Again, I’m doing a group blogpost to aid in my catch-up blogging attempts — this time it’s all of my (non-engagement) portrait sessions for October! Enjoy!
First up is a senior session I shot for sweet Libby back in my little hometown. Libby has grown into a beautiful young lady ABOUT TO GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL and I know I speak for both myself and for her momma when I say we’re so proud of her.
Now for a mini Christmas card session I did for Jennifer and Jacob and their two pups. The light was beautiful, the dogs were precious and Jennifer and Jacob’s adoration for each other was palpable.
Next up is DARLING KACIE! I recently posted about her fall engagement session and in the same month we shot her golf-themed bridal session! Yes, a golf-themed bridal session to surprise her golf-enthusiast groom, Seth.
The last portrait session from October are my SISTER’S bridals that we took RULL QUICK the morning before her wedding day. So that was some quick turnaround. And when I say quick turnaround, I mean we took the photos at 9 a.m., by 10 a.m. I had them uploaded to my laptop and by 11 a.m. we were on our way to get them developed. All this to say, my sister is beautiful, married and lives in California now and I miss her.
October was good to me.
So I decided to do a feature-length blog post of Kacie and Seth’s October engagement session because I thought the fall theme was just TOO CUTE for words. If I had blogged it LAST FALL when I TOOK these photos it would have been way more timely but let’s just all pretend for a few minutes that it’s Autumn RIGHT NOW . . .
Kacie and her friend, Hannah, made this sweet banner for the engagement session/wedding decor. Hannah is also Seth’s older sister, but she and Kacie were totally friends before Kacie and Seth became a thing. Kacie told me that it was a fun conversation to have with Hannah: “Sooooo . . . what if I dated your little brother . . . “
Good news — Hannah approved.
And thank goodness she did because these two are a perfect pair.
Yeah, it’s coming . . .
After we’d had our fill of the leaves, we ended the session at sunset over the water.
Kacie and Seth — you two are seriously SO precious together and going through these images again to blog them brought it all back to me just HOW much I adore y’all together.
I am excited to get their beautiful wedding day up on the blog soon too so everyone be excited with me!
Here’s the deal — I need to make some headway on getting caught up on all my past blogs. THEREFORE, ergo, vis a vis, concordantly — I’m doing a COLLAGED blogpost of a few favorite photos from each of my engagement sessions from October 2011. Ready? Go.
Although I wasn’t available to shoot their wedding day, I was so honored to document Kacea and Austin’s love through their engagement portraits on the Southlake Town Square.
Next up is Theresa and Gabba! Their wedding will integrate a lot of Indian elements and so it made PERFECT sense for them to integrate a preview of those elements in their engagement photos! I’m so pumped for their wedding this June.
Whitney and Caleb decided to explore downtown Fort Worth for their engagement session and I had such a fun time coming along and documenting their sweet love.
And last, but not least, come Krystle and Ben. These two could WORK. DAT. CAMERA. And by “dat camera” I mean “my camera” (so as not to confuse you). Plus they’re suuuuper-sweet to boot.
I love love.
Since shooting this wedding last October, I’ve formed a rule of thumb:
Anytime I show up to photograph a wedding and am immediately greeted by (LITERALLY) thousands of pumpkins, said wedding with automatically and henceforth be deemed awesome.
No questions asked.
Kathleen and Jordan’s sweet backyard wedding was FULL TO ‘DA BRIM of details that Jordan, Kathleen, her mom and an ARMY of other helping family and friends brought to a reality of fall-ish incredibleness.
Here I’m instructing everyone to be especially impressed with all the florals because Kathleen and her bridesmaids did all the flowers themselves.
Say it with me: Ooooooooooh!! Ahhhhhhh!
Kat, you are undeniably and without a doubt b-e-a-U-tiful.
“Alright, let’s do hands in pockets? . . . (shuffle, shuffle) . . . reeeeeeal clever, guys.”
Two things I love: 1) outdoor weddings and 2) long aisles
This wedding party was truly fun. This is the best description I can give.
After a few minutes for bride-groom portraits we headed to the reception where a darling dessert table, lots of dancing energy and a mass of Kat and Jordan’s loved ones awaited the bride and groom’s arrival.
SUCH a fun day all the way to the very end. Kathleen and Jordan, thank you for letting me and James be a part of it all.
Breann and Matt’s wedding day began on a beautifully sunny March afternoon at the Granbury Convention Center.
One cannot know hoooooowwwwww exciting it was that this day could be accurately described as “sunny,” because the days leading up to it (AND the morning of) were dreary and rainy ones. So DOUBLE YAY for a sunny wedding afternoon for Breann and Matt!
The following few photos are from Breann and Matt’s first look and I’m sure Breann was satisfied with Matt’s pleased and excited reaction to seeing his bride for the first time on their wedding day.
After the two lovebirds had a few moments to soak up the moment, we moved into some bride-groom portraits and these two were, um, uhhhhhhhhhmazing to photograph.
