announcement: personal || dfw engagement & wedding photographer

"It's delightful when your imaginations come true, isn't it?"

-l.m. montgomery

Yes yes yes, it is true, our newly formed family is already growing!  And we couldn't be happier or more excited :)  After finding out about this precious baby in December, we told close family and a few friends, but decided to wait until I started my second trimester before sharing the news with the rest of the world.  It seemed like the longest wait everrrrr, but it's finally here, I'm 12 weeks today :)  And we're so very thrilled to announce to all of you that we've been blessed with a little baby due to arrive the beginning of September!  We've nick-named him/her "raspberry" or "lil' raz" for short, to avoid calling him/her "it" for the next few months.

Praise the Lord for entrusting us with this precious little life, we're SO excited to be parents!

p.s. I started a little family blog a few weeks back to keep grandparents and other relatives who live near and far updated on our growing family (and let's face it, this blog couldn't handle the amount of pictures I'll be posting once this sweet little thing is born) so if you're interested in keeping up with the bump + what I'm cooking for dinner (or listening the the precious little raspberry's heartbeat!) you can check it out at: www.wearethesherrills.com


Much Love,
Jessica Shae

finding my dream dress: personal || dfw engagement & wedding photographer

Even though my wedding was over 3 months ago now, I'm still excited to reminisce about that lovely fairytale-like day to anyone who will let me.  So I thought it would be fun to do a post about my wedding dress that was a somewhat unexpected dream come true ;)
Most every girl dreams of the dress she will marry her prince charming in, and I was no different.  I wanted it to be unique, feminine, princess-like, and a little bit old-fashioned.  It needed to be poofy and lacy, like something out of anne of green gables, (you all knew that was coming, right?!) unlike any other dress I'd ever worn or ever would wear because I only get to do this once!  But I realized after years of shooting all kinds of wedding dresses and looking at some online that actually finding one that matched my expectations would be difficult.  My suspicions were confirmed after a day of wedding dress shopping with my mom, sisters, and grandmothers, where I tried on dress after dress that all looked the same and didn't have the "feel" that I was looking for.
I had already been voicing thoughts like "I'm sure I'm going to have to design something, because I know exactly what I want and I probably won't be able to find it on a rack somewhere..." and after that day of shopping my mind was made up: taking a simple, basic dress and redesigning it to fit what I was looking for was what I wanted to do.  But after quite a few disasters in high school when I wanted to "design and make my own formal" for different events, my mother quite understandably started having heart palpitations at the thought of another disaster, this time involving my wedding dress.
I was so priviledged to be able to find my dress at The Blushing Bride Boutique and work with the ladies there on my design.  I can't sing their praises enough, they were so helpful and fun to work with the whole way through!  They worked to help me find that perfect princess style dress to start with, and then their seamstress/designer transformed it into my dream dress!  

Unfortunately the only "before" pictures I have of my dress were taken with an iphone, so please excuse the low quality :)

These were the two inspiration pictures that I narrowed it down to, as examples of what I wanted the dress to look like for my seamstress to see.  It was amazing to go in every few weeks for a fitting and watch the dress take shape as she created every detail that I wanted!

inspiration photo's taken from here & here.
It took weeks of tweaking and sizing, but eventually it was finished.  She removed the purple belt and added a softer/flowery white sash to blend with the dress, and add the bow that I wanted on the back.  She redesigned the top of the dress to have a sweetheart shape, and added a french bustle to the bottom.  But my absolute favorite part was the delicate lace top/sleeves that she added to the dress.  I cried when I went in for my last fitting and saw how perfect it all was.  It was every bit as flowy, lacy, and anne of green gables-y as I could have ever wanted! Thank you Kristin Partin for these pictures from our wedding day!





So girls, don't be scared to go out on a limb to create your own dream dress!  I can't recommend The Blushing Bride enough, so if you live in the DFW area they're the people to work with, they'll take excellent care of you!  If you don't live nearby, I would also highly recommend Espoir Bridals, based in NY who specializes in custom made dresses!
Much Love, Jessica Shae

Merry Christmas: personal || dfw engagement & wedding photographer

The Boy and I are leaving this afternoon to spend Christmas with his family in snowy (snow! for Christmas!) Indiana.  This has been the happiest holiday season of my life--it's so much fun getting to decorate your own little home, start family traditions, and buy ridiculous stocking stuffer items for your husband ;)  There are moments when it has felt a little bittersweet, when I've thought about spending my first Christmas away from my family, and how I won't be posing for the annual picture on the stairs with my siblings on Christmas morning... but at the same time I'm so happy to be spending Christmas with my best friend and new family, and very excited about this new phase of life!

We've had fun collecting Christmas decorations this first holiday together, and making our little home look festive ;)

Also, I'm happy to announce the winners of the wedding and couples contest this year!  Matthew & Kristina won the wedding contest with 189 votes on their picture, and will be receiving a free 12x16 canvas of their choice!  Jared & Emily won the couples contest with 139 votes on their picture, and will be receiving a free 12x18 print of their choice!  Congratulations you guys, and thank you to everyone who took the time to vote! Merry Christmas! Jessica Shae

p.s. I will be taking the next week off of work for the holidays, so I won't be blogging, checking email, etc.

honeymoon: personal || dfw engagement & wedding photographer

Woke up this morning with the memory of these sweet sweet days fresh on my mind.  The Boy took me to a beautiful little island (and by little I mean 1.5 miles wide, and 7 miles long) off the east coast for our honeymoon.  We spent our first 8 days of marriage there and they were some of the happiest lovely days of my life.  This Boy is my forever best friend and every moment spent with him is wonderful.  He treated me like a queen all week (and has continued to do so ever since) and our days there were full of the kind of memories I will remember until I'm old and enjoy telling to my grandkids.  So here's a small glimpse of our first week of forever. "...we're gonna have to work at this everyday, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday.  You and me... everyday."  --n. sparks


































Much Love, Jessica Shae