Jeff and Nikki Bauman are a husband/wife team who've been professional photographers for 10+ years or so. They are not only one of the best photographers in the state of Nebraska, but after showing my wedding pictures to my friends and coworkers in Chicago, I'm convinced they're one of the best photographers in the midwest! I had to plan my wedding from the windy city and Nikki couldn't have been more helpful and professional via the phone and in person. After our engagement photo session with them, my normally camera shy husband (fiance at the time of course) was comfortable and looking forward to pictures for our wedding day! They use humor to ease your nerves and are simply fabulous with every age group that you could have at a wedding. My husband's nephew was our ring bearer...who is a normal typical 2 year old...hard to predict! They got him to smile and be well behaved during the photo shoot. Jeff and Nikki just made it incredibly easy for us to enjoy the day!
I only experienced 2 negative things:
1) the price. Get ready for expensive pictures (but isn't that the case for nearly everything in planning for a wedding!!). We did not order the package with the wedding album because we simply couldn't afford it. My husband almost died when he found out how much the album cost. Still, it's an INCREDIBLE experience and worth every penny (you can decide how important the album is to you) - we were perfectly happy with the cheapest package: engagement session, proof book, DVD of all the proofs and later ordered 4 pictures a la carte for our home. We get rave comments on our wedding photos to anyone who looks at them. I still wish we would have had the money for the album because it's pretty amazing - they make their photography ART!
2) They have a pretty set formula for the types of group pictures that are to be taken prior to the ceremony. I have a very large extended family and my grandmother was upset that the Baumans didn't fit in time to get extended family shots of both sides of the family. At the time, I didn't feel it was a big deal to have all the aunts, uncles and cousins in the photos, but now I wish they would have planned for that either at the church or reception. Nikki tells you up front that the pictures are going to be focused on YOU the couple and makes a point to say they don't let bossy relatives take over control (which is a really great thing) - but I do think it would have been nice of them to fit in a few extended family pictures at my grandmother's request, especially after getting to know us and our family.
I give them the highest praise and hope some of you are lucky enough to have them capture your wedding day - even if you're not from NE. They WILL travel!