I’m sure it has something to do with them being suuuuu-huuuu-huuuuuper in love.
Look, JUST LOOK, at how Matt looks at Breann. (happy sigh)
I love seeing a groom’s facial expressions transform when he looks at his bride. All day I observed Matt reserving only the sweetest looks especially for Breann.
Yeaaaaaaaah, girl.
GROUP HUG!!
Matt’s best man definitely surprised him by handing over Breann’s ring in a cracker jacks box.
Again, blog readers, I direct your attention to those sweet, sweet the-next-line-is-”I-now-pronounce-you-husband-and-wife” faces. Those are my favorite types of faces.
One of my other favorite things is a few precious minutes with the newly minted husband-and-wife duo at sunset.
When I’m gifted this opportunity on a wedding day, my little photographer’s heart sings.
Our duck friend did not want to be the first guest to pose with Mr. and Mrs. Bersi. It would have been rude to take that honor all for himself.
One of Matt’s sisters painted the cake topper to resemble Breann and Matt — SO cute!
Also, the cupcakes were done by My Queen of Cakes in Stephenville and they made a very strong and very pleasant impression on these two wedding photographer’s taste buds.
James and I are super-honored to have been the photographers to document this beautiful wedding.
I’m afraid I should also apologize for how many times I used the word “super” in this blogpost . . .
Thank you, thank you to Breann and Matt and we wish y’all a happy, happy marriage and all the best up in Connecticut!
A few weeks after Itzel and Miguel’s wedding day we met back up for a newlywed session, wedding attire and all!
This was my first “day after”-esque photo session and it was so. much. fun. (Plus I just really enjoy spending time with Itzel and Miguel.)
Sigh. Itzel, you’re gorge.
Yes, they are having a tea party. In the forest. In their wedding attire.
Get it, guys.
Love. Sweet, sweet love.
You guys, if there is one thing I say about this wedding, it’s that Renee has got to be the sweetest human being alive.
Seriously, every single interaction with Renee is the equivalent to eating a cotton candy, or playing with a puppy or getting a giant conversational hug.
Renee’s niece played the role of darling flower girl and resident artist. This is the picture she drew especially for Renee on her wedding day:
This tablecloth was made entirely. out. of. peacock. feathers.
It.
was.
awesome.
After a few sweet moments soaking up the newly married-ness, Renee and Caleb headed into the reception where THE cutest father-daughter dance ensued with Renee and her dad.
And off they went.
But right before they got into their limo Renee turned to me and gave me a big hug and said thank you.
I was so dumbfounded/touched/astounded that, on her wedding day when she was surrounded by family and friends, Renee stopped and thanked me before driving away.
To Renee it was a probably completely normal course of action but it meant so much to this photographer.
Alright, guys. I’m totally owning up to being a terrible blogger for months now and I’m not happy about it. But here’s to trying to catch up again, right?
Here’s a little peek into Ashlee and Alex’s wedding day back in September . . .
Here’s the deal: Ashlee and Alex were going to elope.
But Ashlee’s sweet mother convinced her to have a wedding based on the premise that she would take care of all the planning for Ashlee. And boy did she deliver! She put so much effort into creating a beautiful wedding for everyone to enjoy.
After Ashlee and Alex had some time to chill at their reception — eat some food, chat with guests, and do some dancing — we snuck outside to snag a few quick bride-groom portraits. Fun, fun!
When I first met Ashlee she explained to me that wearing dresses and make-up is soooooo not her thing, but that she was going to comply on her wedding day and get “spray-painted” with make-up. To which Alex corrected her: “Do you mean airbrushed?”
I tell you this story so that you will all appreciate the sacrifice Ashlee made to look like this on her wedding day.
All the best to you, Ashlee and Alex!
Wednesday evening I had the absolute pleasure of attending Jasmine Star’s The Fix Dallas. It was a time for photographers from all over Texas to get together, meet each other, and all have conversations together with the internationally famous, California-based wedding photographer, Jasmine Star.
I was SO excited to run into the one and only Elise from Hey, Sweet Pea at the event! Or should I say, the-girl-with-the-blonde-streak? I had just met up with Elise and her fiancé, Scott, for their nautical engagement session on Sunday and James and I were thrilled to see them again at The Fix!
Now is where I explain a little bit about how big of a deal this event was for me. Storrrrrrytiiiiiiiime!
I first found Jasmine’s blog at a time in my life when photography as a career felt very, veeeerrrrrrrrrrrry far away. I remember that I was sitting at my dining room table, just browsing photography blogs, and stumbled across hers.
And I fell in love.
Yes, with the photos, but I was also captivated by her writing, by her ability to put her personality into words. Jasmine. Take it, leave it, love it, hate it — she was just her, just Jasmine.
I spent about six hours on her blog the night I found it. No joke.
