It's a new year: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

I'm back from a glorious 3 weeks of vacation.  It was lovely and restful, but I was happy to jump back into work today with both feet!  The holidays came and went rather quickly, but I'm so excited about this new year--lots of new ideas and big plans, so much possibility!  Things have been (intentionally) pretty quiet around here the last few weeks, but the break is over, and regular blogging resumes this week!  I'm working on a wedding post + several others, but until I get a chance to post those here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks of my life :)  I have a video montage that I made of our Christmas that I was going to share with you all until certain members of my family started protesting that I didn't have permission to share video of them with the rest of the world :P So unfortunately pictures will have to do.
















Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that your new year is off to a lovely start!
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

Love is waiting || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

"In the Autumn on the ground

Between the traffic and the ordinary sounds

I am thinking signs and seasons while a north wind blows through

I watch as lovers pass me by

Walking stories - whos and hows and whys

Musing lazily on love

Pondering you

I'll give it time, give it space and be still for  a spell

When it's time to walk that way we wanna walk it well

I'll be waiting for you baby

I'll be holding back the darkest night

Love is waiting till we're ready, til it's right

It's my caution not the cold

There's no other hand that I would rather hold

The climate changes, I'm singing for strangers about you

Don't keep time, slow the pace

Honey hold on if you can

The bets are getting surer now that you're my man

I could write a million songs about the way you say my name

I could live a lifetime with you and then do it all again

And like I can't force the sun to rise or hasten summer's start,

Neither should I rush my way into your heart."

Love is Waiting || Brooke Fraser


Happy November!


Much Love.
Jessica Shae

pause: personal || dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer

Last fall, God gave me this weekend.  It was a pause, a breath in the midst of a very busy, ever changing time of life.  It was just one day really, one day of soaking in all the little moments.  Of noticing the changing leaves, loving how the chilled autumn wind made my nose red and my cheeks flushed, and relishing how lovely it felt to have my chilled fingers wrapped around my tall pumpkin spice latte.  And  at the end of the day sitting cozily by the fireplace in Panera eating soup from a bread bowl while enjoying the company of a dear friend.  I remember so much about those moments, even though it happend more than 365 days ago.

I thrive on action, deadlines, work under pressure, and I love living life fast.  I have a hard time saying no to people or projects, which means that life is usually very full if I have any say in the matter.  So breaks are not usually something that I schedule.  But thankfully, God in His infinite wisdom usually schedules them in for me :)  They're usually unexpected, and at a time that I would probably be thinking I should be doing something else.

So right in the middle of last weekend, which was promising to be the busiest weekend of this year, I had a 4 hour break.  I was in Denver for about 2 & 1/2 days, and in those days I had 2 portrait sessions and a wedding to shoot.  After breakfast with two friends on Friday morning I realized that I had about 4 hours before I needed to head to my first portrait session.  I had the option of finding the closest starbucks and trying to get some editing done, or, taking off into the mountains in my jeep wrangler that the rental company had so kindly given me as a free upgrade :)

And so I decided without really knowing where I was going, that I was going to the mountains.  I just drove, and took whichever roads looked the cutest.  (Yes I just said that.)  I rolled the windows down and let the wind make an absolute mess of my hair.  I sang along to country music, and talked to God about lots of different things.  I pulled my car over on the side of the road at random points whenever I saw something that needed to be photographed.  I had lunch at an adorable little bistro in some mountain town, sitting on their outside patio enjoying the sunshine and the sound of the happy little stream that ran alongside the restaurant.

During lunch I wished that I had thought to bring my journal with me, but then realized that it was nice to have nothing to do.  Not even journaling.  And after 4 short hours it was time to head back down to Denver, and jump into non-stop weekend made up of 2 portrait sessions, a rehearsal, a 12 hour, verrrry cold, beautiful wedding, church with friends, and then a flight back home.

And as much as I would hardly ever choose them for myself...I'm so grateful for pauses that allow me to rest, and help me to realize that sometimes a life lived slow is so much sweeter than a life that is constantly rushing to the next thing.

Much Love.
Jessica Shae

last thoughts of summer. {dallas, tx engagement & wedding photographer}

It's 66 degrees outside.  My window is pushed open as wide as it will go and I'm sitting cross legged on my bedroom floor with my toes tucked up under me to stay warm.  I'm listening to the sound of my jon schmidt pandora station mingled with the sound of the lawnmower and enjoying the smell of fresh cut grass + my pumpkin spice candle.

I absolutely adore the changing of the seasons.  I was told the other day that you can't call it fall in texas, since the leaves don't actually turn colors and fall, they all just die--apparently autumn is the correct term.  And the slow quiet slip from summer into autumn is my favorite.  Not because I love autumn so much that I can't wait to see summer go...anyone who knows me at all knows that's not true.  But summer obsession aside, autumn is definitely my second favorite time of the year, and I'm happy to see that it's here.

This summer has been particularly sweet.  Not in a my-life-is-perfect sort of way.  But in a my-God-is-gracious kind of way.  These past few months have been the richest, happiest months of my life. This summer has been an adventure, it's been full of new experiences, of stretching scary moments--it's been full of growing up.  Something that has been a little bittersweet, but that I'm mostly ok with :)  I know, I'm 22 years old, surely I've gotten used to the idea of being grown up by now?  But quite honestly, I haven't.  There's a large part of me that still likes to pretend amidst running my own business, traveling all over, and paying bills, that I'm still just a kid.  I do cartwheels in the street sometimes, I shop in the little girls section, (the clothes are so much cheaper!) and I wear ribbons in my hair.

But despite the ribbons and cartwheels, a lot of growing up has happened this summer.  I've made some big decisions.  I've worked on being authentic (being the original person that I was made to be with a unique design and purpose given by the one true Author) and through that I've been stretched thin, scared, and been able to see God's power shine through my weaknesses.  I've seen some friendships come to an end, and new ones begin.  I've been blessed with the greatest (no really, the absolute best of the best) boy in the whole world as my best friend + boy friend, and been grateful a thousand times over for my family and their love.

I've heard it said that Grace is: getting something you don't deserve.  And this summer my full of grace God has given blessing upon blessing...I can't wait to see what this next season will hold.

Happy Autumn!

Much Love,
Jessica Shae