Nikki Salgot and her fiance, Collin Rose, were scheduled to get married this November but those dreams were crushed when Collin died after being shot while working as a Wayne State University police officer.
Nikki decided to prove that even though her dream of being married to Collin was crushed she wouldn’t let the tragedy crush her spirit.
So she decided that she would move forward with her wedding photo shoot by herself instead of canceling it.
She asked her former classmate and wedding photographer Rachel Heller to take the photo of her in the wedding dress she was supposed to wear to her wedding which would have been a week later.
“I remember being in tears on the way there, thinking, ‘How am I going to do this? How am I going to find a way to take photos that will do this justice, not just for her but for him?'” Rachel told TODAY. “When she got out of the car, it was clear as day. She was the picture of grief and resilience and strength and vulnerability and authenticity, all at once. I thought, I have to take photographs that when people see them, they will feel how I felt when she got out of the car.”
Nikki posed for the photos in the forest with a flag and Collin’s police cap and badge. She handled the photo shoot with grace and confidence.
“She was so sure of herself. She didn’t tell her family because … she wanted to do this herself,” Rachel said. “She was very empowered that day. … She made it really easy for me to do what I needed to do, to give her what she needed.”
Rachel edited the photos overnight and presented the session and prints to Nikki as a gift.
“This is a woman who is not broken. This did not break her,” Rachel said. “To me, she is an inspiration.”
Though Nikki’s dream of the perfect wedding day never came, she still wanted that day to be remembered and not forgotten.
“I took the pictures because I wanted to be able to look back and remind myself of the love I shared Collin,” Nikki told Women’s Health Magazine. “To look at those pictures and remind myself that I can keep going in life.”
She admits that she was angry, lost, and empty during the photo shoot but that once she got the photos back she found a sense of closure.
“They showed me I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for,” Nikki said. “Not only was I still surviving, I was able to put that dress on and go face that camera alone and still found myself capable of laughing. Which as it turns out, is what I do in my everyday life, minus the dress.”
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