I started pouring through blogposts in the late afternoon, starting with the most recent and going backward from there. I just kept going page to page and before I knew it, James was asking me if I was coming to bed!
I looked at James. I looked back at the computer. I looked back at James. Annnnnnd then I went to bed . . . but I brought the computer with me and continued looking at the blog sitting in the bed. I couldn’t get enough of it!
I only put the computer down only when I was about ready to fall over asleep on top of it. I was hooked.
From that day forward I was “Jasmine Star this,” “Jasmine Star that.” Within a month or so, James, my best friends, my mom all knew who she was, so that I didn’t have to add any explanation when I mentioned “Jasmine Star” in day-to-day conversation, ya know, like she was a good friend.
I’ve been trying to figure out WHY I felt such a strong connection to Jasmine from the beginning. And the best thing I could think of was that she was the very first person to cast her vote of confidence in me.
She didn’t know it, but through her writing, through her story that’s what she did.
Before I could even fathom the possibility of being a full-time photographer, much less SPEAK the idea aloud to my husband or friends, Jasmine told me it was possible.
So let me tell you, when I’m approaching my opportunity to talk to this famous photographer/dear friend/person-I’ve-never-met as this mildly star-struck stranger I didn’t know how it was going to go.
The first words out of my mouth were suuuuuper-profound: My heart’s beating really fast right now.
But O. My. Word. She immediately took hold of both my arms and told me how she kept seeing me in the audience while she was making her presentation and thanked me because she felt so encouraged every time she saw me nodding and smiling. At least I knew SOMEONE was with me!
She went in to give me a hug and then apologizes because she hasn’t even asked me my name.
Jillian Zamora . . . I feel like I recognize that name . . .
(internal squeal!) I explain to her that it might be because she’s said my name in two of her Shooting Star video segments on her blog: Jillian Zamora asked . . .
She can hear the excitement in my voice and gets excited with me. Like friends.
So it’s at this point I feel the need to act out for her my reaction to hearing her say my name both those times in the videos.
I raise my arms above my head in triumph and whisper-yell, “SHE SAID MY NAME!!”
Well I guess that makes us best friends, she teased.
I’m okay with it if you are, I answered. And I meant it.
Let me clarify here for a moment.
I’m not obsessed.
I’m just really, really thankful.
I’m thankful that this woman shared with me her stories of struggle, of starting in the photography business, and of figuring out who she was along the way.
I’m thankful that, two years ago, when I was just a newly married, soon-to-be college graduate sitting at my dining room table with this teeny tiny notion of possibly, maybe, one day, BUT-NOT-REALLY playing any real role whatsoever in the photography industry, Jasmine reached through my computer screen via her blog, grabbed my shoulders and said, “I’ve been there. NO REALLY, I’ve. been. there.”
When I first found her blog, I had NO idea she was a renown wedding photographer.
I just knew that she was someone who had been where I was. And it gave me the strength to finally dream of what could be — not becoming Jasmine Star, but Jillian camera-in-hand-Yes-I’ll-shoot-your-wedding-thank-you-very-much Zamora.
Thank you, Jasmine.
You guys, Jordan and David are great.
They came to me with so many meaningful ideas for their engagement session, one of which, was to start the session at the very spot where David proposed on a walk he took her on.
Another one of their ideas was to include their letters that they wrote to each other throughout the course of their relationship.
I know. Sweet, right?
They didn’t do the long-distance thing. They just liked writing letters. Specifically to each other. And so they did.
JORDAN!! Those eyes! I can’t get over them!!
Our next stop was a part of Dallas that they frequent — going to shows, shopping some good ol Buffalo Exchange and flipping through records. Together.
You two make an alleyway look good.
I mean, I can really only rave about a person’s eyes SO MANY times in one blog post before it gets redundant, so I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself.
(It’s-just-that-I-feel-like-they-SPARKLE!)
It’s just that they smiled like this throughout the course of the session and it just made my heart so stinkin’ happy.
Some shots at the nearby Good Records was a must, as it turns out David is a bit of a record junkie , but it would seem that it’s hard for him to focus on the records when Jordan’s around . . .
I love this image even more now after a friend gave me her take on it. You see, sometimes I have issues choosing pictures for blogposts — the issue being that I just want to post all of them — so I often have to ask James or a nearby friend their opinion on which ones to include/exclude from the post. My friend Brittney was looking through Jordan and David’s images and and she stopped at this one and said:
“Oh. She is SO in love. That is the picture of a woman in love.
I felt like her friend and I had walked in on a moment, and she looked up at me as if to say, ’I am so in love with this man.’”
I was very pleased with this synopsis.
David is a literature major at the University of North Texas, so books were very much a necessary addition to the end of the session.
Again, it looks like he has a difficult time concentrating on reading with Jordan at his side though.
Jordan and David, I wish the two of you all the very best that life has to offer. Thank you for choosing me as your engagement photographer and letting me document these sweet, sweet moments.
Leave A Comment