being the bride

Enjoy Being The Bride | My Photographer

nonsense, child. if you'd lost all your faith, i couldn't be here. 
and here i am. 
fairy godmother to cinderella
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The morning after I got engaged, I was in a wedding-mode.  It was truly a dream come true to actually be able to make real plans for a wedding.  My dad always joked with me that I have the wedding ready to go, I just need to insert man and I could get married.  I am one of those girls who dreamed about my wedding day since I was a child, so it was almost confusing and weird to get to really make plans!  I've "pretend" made plans for years! ;)

The hardest decision, by far, was who we were going to have photograph the happy day.  I have so many wonderful, incredible, talented and generous photography friends all over the world who I considered.  My list went anywhere from my bestie Lydia Jane, to my Canadian bestie Jamie Delaine, to the kind and brilliant Peter Bang, to the lovely Elizabeth Baxter, to goddess o' photography Sarah Barlow, to the spunky bride to be Ica Images, to the loveable and strong Brienne Michelle, to the dreamin' Ellie Be.  And anywhere in between.  

But after "wedding" started to sink in a little more, I realized that I didn't want one of my friends to be our photographer.  I wanted my friends to be, well, my friends.  I want them to receive an invitation, get dressed up in fun wedding clothes, arrive when the wedding starts (not three hours before), take in the little details, to sit during the ceremony and not run around, to eat as much as they want, to be released to dance and to be a guest.  I love shooting weddings, but I also love being a guest.

So world, meet Shannon Lee, our wedding photographer and NOT our friend ;)  Just kidding... she's going to be my new best friend for life (I hope she's prepared for that.) 
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Shannon herself (that's her ^) is unnaturally beautiful.  Stunning.  Head-turning. Wow.  And her self-portraits are among the best I've ever seen.  But when I happened to stumble across her Facebook page one day, what drew me into her undeniably gorgeous pictures were two things: 1) use use of lighting and 2) her movement.   Check out some of my favorites of hers (ALL pictures are from Shannon Lee Miller Photography):
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Shannon, I hope you know how much you are making my dreams come true - with your photography and by allowing my friends to come as friends.  You're professional, and lovely.  Skilled, and humble.  Fun, and brilliant.  I can't wait to meet you in person and to have you as a part of our oh-so-important day.  You rock, friend :D


Everyone else, go love on her! Go like and comment and rave and swoon!  Make her a big deal, because she is!