the best of 2013: portraits || dfw portrait & wedding photographer

These end of year posts are some of my absolute favorites.  I get excited to sit down and scroll through all my work from the past 12 months and whittle down hundreds of pictures into my very very favorites.  So here I am about a month and a half late, posting my recap(s).  I'm certainly not going to miss out on this fun, even if it did take me way too long to put it together.  You also may notice several pictures from sessions and weddings that I haven't blogged yet, but they're coming soon!  *pinkie promise*  Today will be all of my portrait favorites: engagement, senior, proposal, etc. then all of my wedding favorites will be posted sometime in the next week or so.  Thank you to everyone who trusted me with such happy and precious moments and days of your life this year, it was an honor and a joy to work with you!

Graham & Cassie: engaged || cantigny park, chicago il wedding photographer

Cassie's first impression of Graham at age 14 was that he was "a little weird and wore nerdy glasses" aaaaand that he wouldn't stop following her around at band camp.  But really, what could she expect from any boy with half a brain--because who wouldn't want to follow around the little blonde girl with startlingly blue eyes?  Thankfully it wasn't soon after that that Cassie was able to see past his awkward stage (hey, we ALL go through them, right?!) and developed a major crush on him that lasted through all of highschool.
But it wasn't until just over a year ago that they actually started to really get to know each other, and quickly became the best of friends.  Graham sealed the deal (and won the rights to follow her around forever ;) last winter and they're getting married later this summer!
Graham described Cassie to me as a "no-nonsense pure beauty" whose full bodied, doubled over kind of laughter never fails to make him smile.  And Cassie's first impression of Graham quickly went from "nerdy/weird" to "the coolest person ever" whose "unrealistically positive attitude is the most adorable thing ever..."
Enjoy their engagement pictures taken a few weeks ago in Chicago, and I can't wait to share pictures from their wedding in just over a month!
Much Love, Jessica Shae