Niki boo­ked me sight unseen after a refe­rral from a few of her friends (Thank Lizz & Sarah!) A few weeks before the wed­ding we got together for a drink and some wed­ding chat­ting. She brought her MOH Everly and I couldn’t have ima­gi­ned a more fun duo if I tried.

We chat­ted the eve­ning away and par­ted ways exci­ted for her wed­ding, and also sushi (but Chi­nese food for me!)

I arri­ved that the Lake Opechee Inn and found Niki in the final sta­ges of get­ting ready. She totally reminds me of a mix of Lau­ren Graham & Marissa Tomei — when I told her that at our meet-​up she said — A lot of times peo­ple tell me I look like that drun­ken sin­ger who used to beat her hus­band… you know..um,.. oh yeah, Liza Min­ne­lli! I laughed so hard I almost fell off the stool. I much more pre­fer to think of her as Lore­lei Gil­more

Niki & Everly! So much fun!

We went into another room to get dres­sed and she pau­sed and said — I need pliers to get into my dress, this should be fun!

I’m not sure if fun is the word she meant. Turns out, the pull on her zip­per was so tiny and the zip­per so poorly ins­ta­lled, they’d been get­ting her into it by using some pliers to hold the pull and zip her up.

Wor­ked like a charm — all the other times — this time, not so much. After various attempts from ever­yone, the zip­per went up! We’d made it past the rough spot and were an inch away from the top! Then, it bus­ted open, from the top down. And then, while trying to get it to go back down and try again, the pull came off the zip­per. After a milli­se­cond of silence where we in the back all silently gas­ped, we all la la la’d and said it’s awe­some! No worries! I’ll just get something from my bag I say. My sewing kit. And then I sewed her right in to that dress and rein­for­ced it with safety pins from behind. (I was more than relie­ved when I heard it sta­yed so well all night, her bri­des­maid had to request scis­sors from the front desk to cut the stitching out at the end of the night!)

One of the bri­des­maids deci­ded that would be the per­fect time to take my photo. Thanks.

Pro­blem sol­ved! [Yet another bene­fit of plan­ning for a first look/​photos before hand– This pro­cess took a little bit, but we had scads of extra time because Niki had plan­ned a good buf­fer of time for first look and pho­tos. We had all the time in the world to handle the unex­pec­ted and still rock out and look gor­geous before the ceremony!]

A few finishing touches from her mother and some loving from her daddy..

..and it was time for the first look.

Pure ado­ra­tion, and yet, both of them with their hands in their poc­kets! I called them out on it and they laughed and quickly embra­ced each other.

And then it was time for some of that loo­king gor­geous we still had time for  Niki told me she had two tee­na­gers and I didn’t believe her, she didn’t look NEARLY old enough — and yet, here are these two beau­ti­ful chil­dren calling her mom!

Jamie was really hoping to get a shot in front of the lake. Even if we had to traipse through sloshy goose poop to to do it. Good call Jamie — I love this shot! You two are so bada$$.

Honestly this loca­tion was a dream — there was such a mix of grunge and grace all in the same place. One side of the walk­way was pic­tu­res­que lake views, the other side was urban fan­tas­ti­cal­ness like these shots.

you two are STUNNING!

Then it was marr­ying time!

They incor­po­ra­ted so many per­so­nal, well thought out details into their recep­tion. Inc­lu­ding the bles­sing of the rings by all their guests. Pla­ced in a small bag together, the rings are pas­sed through the rows and ever­yone is asked to silently pass on their love, sup­port and well wishes to these tan­gi­ble sym­bols of marriage. The cere­mony con­ti­nues, and after making the rounds, the newly bles­sed rings are exchan­ged. Even though you keep the cere­mony going, it really adds a moment for you to stop and look around your wed­ding — I thought it was a great touch.

They also par­took in the wine box cere­mony, which I LOVE. Here’s an excerpt I found on wed­ding­bee from an offi­ciant, explai­ning the cere­mony to the guests.

I have asked you as a cou­ple, to find a strong woo­den box that will hold one bottle of wine, and two wine glas­ses. In addi­tion, I have asked each of you to write a let­ter to one another, expres­sing your thoughts about the good qua­li­ties that you have found in your future part­ner, as well as, your rea­sons for falling in love with each other. I reques­ted that under no con­di­tion were you to read each other’s let­ter, and that you were to seal them in indi­vi­dual enve­lo­pes and put them in the box with the wine and glasses.

