Mike & Michelle: married love || mckinney, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Last week Mike & Michelle were the fabulous couple that jumped in last minute to help me with a secret project I'm working on ;)  (cue the drama..)  It's a long story (and I would have to reveal details about the secret to explain it all) but it wasn't until about 10AM Friday morning that I even realized I needed a couple to model for me so I sent out txts to several people and posted on FB about it...and within an hour a photographer friend of mine had sent me Michelle's number and we had it all set up!
They were darlings to work with, and I had to post just a few of my favorites.
















p.s. the secret project?  oh man...I really can't wait to share it with you ;)
Much Love.Jessica Shae

Celebrating firsts: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

I've always been a great lover of "firsts."  I dream about them, sometimes for years, and when I finally experience a "first" I want to remember how it felt for a million years.  Playing it over and over again in my head, looking at pictures, journaling every memory...  And I'm not just talking huge kinds of firsts--I pretty much celebrate them all.  First pair of cowgirl boots.  First mac computer. First wedding booked and first wedding shot.  First time driving a huge truck.  First time holding his hand.  First time out of the country, and first time shooting a gun.  First 3D movie, and first time riding the train.  I have an endless list of them.  Realizing and thinking about the little day to day accomplishments and firsts in my life makes it a continual celebration of sorts.  And I'm all about celebrating. :)

Last night The Boy and I celebrated a birthday together for the first time.  Dinner and dessert downtown, walking around in the cold laughing, talking, and celebrating the fact that 23 years ago the handsomest boy in the world was born :)

So those last two weren't taken last night...but I just couldn't resist throwing them in.  He's really the funnest person ever :)  Oh, and one more thing, we've made it to 1,300 on the Facebook fan page, hooray!  Thanks to all you lovely people I'm looking forward to another aweeesome year of photography adventures!  

Much Love.

Jessica Shae

Nutcracker Ballet: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Last weekend The Boy took me to see my first ballet, The Nutcracker.  It was in Downtown Ft. Worth at the gorgeous Bass Performance Hall where I saw Yo-yo Ma perform a few years ago.  We had dinner at a pretty Italian bistro tucked into the corner of Sundance Square downtown, and then got to walk through all the happy Christmas decorations and lights to get to Bass Hall a few blocks over.  Afterwards we got gelato for dessert, because it seemed like the obvious fun thing to do at 10:30 in the freezing cold :) 

As if Christmas-time wasn't magical enough, having a Boy who takes you on lovely Christmas dates makes it a million times more fun.  There's just something about the holiday season that makes me nostalgic and sentimental about life in general.  In years past Christmas time more than any other time of the year was when I thought the most about my future and The Boy that I hoped would someday be big part of that future.  But no amount of imagining and dreaming can prepare you for the loveliness of those abstract dreams starting to take shape in front of your eyes, and a Boy who treats you like a princess.

Much Love & Merry Christmas!Jessica Shae

Matthew & Kristina: engaged || celina, tx engagement & wedding photographer

"I have never been so mad at someone outside of my family as I was at him that day."

Haha, I just love a good love story.  Matthew and Kristina met in passing January of 2009.  She doesn't remember meeting him but he says they were definitely introduced the morning he visited her church with a friend...and he thought she was pretty.  Later that year they ended up both working for a Christian ministry out in E. Texas, and that's the first time Kristina ever remembers actually meeting Matthew.  It was a big ministry and since they were working in two different areas they didn't get a whole lot of time to interact with each other.  But their paths did cross on almost a daily basis and either in the dining hall or just walking across campus.  As Matthew watched her and tried to get to know her a little bit in a "just friends" kind of way, his admiration  for her continued to grow.

Kristina: "I kind of figured he liked me.  I mean, he was always watching me.  Not in a creepy way, but I kept catching him staring at me in the dining hall and other times.  But I didn't know him very well and wasn't really interested."

Matthew: "Oh, I definitely liked her, but the timing just wasn't right.  I was heavily involved in the leadership of a ministry working with young men and I knew that now was not the time to start a relationship.  So I knew I had to wait, but it was hard.  Really hard.  I tried to just treat her the same way that I treated most of the other girls I worked with...only problem was, I didn't really talk a whole lot to other girls.  Which meant that in order to not single Kristina out I didn't get to talk to her a whole lot either."

After a few months of working together they were both about to move back home for a little while.  The day that Matthew left he said goodbye to Kristina's brother (who he was good friends with) and her little sister...but left without saying goodbye to Kristina.

Kristina: "I have never been so mad at someone outside of my family as I was at him that day."

Because at that point Kristina was a little bit interested.

It was so funny when they were telling me their story and got to this part Matthew immediately started apologizing and hugging Kristina, and Kristina said that every single time they tell the story he apologizes for that :)

But thankfully the story doesn't end there.  After several month of waiting and praying about it Matthew finally talked to Kristina and her dad about starting a relationship with her in October of 2010.

And exactly a year (to the day) later...he proposed :)

Kristina told me that she thought that he wasn't going to propose until around Christmas time and she was sad because she really wanted engagement photo's taken in the Fall.  So she was super surprised and happy when he proposed in October.

Their engagement shoot was gorgeously happy from start to finish.  We even got to take pictures with a vintage car that an older gentlemen who happened to be driving by as we were taking pictures was kind enough to let us borrow for a few minutes!

Congratulations on your engagement you two, I can't wait for your gorgeous country wedding next spring! 
Much Love.Jessica Shae