Bridal preparations for the ladies took place at Natalya + Mark's lovely home in the presence of Natalya's favorite pups. Natalya hung out with her friends and family in her cute Mrs. Swetich jammies while they munched on Chick-fil-a and had hair and make up done. When the time came Natalya's mother helped her get into her stunning ivory gown. It was sleeveless with a plunging V-neckline, full tulle skirt with train, and delicate floral accents. She wore her hair up elegantly at the nape of her neck, completed with a live floral comb and beautifully beaded fingertip veil. Her look was finished with champagne sparkly heels, long jeweled earrings, bracelet and a stunning bright bouquet.

Oh I just loved Amber's dress 😍 These two were so incredibly easy and sweet when I met up with them a few months ago for their engagement session (yes, they got their pictures right away... I'm just a little slow on the blogging end 😬) We are only a few weeks out from their wedding and I am so EXCITED!!

Oh my gosh you guys!!!! Please send me all your grandparents. Pretty please 🙏💕 Ron + Elaine are just the sweetest and I had a WONDERFUL time walking around their farm capturing their sweet sweet love and passion for their homestead. This session was gifted by their grandchildren and I think it was a perfect gift!

I get the honor of photographing this sweet couple's wedding this fall and I am so excited! We met up earlier this spring for their engagement session and it was an absolute joy getting to know them as we explored their old college campus.

Alex and I met through a group of mutual friends, and it took about a year of our friends encouraging a relationship before we both finally complied. The rest seems like history. We both consider ourselves extremely blessed, despite the pandemic and change of plans, to be able to stand in a church before God and our families to make a promise to one another. The truth is, we almost did not get the chance to do this. We are eternally grateful to the neurosurgeons who were able to save Alex's life when he had an aneurysm rupture. We are so happy we have this opportunity and look forward to what the future holds for us.

The ladies arrived mostly ready, the finishing touches took place in the back room of the sweet little country church. The bridesmaids wore a variety of dresses in different shades of blue. Abbe wore a beautiful pocketed, A-line, grosgrain, off-shoulder gown, with buttons lining the whole back. Every wedding dress is special but this one was a little more so because it had been purchased by Abbe's late grandmother. Abbe's hair was elegantly swept off her neck and finished with pearls and eucalyptus leaves. She wore simple leave earrings and her grandmother's pearls. Abbe opted for fashion and comfort in a pair of pearl covered Converse. Her bouquet was a combination of white, cream and greens, wrapped in lace and finished with her grandmother's ring tied to the stems.

Kirstin wore a fitted off white and nude lace gown with a plunging v-neckline. The back of the gown had a small line of buttons, the train was long, light and airy with a delicate floral pattern. She wore her hair in loose curls and half up with jeweled hair combs and a fingertip veil. Her heels were low profile with jewels. She wore simple diamond earrings and a pearl covered necklace. 

2020 has been weird. << I think that sums things up. The world events have impacted SO SO many things, but in MY tiny part of the world, one of the things that had me holding my breath as the tidal wave of change came rolling at us, was how is this going to impact all the sweet couples in my life that are getting married??!!!! Thankfully (so far) the impact hasn't been tremendous. It did change two of the weddings I will be photographing this year and this was one of them. Sarah + Tyler opted to split their wedding between this year and next. Holding a small intimate ceremony this year and a reception next. Although it wasn't what was originally envisioned by the couple it was PERFECT... even with the rain 💕

Bridal prep took place in the stunning bridal suite at Crimson Lane. Sarah wore a gorgeous fitted lace gown, with a V neckline and a high, shear lace back, complete with a line of buttons from top to bottom. Her hair was swept up off her neck, completed with jeweled hair combs and a veil tucked up at the nape of her neck. She wore a string of pearls on her neck and wrist, along with a delicate golden chain that belonged to her grandmother. Her earrings were pearl and jeweled studs, she brought a turtle that was gifted to her to represent loved ones that couldn't be present and she finished off her look with a stunning bouquet of eucalyptus, berries, white and dusty blush roses.

I love maternity sessions but this one is special. This girl right here has been my best friend for 26 years! Isn't she freaking gorgeous!! This is her first baby and to say I am excited is a bit of an understatement ❤️ Right now as I type she is in the hospital working on bringing this sweet girl Earth side. I am so eager to love on her babe just as she has loved on my kids over the years. She has been the best Aunt Cookie  to her "cookie crumbs" and I can't wait to be the best Aunt Bird to sweet Zoe .

If you are wondering the back story to my name, growing up Sarah's dad called me Lyd Bird. Not sure where we came up with the name Aunt Cookie but it has stuck and pretty much anybody that knows her through me calls her that as well lol.

Hunter and her group of lovely ladies scored a beautiful little gem in downtown Findlay for the bridal prep. Main Events is a darling little rental area with such a cool look! The owners even came in the night before and decorated with wedding related items! All the girls wore the cutest robes with lace sleeves and munched on fruit and donuts while the talented team from Beauty by Jill worked on Hunter, her mother, and Tyler's mom.

