A wild Jungle theme cake smash on the blog with a special touch. For this Jungle session, we also included the extended family in photos since they were visiting from Alabama.

Before the Jungle theme cake smash, we started with some family photos.  We included photos with the Grandparents as well as Aunt and Uncle and their sweet little cousin.  I think it is so nice that Mom and Dad thought to include the rest of the family in the session.  Since they are from Alabaman, they do not get to see each other as often as they wish. I completely understand since my family lives in Massachusetts and Vermont. I only see them a few times a year. We include a photo with grandparents and a special photo the there cousins together.  I love how these turned out, and it also helped we had a nice overcast morning to block the harsh sunlight!!  I love overcast days!

It’s no secret, I love planning cake smash set ups.  I get so excited with coming up with ideas and finding props to match the theme.  When mom approached me with a Jungle theme set up, I knew I wanted to stay away from the paper monkeys and paper leaves.  I wanted to make a lush Jungle using some fake leaves.  i found various leaves from Walmart, Hobby lobby and the Dollar tree.  I made the two tree from crushed kraft paper and glued them onto paper. For this session, I did the entire cake smash and extended family session at their home.  So when planning this set up, I had to make sure I could transport it.  This is why I glued the trees to the same background paper.  I cut them out os I could transport it, and then tapped them to the backdrop when I arrived to the home.  It’s always a challenge to think of themes that can also be transported.  Luckily, I now have a studio space, so I won’t have to think about transporting my set ups anymore!!! To make the lush Jungle, I added leaves and vines and included a few leaves on the ground as well.  The best part of the Jungle them set up is the addition of a very special Gorilla and Monkey, and a tiger.  Mom told that the monkey was given to her from Dad when they were first dating and the Gorilla was won at a fair. I absolutely love these personal touches!

Little Aaron had so much fun during his cake smash!! He did not hold back.  He dug into his cake that Mom made for him.  He was so expressive and we got so many great photos. I was surprised to her that it is tough for Mom to capture Aaron’s smile on camera. He gave me so many smiles I had a hard time choosing which photos to deliver!!  After the cake smash, we moved into the splash portion and wow, did he splash!!! He had so much fun making a wet mess and he just about splashed all the water out of the wash basin!  We had a mess to clean up, but it was all worth it.

Enjoy these wild and fun Jungle cake smash photos!