Nikki Ferrell captured America’s hearts way back when she won The Bachelor, but now this leading lady has taken her love life offscreen and to the open fields and the results? Unreal. From her beautifully blush ballgown, to their sweet newly engaged kisses, we’ve got an exclusive peek on her e-sesh AND a fun Q&A from the starlet below + see even more from Alea Lovely in The Vault!
From Bride-to-be, Nikki Ferrell… So my fiance Tyler and I have been friends for over 5 years. We have dated in the past but we couldn’t seem to really get the timing right until about a year ago. He’s been my best friend for so long and looking back I think I always knew he would be the one. In January we were in Pagosa Springs, CO over New Years. My family has a vacation home there and we decided to go on a little snowboard getaway. I sort of expected him to propose on the trip, I mean we had been talking about it for several months. We were there for five days and each day I thought he would ask me but nope he didn’t. I had even been putting eyeliner on to go snowboarding just in case! At one point we were snowshoeing through the most beautiful snowy scenery I’d ever seen and I turned around and he was on one knee, I thought OMG it’s happening. Well much to my surprise he was just hungry and reaching for his beef jerky snack! Haha. On the last morning we were there my Dad said we were going to get breakfast at a little place in town. I had a couple too many margaritas the night before and was moving a little slow. I didn’t want to change my clothes so I decided to wear my sweatpants and a beanie. I should have known something was up when my Dad told me to change my clothes. I think my response was “They’re not giving out prizes for best dressed this morning Dad, I’m wearing this” When we got into town Tyler said he wanted to take a picture by the river. The steam for the hot springs rises up and frosts all the trees in the morning, it’s really beautiful. He had been talking about it all week so I didn’t think anything of it. We walked down there and he was trying to find the perfect spot. I actually think I was complaining most of the way. Haha. Then I turned around and he was down on one knee for real this time! Honestly I don’t remember what he said, I was squealing and so excited! My parents got pictures of it which was so great. And the fact I was in my pajamas with a beanie and wedge sneakers is pretty funny. Looking back it was perfect, not something over the top and corny, and in one of our favorite places to spend time together.
So let me explain a little bit of my personality to you before I answer the wedding planning question….I am NOT a planner. Haha. I am the worlds biggest procrastinator and I find it difficult to even text people back, let alone email all of the vendors and set up appointments (appointments that I’m always 15 min late to). I am thankful that I have found the most amazing planner Madison Sanders. She has been nothing short of a God send when it comes to planning this wedding! I definitely want something romantic and soft for my big day. I like neutrals such as blushes and metallics. I want to look back on my wedding day 20 years from now and still see something classy and timeless that I love. Basically I just want to dream it all up and hand it over to Madison to execute it, just tell me when and where to show up!
The best part of the wedding planning so far has hands down been our engagement shoot with Alea Lovely. I actually planned my wedding date around her availability. I met Alea several years ago when she shot a local wedding campaign I modeled for. I not only loved her personality and energy, I also loved her work. There was something about the pictures that were just magical, so soft and she captured an emotion with just a single image. I knew right then that I would have her shoot my real wedding some day. Well now that day has come! I think I have looked at our engagement photos 200 times in the past week. There are so many good ones I can’t imagine how I’m going to pick favorites. My favorite part about them is that Alea did such an amazing job capturing Tyler and I’s personalities in our relationship.
I think the most important thing to Tyler and me is staying true to who we are. We want people to look around our wedding day and be like “This is so THEM” We just want to create a beautiful and fun day not only for us but for our guests also. This day is a refection of the beginning of the rest of our lives together and we feel so blessed to be able to share it with all our family and friends under one roof.
Photography: Alea Lovely | Dress: Marlo Ford Gowns