Bride does wedding photoshoot a week after husband-to-be was killed
A week before her wedding day, Nikki Salgot’s fiance was killed.
Collin Rose, a 29-year-old Michigan police officer, was shot while on duty.
But when the day came that was originally slated for the couple’s wedding photoshoot, Salgot decided to go ahead with it.
Image: Rachel Smaller Photography
It was her way of honouring the love she’d had with the man who would have been her husband.
During the shoot, she was overwhelmed with a confusing mix of emotions.
“I was thinking how ridiculous I felt standing in the woods in a wedding dress but told myself to just be me and make the best of it,” Salgot tells 9Honey.
Image: Rachel Smaller Photography
“I've always been very good at turning awkward and uncomfortable situations into something to laugh at, as was Collin.
“So, I figured, why not have fun with it. He absolutely would have.”
Image: Rachel Smaller Photography
Salgot admits she was unsure what people would think, and kept her project secret from “nearly everyone” until the day of the wedding itself.
“I took the photos for me but obviously was a little concerned what might come from it,” she says.
But she needn’t have worried.
“The response of my family and friends was unbelievable,” she says.
“Everyone that looked at the photos said that they were beautiful, powerful images and that I am a very strong person.”
Image: Rachel Smaller Photography
It only takes the briefest glance to see they were right.
Salgot now keeps the photos in an album she says is “for anyone to look at”.
She tells 9Honey it’s a token, something to remind her of everything the photos stood for in the years to come.
“Today, those pictures mean that I am still very much alive and continue to be me,” she says.
“That I have not let this tragedy or anything else that has occurred this past year destroy me or what I stand for.”
Image: Rachel Smaller Photography
Listen to the latest episode of 9Honey's podcast series Life Bites here:
Most viewed in Lifestyle
Meghan gives first look at Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet’s new UK life
The four-year experiment that created Australia’s best sausage roll
World’s youngest king laid to rest as succession battle erupts amid claims of secret child
It costs more than $150k to raise a kid, but half a million Aussies do it with no savings. These are the money mistakes to avoid