Hunter wore a stunning lace fitted gown with a high neckline and gorgeous shear covered keyhole. The gown had delicate lace straps that graced her gorgeous shoulders and revealed a plunging back line that hit at her waistline where it was met with a line of delicate buttons. Her train was gorgeous and consisted of 3 different layers of lace. Her hair was expertly pinned up in gorgeous curls at the nape of her neck and topped by a gorgeous beaded hair comb. Her cathedral length veil was tucked up under her curls and fell beautifully down her back. She wore large jeweled drop earrings accompanied by a second set of earrings Tyler gave her as a wedding gift. She wore pretty pink heels and carried a gorgeous pink floral clutch. Her bouquet from the Petal Shed completed her look and was stunning with it's variety of pink, burgundy, and white flowers.

Next up in my late to be blogged, but not forgotten 2020 Seniors 😬 Is this sweet girl! Her laugh was infectious and it was a joy to get to know her. ALSO I was super stoked when she and her mother informed me that the second session would be taking place on their property that happened to be a location I have been wanting to shoot at for years! Caroline you are a special soul and I hope you achieve all you set your heart on ❤️

Ahhhh feels so good to be back! This is our 5th year of this model program! When we met with the models and the parents on March 1st and laid out the timeline for our upcoming shoots no one could have predicted what our would has gone through the last few months. Shoots kept getting pushed back as we waited for each vendor to be released from the health orders and when our final piece of the puzzle (salons) were released I jumped for joy! All the girls have been so patient and flexible ❤️ It felt so good to finally get a small taste of normal by having this shoot with this sweet group of girls! Cierra, Cyrus, Jordyn, Kyleigh, + Olivia KILLED their shoot and as always Simply Torn + Beauty by Jill did a stellar job with styling, hair and makeup! PLEASE if you don't already follow them click the names of these 2 vendors above and go follow them on facebook and Instagram! They are both so AMAZING at what they do and I am honored to work with with them and grateful that they donate to this program year after year!

Beauty by Jill MOVED! Their new salon is SO pretty! Go check them out 😍

Oh man the first time I met Kaitie I knew she was going to be fun to photograph. I loved her outfit and she was a natural poser. I remember her mentioning she wanted to do a snow session for her second session. Her mom wasn't as keen on that idea but I said I was down for anything so let me know! They decided to go with a fall session instead of snow.... but you wouldn't know it if I hadn't told you!!! They picked the COLDEST day in November with a 17 degree wind chill and snow everywhere! Kaitie ended up getting what she wanted in the end but her sweet little hands and legs paid for it! We seriously almost called it quits halfway through because it was so cold, but Kaitie channeled all her will power and pushed on! These seniors I tell ya... they are amazing! Congrats Kaitie on making it through one of the weirdest years of school! Hope college is all you want it to be ❤️

We are at it again!!! This is our 5th year of the senior model program and I am thrilled with the group of sweet girls we have 💕 Our timeline, just like EVERYONE else's in this world, go a little delayed by the virus but we are happy to be back at now! The weekend before the country basically shut down we had our Parent/Model meeting to determine who our final models were. This shoot takes place to allow the girls to get to know each other and get comfortable in front of my camera before the big styled shoot. Normally we would have had this shoot in April...but ya know. This shoot is always tricky to schedule anyway because we have the weather and 5 different schedules to work with. Thankfully everyone was available on Memorial day! I was watching the weather on my app saw some rain mid day but none during our shoot so I thought we were golden. WELP that rain was a DOWNPOUR and our normal spot for the paint shoot was pretty soggy. Last minute I found a spot downtown and it was perfect.  I loved the change up in scenery and the girls clicked right away. I think I am just going to expect the unexpected for the rest of this year and roll with it 🤷‍♀️😁👍

Oh man do I love photographing seniors in the spring!! Madi opted for part II of her senior session to take place in the spring and I couldn't have been more excited. The light, the flowers, and her beauty...WOWZA! Congrats Madi on your graduation in this crazy time! I hope you achieve all the things you set your mind on 💕

I can't imagine a better day than today to feature this beautiful woman 💕 Leigh & Nick were a Captured by Lydia bridal couple this past September! They are already amazing parents to their sweet Raeleigh but I was ecstatic when I saw on my facebook feed that they were expecting not one, but TWO beautiful babes to their sweet family! I love nothing more than watching my couples grow their families and I feel so honored to be able to document such important milestones in their lives. Leigh is absolutely glowing and such a great mom and I can't wait to watch her spread that love to 2 more sweet humans. Happy Mother's Day Leigh!

