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. 

​Whenever people hear about how Mark and I met they usually tell me that it’s like a Hallmark movie, well it’s MY Hallmark movie for sure. To give you a little back story, every year my family goes to the candlelight vigil on Christmas Eve and every year we sit behind the same family, Mark’s family. Sometimes the love of your life is right in front of you...literally and you don’t even know it! So Christmas Eve 2015 is where our story begins. Now fast forward to May 13, 2017; Mark and I are having brunch with our parents, the first time that we all really got a chance to be together. When we were leaving my mom handed me a photo box and told me to open it in my car…SURPRISE! Mark is sending me on a scavenger hunt. The first clue sent me to a park where we had spent many afternoons taking walks, there I found his dad who gave me my second clue. This clue was taking me downtown where we had gone on quite a few dates, his mom was there waiting for me with my next clue. This clue was telling me to head to the location of our first date, my dad was sitting at the bar waiting for me with my final clue. I knew exactly where I needed to go next...to the church where we had met Christmas Eve 2015! I’m pretty sure you know what comes next…💍!! What made it even better was when he turned me around and I saw my mom and his parents had been hiding in the church doors! But, my favorite moment though wasn’t seeing the ring, or putting it on because I’m going to be honest with you...I didn’t even look at the ring until we were getting ready to leave. My favorite moment was sitting in the pews where we first met. Because it was in that moment that I could feel God smiling down on us, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that Christmas Eve Mass in 2015. Sitting back in those spots gave me chills because I knew that it was all part of God’s plan and that he sent me His most precious angel who got down on one knee and asked me to be his forever wife

Folks, when I worked with Veronica and Mark last year for their engagement session I knew this wedding would be nothing short of epic. They are both kind, loving, FUN, and detail oriented. This day was completely filled with every bit of those qualities. 

The couple's day started out surrounded with family and friends at the gorgeous Jameson Manor. The top floor belonged to the ladies and the bottom to the men. Each had a scrumptious buffet of food and beverages laid out beautifully for them to munch on.  Upstairs Veronica, who is talented in so many ways, tackled her hair and makeup while the Beauty by Jill team was working away on the rest of the crew. Downstairs the boys hung out, sang, sipped on bourbon and worked on getting their finishing touches on. 

Veronica wore an absolutely stunning sleeveless A-line gown with an open back, plunging V-neckline, and sheer bodice covered in lace that trickled down the skirt. The full skirt with several layers and a dramatic train, was full of lace, sequence, and bead details. I practically squealed with delight over her unique heels when I spotted them sitting near her details, they were champagne in color and  simple in design with the exception of a jeweled detail spiraling up the heel, and a diamond at the top of the spiral on the left shoe. She wore her hair down and loosely curled finished with a cathedral length veil placed near the crown of her head and a jeweled hair piece. 

The couple made sure to make all their friends and family felt their love with letters and gifts. Many laughs and tears were shared. One of my favorite moments was seeing Veronica in a full belly laugh after Mark had surprised her with confetti in his card. She explained that was a thing they do to people and she had thought of doing it to him but didn't...these two really are on the same brain wave! 

One of the final things we did before leaving for the church was have a special moment with Veronica and her dad. It was a sweet and tender moment seeing a dad and his little girl together moved with such emotion. 

​We met October 29th, 2016 at Levis Commons in Perrysburg, OH. It was a blind date, set up by our friends Emma and Brandyn. The funny thing about our blind date, was that Emma had been telling me about Jared long before the break-up with my previous boyfriend. (Somehow she knew!) After that first date, we have been inseparable since. We came into the relationship with the idea that we really didn't want to deal with anymore heartache. Jared is the kindest, sweetest, cutest, hardworking guy I have ever had the pleasure to know (besides my dad), let alone get to be with. We really compliment each others personalities well, as if God made us both with the other in mind. Although some may not believe it, we have never fought with each other and so far the ship has been smooth sailing.

I would describe Cassie + Jared's wedding as romatic and vintage. Oh. my. goodness. friends, Black Bird Farm was perfect for their day! This venue has been on my radar for awhile but I haven't been lucky enough to have a wedding out there till now. I swear this venue was made for Cassie.

The ladies took over the upper floor of the perfectly decorated farm house as they prepped for the day. Cassie wore a beautiful light and flowy sleeveless gown with blush undertones. Her hair was intricately swept into a gorgeous full braid, and topped with a fingertip veil with beautiful beaded trim. She wore rose gold heels, simple drop earrings, a vintage style pearl necklace, and her grandmothers ring. Speaking of rings....can we talk about Cassie's...oh my goodness I am in LOVE!!! Her ring is so unique and fits her in every way. Even Cassie's garter fit the romantic-vintage feel of the day with the off-white lace and the sweet blue button sewn on the top. Cassie's look was completed with a gorgeous cream and green bouquet with succulent accents. 

