Life these days: personal || dallas, tx wedding photographer

It's official my friends, my FIVE WEEK VACATION has started and I'm getting married in just 19 short days.  Which means that I probably slept in this morning.  And I did not have to sit down at my desk first thing this morning to start answering emails or writing this blog post.  Because I wrote this last week when I started blogging ahead and scheduling posts.  Yeah, cuz I'm just so super organized like that. (noooot.)

The past few weeks have been... uh, mildly stressful.  Trying to wrap up every last bit of editing, album design, getting pictures back to clients, blogging a million blog posts ahead of time, and just generally getting ready to close up shop for over a month has been a rather daunting task.  And in the midst of it there's been a wedding to plan.  NBD really. ;)  (sidenote/total rabbit trail: also in the midst of it all, is the most wonderful fiance who ever existed, who, after a long day at work does things like drive an hour to my house, pizza in hand and declare it "movie night" just when I feel like I am going to pull all my hair out.  I loooove him.)

Anywaaaays.  Focusing now.

My goal for weeks has been to finish up ALL my work by October 5th, and take 5 weeks off for wedding/honeymoon/settling into my new house.  What's the purpose of owning your own business and being your own boss if you can't do something like that every now and then??  So last Friday I finished up my last bit of work at around noon, set up my out-of-office email response, then celebrated with a mani/pedi and a concert with The Boy!  These next few weeks will be fullfullfull of last minute wedding plans but more importantly I will be busy soaking in every last minute of my time at home with my family. I'm going camping with my dad, shopping with my sisters, make homemade pretzels, read books with the little ones, and watch lots of movies.  Emails will pile up, my blog stats will probably drop since I'll be posting less, and I might even miss out on booking a wedding or portrait session since I won't be checking emails regularly, but these last few weeks at home and the first few weeks in my NEW home are precious to me, and days that I can only live once, and I want to live them well.

I didn't want the blog to be completely dead while I'm gone though, so I've scheduled several guest posts, and they're going to be soooo much fun!  I'm seriously excited about the people I have lined up for the next few weeks.  So don't go away!  I have a give-away scheduled, and several posts that I've pre-blogged as well.  So there should be blog posts every Monday and Thursday from now through the middle of November :)

I'm gonna marry this face ;)
p.c. Hannah Nicole

Much Love,
Jessica Shae

7 states in 20 days: travel || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

A few weeks ago my family took the longest vacation ever known in the history of man (or maybe just the longest one we've ever taken. ever.)  Over 20 days we drove across 7 states, made 2 emergency room visits, hiked + camped in sunshine AND rain, saw the grand canyon for the first time, heard the mormon tabernacle choir in concert, came within about 20ft of a bull elk, and spent an inordinate amount of quality time with each other in the car.  You know, just normal family vacation types of things. From the mountain tops to the flat desert, to the ocean and the tops of the Grand Canyon every single bit of it was an incredible testimony to the creativity of our Creator.  It was lovely, and I came away from the trip with the happiest memories, and some of my favorite travel pictures I've ever taken.  Enjoy. Winter Park, Colorado

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah



Salt Lake City, Utah
Tahoe, California

San Francisco, California














Grand Canyon, Arizona







Much Love, Jessica Shae

Summertime is for... {dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer}

. . .going away.

I'm sitting in Starbucks right now typing this up, looking out the window at a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains.  I rode my bike here about 30 minutes ago in the 58 degree weather, the whole time riding alongside a happily gurgling river.

My family is taking our first real family vacation in yeeaaarrs this week and it's the happiest thing.

They headed up to Vail, Colorado last Thursday and I flew up to meet up with them Saturday after finishing up my internship.  We're here until Saturday and it's going to be a week full of reading, journaling, hiking, biking, movie watching, sweatpants and hoodies, no make-up and messy buns, and lots of memory making.

I'm so grateful for a week to stop all the normal day-to-day activities, a week of no editing, or emailing, or (after this!) blogging.  So now you know why things will be a little quiet around here for a while, I'll be back refreshed and ready to jump back into normal life in about a week!

Much Love.

Jessica Shae