Nik Morina brings us this absolutely stunning and powerful real wedding at Power Plant Productions. We are in LOVE with how real every moment feels. The reactions during dancing have to be some of our favorites so don’t miss them. In addition to the incredibly dramatic portraits that Nik is known for, he’s also brought us an impromptu photo session at Philly’s favorite – Wawa!
How did you and your partner meet?
“We met on Jdate – A Jewish dating website. Lindsay had to give Eli her number 3 times before he even reached out to set up a time to go on a date. Men! We had our first date at Penn6 where we had drinks and fried oysters and talked for hours.”
Tell Us About The Proposal:
“We were headed up to Newport, RI for a long weekend in April of 2018. Lindsay had an idea that Eli might propose while we were there but he totally threw her off by proposing before we left for the trip. We were going up to our parents house (who happen to live right around the corner from each other) to have dinner and stay overnight. Eli’s dad flies planes in his free-time and was going to fly us to Newport. When we got to Lindsay’s parents house, she walked in and saw that there were rose pedals on the floor leading out to the back deck. Once she go back there she could see champagne was set up and a collage of pictures from all of our favorite moments. Lindsay was looking at the pictures and turned around and Eli was on one knee. He proposed, she OBVIOUSLY said YES and then they went to Eli’s Dad and step-mom’s house where the rest of the family was waiting for a surprise engagement party. He totally threw Lindsay for a loop. She was soooo convinced it would happen in Newport.”
What was your experience in planning your wedding?
“Like most things in our lives, we are so agreeable. We see eye to eye on a lot and wedding planning was no different. Our whole theme was simple love. We didn’t want the frills of a huge wedding. It was important to us to keep it about our marriage and life together rather than making it about other people. At the end of the day, it was about us and our love. That drove a lot of our decisions. We kept it simple. We had wonderful vendors who were stress-free and made the day so special and more than we could even imagine. It was important for our love to shine through rather than any amount of flowers, food, or dancing. And it definitely did.”
Tell us about your venue, and why you chose it?
“We got married at Power Plant Productions in Old City. Going back to our principle of Simple Love, we didn’t want a huge venue and wanted a blank slate with not too many frills. It’s an amazing space where a lot of photoshoots take place. Picture a lot of white washed brick walls, super tall lofted ceilings, tons of light coming in from windows and light wood floors. String lights were around the beams and all of it was simple and perfect. Chris and her team were so easy to work with.”
What was your inspiration for the wedding?
“Simple. Easy. Love. As we mentioned before we wanted our love to shine through rather than all the extra “stuff” that weddings typically come with. So we went with a lot of neutral colors and didn’t over do it with flowers. We just wanted to have a fun time and of course our guests too. So we did a cocktail style reception (think cocktail hour for 5 hours straight). Lots of dancing, lots of cocktails and lots of delicious food being passed around.”
What was the best memory/moment from your wedding day?
“It’s so hard to sum it all up into one moment. It was probably standing under the Chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy) with each other and saying our vows. That’s what it was all about. The FUNNY memory from the day was when we were wrapping up photos and guests were starting to arrive. We realized in that moment that we didn’t have the marriage certificate. So Lindsay’s sister & brother-in-law raced back in an uber to our house in Fishtown and got the marriage certificate just in time for the ceremony! Very TYPICAL of us to forget our marriage certificate on the day of our wedding. We’re chronically late and forget things ALL the time. Whoops! Also, going to Wawa randomly because we were hungry. We were all dressed up and it was funny all the stares we were getting. We needed to get that Wawa run in!”
What advice can you give to couples planning a wedding?
“Remember it’s about you and no one else. At the end of the day people wont remember what band you had, what food they ate and definitely not what the flowers looked like. They remember you and how happy you looked. Remember your wedding is the start of your marriage and that’s what matters after all the guests leave and the lights turn off at the end of the night. Do something that makes you happy and feels authentic to you both as a couple.”
What was your experience like working with your vendors?
“They were really great! We had some hiccups with the florist changing owners halfway through, but they did a fantastic job and really delivered. We couldn’t say more amazing things about our Venue, Power Plant Productions. It’s locally owned by a Philly couple which we loved to support. Our caterer was incredible, Barclay Catering. The food is delish and they worked with us to customize the menu to everything we liked (including poke bowls, yum). Our DJ was No Macarena. Kim did an amazing job of keeping the party going. We danced the entire night. I don’t think we sat once. Our Florist was Amaranth based in Narberth. We gave them our vision of what we wanted on pinterest boards and they did an awesome job bringing it all to life. But most importantly out of all our vendors, Nik Morina was the best part of the day. We loved hanging with him throughout the day. He made us feel so comfortable that half the time we didn’t even realize we were taking pictures. We were just enjoying the day together. We explored old city and made some stops at the liberty bell, Wawa (true Philly staple) and the Cooperage, which used to be in the Curtis Center, to have a drink before family portraits. You could tell Nik had so much fun throughout the night taking photos and it shows in our album. He captured our simple love the way that we wanted it to come across and couldn’t be happier. Let me know if you’d like a full list of vendors including hair & make up.”
