Katie-yo {dallas, tx engagement and wedding photographer}

Looking back over this year there are so many things I can be grateful for. I honestly can't believe all the doors that have opened, all the traveling I've done, and everything I've been able to cram into one little year. There have also been hard and not so enjoyable parts of this year. It hasn't all been cupcakes and laughter, but I can honestly say I am so grateful for it all. But the thing that I'm grateful for that I want to tell you about today, are the relationships. I've gotten to meet some of the dearest people this year, alot of the time while shooting weddings. And when I think about some of the people that are amongst my closest friends right now that 6 months or a year ago I didn't even know, I'm so so grateful for the way God orchestrates even the seemingly small things, like friendships.

One such friend is Mrs. Katie Opris, or as I like to call her, Katie-yo ;)

I shot this darling girls Bee-yoo-tee-ful Arkansas wedding in July, anyone who's been reading my blog for any amount of time probably remembers her because of her gorgeous wedding and amaaaaazing after shoot with the blue car ;) I loved her before I had even met her. From her emails, phone calls, and txts I could tell she was a girl after my own heart and then as soon as I laid eyes on this little 5 ft piece of adorable-ness the day before her wedding I was all "can we just go ahead and seal the deal now that we will be bff's until our dying day???"

I could go on and on and on about how dear this girl is. She loves the Lord so so much. She's funny. And witty. She loves her husband and is excitedly preparing to move to Romania (where he grew up) with him this coming as missionaries. She loves old books like me, especially Anne of Green Gables, and is definitely a "kindred spirit". She is an amazing photographer herself AND an amazing musician/singer. No lie, this girl is everything happy, wonderful, and amazing rolled up into one.

Aaaaaand...dun-du-dunnnn...

She's expecting a little Opris girlio this May!

Katie's family lives a little over an hour away from me, so when she came in town for the holidays I begggggeeeddd for a little scrap of her time and she was kind enough to give it! We ended up spending a whole afternoon together (whoops;) eating chipotle, laughing and catching up on life (face-to-face talk is so so much better than txting or FB) and we also made a little time to take some pictures of her adorable little baby bump.

And what do you do when you're out to lunch and you decided you want to do an impromptu photoshoot? You look out the window and say, "Oh, there's some pretty grass across the highway!"

And quickly run across 6 lanes of fast moving traffic to get to it, so that you can take amazing pictures like the one below.









Ohhhh Katie-yo. I love you.And that's that.




















And what kind of lame-o photographers would we be if we went away from the day without a picture of the two of us together???
Thank you railroad tracks for holding my camera for the picture :)




Much Love.Jessica Shae

Elvis & Katie: After Shoot {conway, arkansas - wedding photographer]

Remember that adorable couple/wedding that I blogged last week? (If you haven't seen it yet, PLEASE go look, their wedding day was just so amazing!) Well the fun's not over people I have more amazing pictures of them to share!

After seeing the car that they planned on leaving in - I fell in love and quickly planned an after shoot with with Katie, so that we could spend plenty of time getting some beautiful pictures of them with the car.

So after they left their wedding reception I followed them to their new little house where they were going to change and get ready to leave for their honeymoon. We just pulled the car up in front of their adorable new little house 0' dreams and started shooting. The lighting was perfect, the couple was gorgeous, and since all the stressful wedding day activities were over we were able to just take our time and have some fun ;)

Can you believe the lighting and colors here? I was giddy with happiness while taking these.

And of course it didn't hurt that I had two gorgeous completely-in-love people to work with ;)

ummm...hello fabulous vintage-ness.

Katie Katie - how do you do it?!

This girl was such a trooper. I know she was exhausted from the long day, and it was sooo hot and muggy out right now, and can you believe that in spite of all that I was getting pictures like this?!?

They both just had this "We're Married!" glow about them all afternoon. . .

. . . & I love watching them, just so content to be with each other.

Remember how I said it was so so hot? Well it was. And super muggy to boot. So just as we're finishing up taking pictures we hear the happy sound of an ice-cream trucks music as it made its way down the street. Katie laughingly said how good ice-cream sounded right then, and before you know it her uncle was out in the street waving him down!

It was the greatest thing ever. Elvis and Katie, just married, still in their wedding clothes standing on the side of the road picking out ice-cream from an ice-cream truck. Cars were honking and people were shouting well wishes from their cars as they drove past - it was just the cutest happiest thing.

The perrrfect way to end their already incredible and unique wedding day in my opinion.

ha.

Katie, whenever I need a smile I just look at this picture. You are so stinking cute!

And I love the fact that you got a sponge bob ice-cream - so so cool.

