hour)
– Clean up after the session (1-2 hours)
– Edit the session (6+ hours)
– Upload and prepare your gallery or image viewing (4+ hours)
– Finalize your selections and/or design and order your products (4+ hours)
– Communicate with you throughout the process (1-2 hours)
– Review your order when it arrives and make arrangements to get it to you (1-2 hours)
– Then there’s a whole mess of other tedious costs of running a legal business like taxes, license, insurance, utilities etc.
Not including all the costs, the time alone is near or over 24 hours spent on just your session. I happily do this for clients though, it’s all part of the experience for them.
I work hard to give my clients what they want and the ones that value it see that.
When someone asks me to do a cake smash like this for $100-$200, it’s an insult and absolutely not possible.
Just to give an example, for a session coming up in May, I ordered a backdrop from a US company because no one else had it and it’s moms vision so we made it happen. Before shipping, it was $400. Shipping was $93. Props will still be needed and then there’s that time thing and other costs I mentioned.
I’ve been told often and a lot lately, “I’m not willing to pay that much”.
I’m willing to do the set up, but not if you’re unwilling to pay what I need to charge to make it happen. No one should.
What I can do for $100? I can do a little of point one on that list.
So, you can absolutely look for someone cheaper and many newer excited photographers will probably jump on the chance, however do you think it’s right to make someone pay the costs and spend the time on your session which puts them in the negative and working for free?
Something you can do if you really want this type of experience is to plan ahead and save for it!
If you’ve got a new baby now and know you’re going to want a cake smash for his or her first birthday, you’ve got 11 months or so to save for that. You get the experience you envision and you can properly and fairly compensate a hard working photographer.
That can also go for any other type of session. If you’re growing a beautiful baby bump, you have months to prepare for those beautiful newborn photos. Some of my clients even start saving before they get a positive test. Or they pre-pay small amounts towards their session later.
Fall family portraits? You have 7-8 months if you started now. It can absolutely be done if you want it enough and there are many professional photographers that would love to work with you when the time comes.
But not for free.
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