Jared and the boys used a room on the main floor for their prep. Jared wore a white shirt, cream tie and vest, blue velvet jacket, some ridiculously cool brown shoes, and a white fedora. 

Nope that isn't a typo, this ridiculously sweet couple will be one of my 2020 wedding couples and YES, they are both named Spencer. I'm not going to lie to you, it was a little difficult at first giving directions. I needed to figure out a way to make sure they knew who I was giving direction to. I tried out Spence, Miller, and I think I ended on Spencer M lol. Anyway...it turned out great! We started in downtown Ada then swung out to their future wedding venue. Spencer S. did throw Spencer M. under the bus (kinda like I am now) when I first got there and explained that picture taking was his least favorite thing << most guys feel that way Spencer M., you are not alone. BUT they did AMAZING and I can't wait for their BIG day <3  

Chloe is one of our senior models this year! She is also a family friend, and I photographed her sister's senior photos...so I was stoked when I heard she was joining our senior model program. Man, I love photographing Chloe, she falls right into posing, is super easy and obviously gorgeous <3 I can't wait for her second session coming up soon! 

 Will someone pinch me!! I swear I am dreaming because I get the most beautiful clients <3 Audrey and her gorgeous hair, eyes, and smile made my day!

​We met when we were 14 years old. Aidan was a sophomore in high school and I was a freshman. We met in marching band in high school and have been in mutual weirdness ever since. We recently celebrated our 8 year anniversary and are both each other’s first and last loves. There are a few things we disagree on like music and tv shows but the things we do agree on and the selfless things we do for each other has made every day of the last 8 years the best. Our love has traveled with us all over because we love to travel and adventure. We have gone all over Ohio and many other states across the country. We hope to continue to take it everywhere with us across the rest of the country and the world. It is these memories that we will cherish forever and will continue to keep our love growing like it has in the past.

Before I dive into describing the bridal prep, I want to touch on a couple things Ruby said in the love story... "each other's first and last loves"... [insert heavy swoon and all the heart eyes] I LOVE these two!! "Mutual weirdness ever since" I mean... isn't that the goal we all have? To find someone that you can share all your weirdness with and they look at you like "oh really, that's all the weirdness you got? Here, hold my beer. Let's do this life thing together." LOL I love this statement so much I may have to steal it for MY relationship description. 

Ok...let's talk bridal prep now! Ruby and her ladies had hair and makeup done off campus by Beauty by Jill, then hopped on over to the church to get their final touches on. They had sweet purple personalized robes to wear while they hung out. Right before Ruby got ready, the bridesmaids slipped into their gorgeous charcoal dresses that had plunging V-necklines and POCKETS!! I absolutely loved the choice of necklaces for the ladies. I thought it was very unique and capitalized on the fact that the front of the dress was already gorgeous so the main feature of the pearl necklaces draped down the back. Ruby wore a stunning off-white strapless A-line gown. The bodice was covered in lace that crept down onto the amazingly full skirt. This dress was perfect and made Ruby look like a princess floating across the ground. She wore beautiful jeweled heels and her grandmother's earrings, necklace, and ring. Ruby's hair was down and loosely curled. She wore a small headband and a knee length veil. 

​On our wedding day, Eric and I will have been dating for 10 years and 2 days. Our story begins WAY back when I was in eighth grade and Eric was a sophomore in high school. Eric first texted me "Hey friend", and I had no idea who it was. He eventually told me who he was, which lead to him telling me that he was texting me because his cousin Andrew had a crush on me! Ultimately, Eric and I actually ended up dating. We dated all throughout high school, college at The Ohio State University, and through his first years of his career while I attended graduate school at BGSU. After 8.5 years of dating, Eric proposed on the Oval on The Ohio State University's campus, a university that played a large role in the growth of our relationship. We are so thankful for the support of all our family and friends throughout our entire relationship, and we can't wait to begin our married life together!

Justine's parent's home was filled to the brim with beautiful ladies in cute robes buzzing around with personalized glasses for their mimosas when we arrived. The living room had been turned into a beauty salon and all hands were on deck to beautify Justine, and her massive crew! After hair and makeup were complete Justine slipped into her gorgeous high neck, sleeveless, lace covered sheath gown, and stunning silver heels. She wore her hair up elegantly with a jeweled comb side piece, and a fingertip veil with bead trim. Her jewelry was simple with jeweled drop earrings, a pearl  bracelet, and her grandmother's ring on her right hand. Justine was very detailed oriented and sprinkled special touches everywhere through out the day starting with their wedding date painted ever so tiny on her toe, their wedding date hand stitched on her dress by her mother,  a blue bow from her grandmother's dress sewn next to it, and her grandfather's ring attached to her bouquet.