wedding photographer | shannon kelley photography

a new chapter…

June 17th, 2011

Today marks a bittersweet day. Years ago I bought this domain with hopes and dreams of being able to do what I love to do and lots of fear. Although I am far from perfect and nowhere near where I hope to be, I feel like I can say I accomplished that. Mostly through the help of this blog. This blog was a place for me to share pictures, my passions, blog invasions, put way too personal ramblings that I just needed to get out, share my hopes and my hurts, and best of all, to share my little amazing family with you. I plan on continuing to do all of it, now just on a different platform, with a little different look:)

and thank you.

Thank you for reading this little blog, for caring enough to ask me about Lena when you meet me in person, for loving me for who I am, for reading my ramblings.

So today is a new chapter of which I am back to the basics of hopes and dreams of the future and trying to feel the fear and do it anyways. To be able to do what I was meant for, my purpose. I pray that this next chapter is even half as good as the last one. And here is hoping that you’ll follow me over to it.

www.shannon-kelley.com/blog ( we have some details to do but its about 95% done and I couldn’t help but share:) )

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an aquarium wedding

June 14th, 2011

Michelle and Raul are awesome, first and foremost. They are our type of people. You know, the type of people you just feel instantly at home with, that you can hang out with and feel like you can be yourself…those type. So it was an honor to photograph their beautiful Chattanooga aquarium wedding.

I had so much fun being creative and getting a little different look than the usual wedding because the setting there was just phenomenal. And Michelle was gorgeous and they both just know how to work it for the camera so all that combined means we had a little fun:) A huge congrats to Michelle and Raul!

wedding at aquarium

Michelle and Raul have a little girl who is quite possibly the cutest 2 year old ever. She was adorable on the wedding day and just hugged onto them during the ceremony like she knew it was for her too…so cute!

the wedding was on the river side (because the penguins on the ocean side are picky about music for receptions! And I’m not joking!) and the theme throughout the wedding was woodland so the girls carried fairy wands! They were too cute!
wedding at aquarium
I couldn’t help myself on doing some wide angle shots…the aquarium just called for it and Michelle just took it to the next level and rocked it!

and then we shot through the aquarium, which I’m kinda loving:) Not your average bridal shot but its all good, we aren’t average around here;)
wedding at aquarium

and Raul and his beautiful daughter joined in on the father daughter dance. Such a sweet moment!

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A&B: a wedding at Twin Cedar Farm

June 11th, 2011

Ashley and Bryan were married at Twin Cedar Farms near Maryville, TN in a gorgeous ceremony and reception, complete with horse drawn carriages, BBQ, mason jars and sweet tea… you know, all the makings of an amazing southern wedding:)

Ashley got ready at her and Bryan’s future house that is an old house that made my heart sing. LOVE awesome old houses for pictures!

and for ring shots too!

We then made our way over to Twin Cedar where Ashley opened a gift from Bryan before the ceremony

Ashley surprised Bryan with their dog as part of the ceremony. So cute.

I mean, aren’t they the cutest couple ever!

then we headed to the reception where it was beautifully decorated. Twin Cedar Farms is the perfect backdrop for a beautiful southern wedding.

A big giant congrats to Bryan and Ashley as they enter their next phase of life as a married couple! And a big thank you to Twin Cedar and Bryan and Ashley’s family who were amazing! Hope you enjoy!

Head on over to facebook to see more!

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making change…

June 8th, 2011

About 6 months or so ago someone told me “live simply so that others can simply live”. That statement changed my life. I went home, to our 1300 square foot, modest home and opened a stuffed closet. I realized I had been telling myself a little lie that we lived differently from most people because we have a smaller house, don’t have credit cards, and use rain barrels. When in reality we were not living simply by any stretch of the imagination. We have multiple pairs of shoes, options of all sorts of thing to wear, more dishes that we ever use, and Lena lacks for nothing in the toy realm…so we started purging. A few trips to Goodwill and we found out we were going to Haiti in August again and we decided to have a yard sale. So we have been sorting, pricing, and stacking for months now all to come down to tomorrow. Tomorrow and Friday we will have a big upscale resale fun yard sale complete with tables and linens from All Occasions Party Rental, fun pink signs for you to follow and even a lemonade stand!