Anyone else find the little sign on the side of the van to the right of Elvis and Katie somewhat ironic?! ;) Love it.

Elvis and Katie you two are fabulous! Thanks for being so utterly adorable, love you guys!

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Elvis and Katie: {conway, arkansas - wedding photographer}

They met at a small college tucked away in the hills of Arkansas. Katie told me that before meeting him she'd heard three specific things about him:

His name was Elvis.

He was from Romania.

And he definitely wasn't interested in marrying an American girl.

I laugh every time I hear stories like this . . .

Um, let's just say he definitely changed his mind about marrying an American, after meeting a particularly darling little American girl. And they are just about the cutest things I have ever seen together. Elvis has the. coolest. accent. and Katie is this adorable little shorter-than-me-person with a larger than life smile :)

And their wedding - Oh my lands - their wedding. Was perfectly delightful. Katie is a photographer herself, and her attention to detail was so obvious, she wanted every corner and piece of her wedding to be beautiful, happy, and showcase their love for each other, and their mutual love for Jesus.

The day started bright and early at the hair salon while Katie got her hair done.

Though I had talked to Katie on the phone several times, and we had been emailing back and forth for months, I met her for the first time in person the night before her wedding. So we spent an hour and a half at the hair salon talking and catching up like old friends who haven't been together in a long time. It was quite possibly my favorite part of the day :)

Isn't her hair piece adorable?!? She made it herself - I love my crafty smart brides! I'm hoping they rub off on me a little . . . ;)

Her dress - was incredible. And the story behind it is even more incredible. Let's just say that after looking and looking and not finding anything she liked, she was able to find a vintage dress, that fit her perfectly for - wait for it . . . $25.

I love getting ideas from my amazingly creative brides. There were so many DIY (Do It Yourself) details that Katie had come up with and made on her own - including this darling ring pillow!

Aaaaand cue the adorable little yellow heels. I'm so so in love.

Katie was the first of my brides that chose to do a first look, and after my experience with her - I hope every single one of my future brides chooses to do the same. It was incredible the difference it made on how the rest of the day went. They met in this huge field and saw each other for the first time without 200 eyes looking on and we were able to spend a while taking pictures of just the two of them before the rush of the rest of the day set in. We were also able to get ALL of the pictures taken (every-single-one including the family!) before the wedding began. So once it started, it was just happiness and party for the rest of the day.

I loved the look on his face when he saw her . . .

Are they not just the most gorgeous people?!

Oh oh oh - Katie won my heart completely when she informed me the night before her wedding that she had talked to the owners of a greenhouse in the area and gotten permission to do some of their portraits in it.

Because it just so happens that I'd been eyeing several greenhouses in my area trying to come up with an excuse to do a shoot in one, and Katie had read my mind!

Katie - I love the way you are so content with Elvis, so relaxed and just happy to be with him.

The held each other, they twirled and danced, and just looked like modeling had been a longtime career for them. And I did nothing but sigh happily and try to make my camera take pictures fast enough to catch all the beauty in front of it.

And Elvis, I love the adoring way you look at Katie, like you can't believe that she's yours.

I love her demure little smile . . .

I don't think she stopped smiling all day long . . . which is exactly how it should be, right?

Only the most amazing of couples can make chilling in a greenhouse look this gorgeous.

Their wedding party was so much fun, and made me feel like one of the group from the very start! Not to mention they were all raaather good looking, making my job a breeze!

These next two pictures are some of my favorites, and every time I look at them my heart flip-flops.

Katie: you are exquisitely gorgeous.

Looooove them!

The church was breathtaking, just like the rest of her day.

This was such a sweet moment. Elvis mother came all the way from Romania for the wedding, and she didn't know a word of english. The whole day she was just looking on - with this happy wistful sort of smile, and right after the wedding she came up and just hugged Elvis for a long time. I loved the emotion that was displayed without any words.

These are two of my favorite exit pictures I have ever taken - don't they look so so happy?

And they left in the coolest get-away car I have seen in a long time.

Elvis and Katie: thank you for being more than just clients, thank you for being (what Anne of Green Gables would call) "kindred spirits". And that trip to Puerto Rico next year to go camping on the beach that you invited me to tag along for - I just might have to take you up on that ;)

Good luck as you try to get everything in order so that you can move back to Romania to run an orphange - I know you two will be amazing at it!

God bless y'all in the years ahead, as you seek to honor Him together!

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

p.s. stay tuned over the next couple of days for the after shoot I did with them that includes some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken - no exaggeration.

Special thanks to Josh Thomas for second shooting this wedding with me - you were awesome to work with!