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!

Maternity leave: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

"Any day now. Any day now..."  It runs through my head every morning as I slowly wake up, usually to the feeling of his little feet and hands stretching inside my belly.  Most of you know that a sweet little man child has been slowly growing in my belly over the past 8+ months and I'm amazed that we've already made it to those final weeks where every day holds the possibility of my firstborn son in my arms.

I'm 37+ weeks now, and as of today I'm officially on maternity leave!  This summer has been so busy and full for me, something that has been both hard and good, hard because my body can't quite keep up with the pace that I used to set for myself, and good because it's made the days just flyyyy by and left very little time for me to sit around anxiously waiting for this little one to get here.  I shot my last wedding two Saturdays ago and was determined to somehow accomplish the impossible and have it plus all my other weddings and portrait sessions from the summer finished by this past Friday.  It's amazing what a nesting, eager to get ready for and have her baby mommy can accomplish, because I did it!  So I'm sending off the last round of disks, and links to online galleries today and then I plan on eating 2 (ok, 3) popsicles to celebrate the beginning of this big transition.

Over the next few weeks and months I will be spending the majority of my time getting to know the squishy little man about to enter our world and change our lives forever.  Kissing his cheeks and smelling his soft little head will be very time consuming activities ;)  Because of that blogging, emailing, and everything else business related will be put to the side for a time because these days are precious and few and not something I want to miss out on at all.  I will probably still be posting a few posts here and there, I have so much to share from the past few months, and will try to reply to emails eventually, but I can't be apologetic about the fact that my husband and little man are my number one priorities and will be taking up most of my time over the fall months.  I hope you all will understand.

I am still accepting a limited number of bookings for the last two months of the year, and I am now accepting 2014 wedding inquiries as well.  In the meantime, while things are a little slower over here, I will be probably be posting more frequently on our family blog, with lots of updates and peeks into our life as a newly formed family of 3.  I'm also obsessed with instagram so you can be sure there will be plenty of baby love there when the time comes ;)

Thanks to all who have made this one of my best years of business yet, I'm so very grateful to do something that I love so much and call it work, and while the months ahead will bring changes to both my personal and business life I'm more excited than ever about the years of business still ahead!

Much Love,
Jessica Shae + baby ras

Graham & Cassie: preview || chicago, il wedding photographer

I shot my last wedding of the summer last weekend just outside Chicago.  It was a gorgeous day and if you're interested in seeing a few more from the wedding there are some on my facebook page.  Full post coming soon!

Much Love,
Jessica Shae

Mark & Anna: wedding || odessa, tx wedding photographer

From the very first few emails that Anna and I exchanged I knew she was a sweetheart.  Not a sweetheart in the cliche way every good southern grandmother calls everyone under the age of 40 a sweetheart, but a genuine, honest-to-goodness, sweeter than honey kind of person who really cares about others.  I can't tell you the amount of times she thanked me for being a part of their wedding day, asked how baby&I were doing, and told me she was praying for us--and that was all before I'd even officially met her for her bridal session!  And apparently I'm not the only one who appreciated these traits, Mark told me that one of the things he loved the most about Anna was her "bleeding heart" and how she was always looking for a way to help others.
So I knew going into their wedding day that it would be a joy to photograph, and I wasn't disappointed   .Anna comes from a big (oh-so-fun-and-hilarious) family, and Mark and Anna both had a so many dear people in their lives that they wanted to include in their wedding day, which made for the largest wedding party I've ever gotten to work with (27 total!) and I loved every minute of it.  Everyone was just so happy and cooperative despite it being one of the hottest days of the year so far (hello 100 degrees!) and I think they were more worried about how me and my preggo belly were doing than they were their own sweaty selves ;)
All in all it was a gorgeous day that so accurately reflected Mark & Anna's sweet love for each other, their friends and family, and Christ.  It was an honor to be there and take part in it!
Much Love, Jessica Shae