Mary & Hayden. Sylvania Maternity Photography with a Dog. Wildwood Metropark.

Get married. Get a dog. Have a baby. Congratulations to Hayden and Mary on the newest addition to their family. We had so much fun exploring Wildwood Metropark with their pup, Ryder. Taking photos of these three was a blast. Ryder made the best faces and was always happy to sit for a treat. Including your dogs in your portrait session is my specialty. Read more to learn a little bit about this beautiful family!

Get to know Mary, Hayden and Ryder:

What have you enjoyed most and least about being pregnant? I have least enjoyed all of the body changes that pregnancy entails – mainly the weight gain and limitations on physical activities…I can’t wait to go rollerblading again! I have most enjoyed recognizing the miracle of life that I am nurturing. Seeing him move on the ultrasound screen and now feeling him move around so frequently is an experience unlike anything else in the world.
What are you most excited about in regards to being parents? I think we are most excited to get to share our adventures with our little boy. We are excited to have a front seat to watching him learn and grow on a daily basis and for being responsible for what he learns, too. We are also excited to experience a new, deeper, immediate and unconditional love that we haven’t fully experienced yet.
Did you have a hard time choosing a name? I (Mary) was always asking Hayden if he wanted to talk about baby names before we even started trying to get pregnant. I also work with children, which makes choosing a name extra tricky. We had talked about a variety of names before I suggested Avett, after the Avett Brothers, whose music is very special to Hayden’s family and to our relationship.
Why did you include your dog, Ryder, in your photos? Ryder is our family! He will be 2 on August 1st, 2020 and he is a labradoodle. It’s honestly hard to remember what our life was like before we got him. He’s kind of been like our baby before we have a human baby, as he’s helped facilitate communication and responsibility. Having him has been a little bit of a warmup for parenting. We also include him in all of our vacation plans and try to take him with us when we go places if he’s allowed. So, when I thought about getting some maternity photos taken, we of course wanted to include him.
How have you been helping to prepare Ryder for his little brother? Aside from some furniture changes in our house, the only thing we’ve done to prepare Ryder for Avett’s arrival is play recordings of babies crying to try to get him used to that sound. I think it will be a little bit challenging for him to receive less attention from us when the baby is home and he might be a little bit sad. He is also such a gentle dog and I have full confidence that he will be great around the newest little member of our family.
Why are professional photos important to you? We wanted to have professional photos taken because this is such a monumental event in our lives. So many emotions come with pregnancy and preparing our lives for this little one. We wanted someone to capture this stage of our marriage well before our life completely changes.
What did you love most about your experience with Rebecca? We loved that Rebecca is passionate about working with animals. Since we wanted to include Ryder in our pictures, it made sense to reach out to Rebecca about photographing our little, growing family. I also appreciated her willingness to take a few extra minutes to be sure she got all the shots that I requested.