Should you ever find your marriage endu­ring serious dif­fi­cul­ties, I am asking that before you make any irra­tio­nal deci­sions, that you both, as a cou­ple, open the box, drink some wine together, and then ven­ture off into sepa­ra­tes rooms to read the let­ters that you wrote to one another when you were uni­ted as a cou­ple. By rea­ding these love let­ters, you will reflect upon the rea­sons that you fell in love with each other in the first place. The hope here is, that there will never be a rea­son for you to open this box, unless of course, it is for your 10^th year anniversary!”

I now ask that each of you take a nail, one at a time, and ham­mer the box shut.

Niki & Jamie asked each of their atten­dants to ham­mer a nail in, bols­te­ring the box with their love and friendship as they do their relationship.

After the exchange of rings, Jamie made his own vows to Niki’s chil­dren. There was not a dry eye in the house.

Then the kids were excu­sed from front and cen­ter because it was time for the kiss!

We esca­ped outside for a few more fun, newly wed shots while the guests sett­led into the reception.

Details! Table desig­na­tion enve­lo­pes, with drink tic­kets inside. Tears of joy tis­sue pac­kets. Guest­book Frame. Niki left no detai­led stone unturned!

And this. This I love. Shortly before her wed­ding, on the MKPeeps face­book wall, I lin­ked to Off­beat Bri­des “Unplug­ged Wed­ding”. The con­cept is sim­ple. Allow your pho­to­grapher to take the pho­tos and ask your guests to be pre­sent in the moment with you. This is espe­cially true at the cere­mony. It’s an ama­zing thing to take a moment and not see the world through and LCD screen and what bet­ter place to take that moment then in a dec­la­ra­tion of love. Niki loved the idea and imple­men­ted it right away, it wor­ked like a charm!

They make each other laugh with their whole hearts. It’s what love should look like.

Jamie’s mum pas­sed away some time ago — they hono­red her with a candle and photo in the recep­tion and it was a lovely tri­bute. Some­time later, I tur­ned around to find Niki in tears. Turns out, Jamie’s sis­ter had gif­ted Niki with one of their mother’s rings as a ‘wel­come to the family’ pre­sent. I still get cho­ked up thin­king about it.

Toas­ted!

Oh Pam. Pam was the jac­kie of all tra­des. She’s pic­ture above hel­ping Niki with her hair, she’s a bri­des­maid extraor­di­naire, and she made all.these.cupcakes. (all these ama­zingly tasty cup­ca­kes mind you!)

I’m a daddy’s girl. I didn’t quite catch the inten­sity of this shut­ter click until I was home and it came up on my com­pu­ter screen. Then I burst into tears. <3

Folks, let’s talk a minute about ‘up lighting’ — if your DJ offers it, and you have the means, DO​.IT. It adds such an ama­zing layer of dimen­sion to inside & ten­ted receptions.

I’m also a fan of fun colo­red dance floor action!

I was so sad to see my time with Niki & Jamie and their ama­zing crew come to an end. Thank you both for per­mit­ting me to be part of your grand scheme!

Niki was sweet enough to gush about me on wed­ding­wire. Her review left me blushing!

Simply AMAZING!! When plan­ning my wed­ding, boo­king my pho­to­grapher was one of the most impor­tant pie­ces to me. I wan­ted to look at pho­tos of peo­ple I didn’t know and feel the emo­tion of the moment, Melissa’s pho­tos did that for me. When con­tac­ting her she was always prompt and help­ful. She really makes boo­king her easy! Then the day of every bri­des worst night­mare… my zip­per on my dress breaks. No worries with Melissa, she just breaks out her sewing kit, (com­plete with band-​aids and shout wipes) and just sewed me right in all the while kee­ping me cool so I wouldn’t freak out! She did such a good job one of my bri­des­maids had to get scis­sors from the front desk at our venue to cut me out! Not only this but she paid atten­tion to every detail, she corra­lled our rowdy bunch and made our pho­tos fun and fast. You are really get­ting way more than you pay for with Melissa! If you are smart you will book her now!

Much love m’dears! <3