Hey friends! This is Madison and she is one of my 2020 Senior Models. We split her senior photos into two sessions this past year and even though we finished up her last session in the fall she fell through my blogging cracks. You'd think with us all being at home non-stop the last 2 months I'd be a blogging fool...that's a nope 😬 sorry Madison! Well better late than never I say! Give this beauty some extra love because all our seniors need it right now 💕

WELL guys... I was looking at my website the other day and thought... It's OKAY.. but I haven't really really worked on it for a minute other than keeping up [most of the time] on my blogs. SOOOO this is one of my new slow time pet projects. But the thing that stood out to me the most was my landing page was...well. blah

So, I've been working on that and decided to greet everyone right away with a shortened bio and a picture. Problem is... my latest [nice] picture was from our family photos that I did with a tripod 2.5 years ago!!! Oh. My. Goodness. I am a freaking photographer! What is my PROBLEM?? OH!! AND that photo was with my husband. I had ZERO of just me. So I decided last night I was going to wake up and do them today. Guess what! It's a snow day, so I put my 10 year old to work. She did a fine job and she made it way more enjoyable than setting a timer and doing it myself. 

When I go to a shoot I take a bajillion photos and you won't see most of them. Well, my head shots were the same way and I thought I'd share the good, the bad, and the funny because we all can't be JoLo looking bomb until the end of time. 🤷‍♀️

This is Duke our parakeet. We love Duke, he can say Dukiedoo [what we call him actually] and Pretty Bird. We are currently working on "I am Groot", "I love you", and "Achoo". Duke didn't get the memo that he wasn't invited to my shoot so he joined in and did what he loves to do...climb down my face to preen my eyelashes lol 

*** Secret: I actually photoshopped him off my head for the photo I picked for my home page lol of course that had to be my favorite one. 

If you've never looked at your child or plan to look at your future children like I did in that last one I don't think we can be friends... That was my serious I said stop it look. She had started to title her works at this point... this one was called "Yelling Mom", the next one [not pictured] was me laughing because she is so clever. Also if we are being accurate, it should have been titled "Sternly talking with arrow eyes mom" << in my opinion. 

I'm not sure I have seen two people more in love with a human being. Elliot you are full loved darling <3 

Part II of Chloe's senior session was COLD & WINDY!!! But she did amazing as usual ❤️ Chloe was a 2020 Senior model and rocked every session. Chloe I hope your senior year has been amazing and I can't believe it is flying by so fast! Thanks for letting me capture your beauty.

Madi is one of our beautiful 2020 senior models and so fun to photograph! She is gorgeous, sweet and I can't wait to photograph her again this spring for part II of her senior session ​🌺❤️

It was such an honor to photograph this beauty who also happens to be my neighbor! Jessica has the best smile with the cutest dimples and she has a rocking serious face too! 

I am soo guilty of hitting the end of the fall craziness and then hibernating on all social media platforms 🙈 I promise you these two beautiful people had their images ages ago, but I'm just getting around to showing them off! Natalya + Mark are another of my sweet 2020 wedding couples and I am so excited for their Toledo Botanical Garden wedding this year! They were so sweet to work with and I know their day is going to be stunning! 

You guyyyyys 🥰🥰 this session!!!! First, this couple is incredibly sweet. Second they are so cute, combine that with one of my favorite places to shoot...PERFECTION. I cannot wait to photograph these two on their wedding day this coming year! 

Sarah + Tyler are another Captured by Lydia 2020 Bridal Couple and I couldn't be more excited! They are so sweet and totally in love 💞 We started downtown where they showed their love for the Cincinnati Bearcats, complete with a foam finger 😆 After that we finished up out at a park where Tyler gave me a little complex when he started yawning at the end, but he assured me that he actually enjoyed the session! I tend to hear "that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be" pretty often from the male gender lol.

Alexis, Chad, and their giant crew of friends and family gathered at the Civic Center for their bridal prep. This was SPECTACULAR news for me coming into this wedding, as pretty much every photographer in the area was a little stressed by the less than ideal weather caused by tropical storm Olga. The Civic Center has gorgeous large windows and is one of the very few areas in downtown Lima with coverage, so it would have been my suggestion even if we weren't already there! 

Alexis and her ladies (and sweet baby Barrett) were busy with hair and makeup in the conference room at the connected Wingate Hotel. They all buzzed around in their matching personalized hoodies while they munched on morning goodies, and sipped on mimosas. Alexis wore a gorgeous fitted, sleeveless, bateau necked gown. The dress was white with blush undertones and covered in gorgeous lace and bead details. The neckline and sides were shear, and the back was open. Alexis wore her hair curled, half up, and finished with a cathedral length veil with beaded trim. Her shoes were silver and covered in gems, she wore drop jeweled earrings, and a few pearl and jeweled bracelets. Her look was completed with a breathtaking bouquet from the talented Ivy Hutch on which she wrapped Chad's grandmother's handkerchief and attached charms with images of her grandparents and uncle.