niki & aaron

married 2-21-2015

 

priceless details

 

Veil Magazine vendors

CEREMONY LOCATION, PHOTOGRAPHY, PHOTOBOOTH RENTAL & VIEDOGRAPHY Front Room Photography

BARTENDER SERVICE Bartenders on the Go

FLOWERS Belle Fiori LTD.

PHOTO LOCATION Historic Pritzlaff

 

other vendors

CATERER Bianchini • CHILD'S DRESS & BRIDE'S FUR Etsy • EVENT PLANNER, DAY OF COORDINATOR Cori Coffman (Events Director at Historic Pritzlaff) • HAIR & MAKEUP Naturally You • HONEYMOON LOCATION Caribbean Cruise • MEN'S FORMALWEAR Saks • OFFICIANT Neil Kiekhofer • RECEPTION LOCATION Indulge (for dinner) and Evolution (for ping pong and drinks) • WEDDING GOWN & JEWELRY Macy's

The Priceless Details

by Laura Vietmeyer

 

Niki and Aaron first met at work, before Niki joined Front Room Photography and was immersed in the wedding industry. When it came time to plan her own celebration with Aaron, her experience working around weddings gave her a unique perspective that would shape their day. Ultimately, the non-traditional wedding was exactly what Niki and Aaron always wanted.

 

As the studio manager for Front Room Photography, Niki has been to enough weddings to know exactly what she wanted for her own. So, when Aaron proposed, the couple set out to plan a wedding that had all the details that were important to them.

The start of Niki and Aaron’s seven-month engagement began with a proposal in St. Germain. Aaron and Niki went to a campground, Lynn Ann’s. Just after sunset, the couple went out to the pier to look at the stars. The stars shone overhead, people had launched lanterns on one side of the lake and heat lightning flashed from the other side of the lake. “He couldn’t have planned it to be any more beautiful,” Niki says. Aaron gave a very sweet and slightly nervous speech about how he loved Niki and then got down on one knee. It was so dark that Niki couldn’t even see the ring. She said yes and the newly engaged couple sat on the pier and talked for a while before going back to her grandparents’ house to see the whole family.

Aaron had asked Niki’s mother for permission, and as it turned out, the entire family already knew that Aaron was going to propose to Niki on the trip. “It was great to come back into the house to see everyone, including Jayla, who is now my step-daughter,” Niki says. “She was sleeping when we got back, but was very excited the next morning. She had kept the secret for weeks!”

After telling Niki’s family, Aaron was so excited he jumped on Facebook and changed his status before they had a chance to tell anyone else. “It was funny that he didn’t think anything of it,” Niki recalls. “I got some grief around the studio for telling the world before telling my co-workers.”

As the planning for the wedding day came together, Niki and Aaron were surprised how easy planning is by just sticking to what they wanted from the experience. Niki has always wanted a winter wedding by candlelight. In the process of putting together their modern winter wedding, Niki designed her own invitations and programs. The couple chose silver, gray and blue as their colors to tie the winter theme together.  

Niki and Aaron began their non-traditional wedding weekend with a fish fry rehearsal dinner followed, by bowling, as there were a number of kids involved. There was no actual rehearsal, since the couple had no wedding party. A wedding that was small and intimate and had just the details that were important to the couple was the aim of the weekend.

When the wedding day arrived, Niki and Aaron were wed in an intimate ceremony that was attended by 35 guests. Niki tied her great grandmother’s ring to her bouquet, her “something blue,” and borrowed her mother’s fur. Her “something new” was her wedding band. Aaron’s wedding band was also one of the items the couple splurged on. Niki wanted to make sure that he would have a ring that would last forever.

The ceremony turned out to be Niki’s favorite part of the day. The couple made personal vows to each other and to Jayla. “It was very important to me that she be involved in the wedding,” Niki says. Their officiant, Neil, put together a personalized and special ceremony that was full of details that were unique to the couple. This included a ring warming that allowed the guests to be intimately included.

Looking back on the weekend, Niki notes that Indulge was an amazing venue for their dinner and that the food was delicious. Niki and Aaron also remember the comical moments, including when Niki’s mom and sister accidentally took Aaron’s bag from their hotel room. The bag had all of the couple’s clothes for the night and the following day. Niki was lucky enough to have had the outfit she’d worn earlier in the day, but Aaron had to take a walk of shame after his own wedding!

Although Niki has worked in the industry for years, she notes that it was a different experience to celebrate her own wedding. “I now know firsthand just how true it is that your wedding photography really is the most important and lasting set of memories you will have from your day,” she says. “Having those details captured so exquisitely is priceless. We adore Front Room!”