The solution turned out to be very close, adding a parameter to the iframe tag itself wmode=”opaque” and then *important:* make the parent element as well as the element that needs to be above the video “position: relative;”

without the position: relative; the wmode won’t work so make sure you add that!

p.s. — it turns out that wmode=”opaque” is the default for vimeo so all you need to do is the position: relative; bit.