We’d love for you to join us! Check out our facebook event page for a list of the awesomeness we are selling and directions!

And if you follow me on facebook then you may already know that this morning I received a call from WVLT (while making signs…still in my pj’s) about doing a story on our sale. After quickly changing and warning Lena now was not the time to show the world your new song or do a jig we taped it with Michele and it will air tonight at 5pm. We’ll be the dorks on there;)

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chelsie and gary: marion, va

June 3rd, 2011

I go to alot of weddings. Roughly half of my Saturdays every year are spent at weddings. And I always get choked up on the father daughter dance. Every wedding, every time, every year. I hear the words to whatever song they pick and think which one Lena would pick and its over.

Rarely do I spend a reception getting choked up numerous times but when you throw in Chelsie and Gary’s family and friends who celebrated and loved the night and what it was about so fully, well, its bound to happen. It was such a fun amazing night that you couldn’t help but appreciate life. At one point the whole room was circled on the dance floor holding hands singing Stand by Me. It was so amazing to be part of it. A big giant congrats to Chelsie and Gary!

Chelsie and Gary had a Catholic ceremony. I so love the tradition of Catholic ceremonies!

guests looking over as the bride and groom arrived at the Francis Marion Hotel. That hotel was a perfect place for a wedding!

first dance!

I’m going to go on record that this is one of my fave speeches of all time. And I am LOVING this picture that captured the moment.

and the dancing. oh the dancing. I should do a blog post just of the dancing! Here are a couple of my favorite pictures though:)

and my amazing second shooter/ really good friend who I am blessed to have, Michelle, took this one:) Happy marriage Chelsie and Gary!

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engaged: Laura and Aaron

June 1st, 2011

Laura and Aaron are getting married in July and I am honored to get the part of photographer at their wedding. Can’t wait! I have known them for a couple years now after photographing a friend of theirs wedding (yay Courtney and Casey!) and they are such a delight. You can’t be around these two and not have a good time! After dodging storms and rescheduling we finally got a couple hours to get there engagement pictures, sweat a little, and have a good time:)

Hope you enjoy!

engagement photography

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leaping

May 31st, 2011

The other day I posted this on facebook. Because it was glaringly real to me in that moment. And I was grateful. Forever grateful.

But its not like that every day. Sometimes its hard. Often it’s scary. Then some days I forget how tough that decision and risk was, like it was another life ago. And then other days I feel like I’m doing it all over again. Daily risking it all to do what I love. Daily jumping and hoping for those wings. Most days I feel inadequate and question it all. Then soon after I realize its not about me. Its about purpose. What God made me for. When you are walking in God’s purpose for you its amazing to see him build your wings. It’s not your doing, its His.

I’m not sure what the future holds but I do know that I’m ready to leap.

Source: thecollegeprepster.tumblr.com via Shannon on Pinterest

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A Rock Castle Wedding

May 25th, 2011

Last weekend was the wedding I was excited and oh so nervous for. Not only was it going to be a beautiful wedding at Rock Castle in Hendersonville but it also happened to be relatives (and friends) of Brad so Lena and him were in it. To make sure the day went off without a hitch (aka…if Lena decided to run down the aisle singing her Pants on the Ground song) I lined up amazing backup of Wendy and Brandi who rocked it out and helped me so much on the wedding day! Thank you girls soo much!

Matt and Alaina rocked it out and the details that went into their day were exceptional! I’m talking a personalized candy table people. So many amazing details and a GORGEOUS reception. And Rock Castle, the place where Matt was baptized, near where they both grew up in Hendersonville, was the perfect backdrop to the wedding.

Enjoy the pictures!

This one is a shot by Wendy, I’m pretty sure they are the cutest flower girls ever;)

so they let Brandi be up in the balcony during the ceremony which means she got birds eye pictures;) I am in LOVE with this one that she got! The pastor had each of the bride and groom write down separately (they didn’t know that it was for the ceremony) why they wanted to marry each other and read some of it during the ceremony. Ah, tearfest!
the infamous candy table. I mean, they put their picture on M&M’s! How awesome is that!?