Clay and I are so thrilled to finally announce that our wedding day is featured in the spring issue of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, on newsstands nationwide now! We feel so lucky to have another way of carrying the most beautiful memories with us forever. Thank you to our amazing family, friends, and vendors for helping us to make this a day we will cherish for a lifetime. The below feature is written by Kathryn O'Shea Evans for Martha Stewart Weddings.
In fairy tales, star-crossed lovers know if they keep looking skyward, eventually those stars might just align. Rebecca Marín and Clay Shepherd spent years circling each other at Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, but never met; Rebecca had even attended a party at Clay's apartment when he was out of town, they later discovered. "We found a picture of her sitting on my couch! Wild," he says. But it was nearly three years after graduation—after Rebecca, who'd been working at Vogue magazine in New York City, returned to Texas—that they were introduced, over barbecue with friends in Austin. It was a dinner that Clay, who lived in Dallas and had just been in a car accident, almost didn't attend. "Going that night—when I had every reason to stay home—was one of the most meaningful decisions I ever made," he says.
They clicked instantly as friends, texting and hanging out whenever the other was in town. Six months in, they admitted it was something more and began ending weekends together, and countless nights talking into the wee hours. "I'd never done that with anybody," says Rebecca. She'd been thinking of launching a wedding-planning business, and Clay, who works in finance, encouraged her to move to Dallas so they could start The Wildflowers together. "He's so kind, so loyal, so driven. My friends were like, 'How did you find this man?'"
Clay was equally smitten. For their one-year anniversary, he planned an elaborate trip to France—where he proposed in the rose garden of Domaine des Hauts de Loire, a castle where swans and songbirds abound, and dandelion petals float in the wind. Afterward, as if to underscore the magic, they were sitting by a window, sipping Champagne, when "a blue butterfly came in and circled our table twice, then flew back out!" Rebecca says. "I took it as a sign of good luck."
Back home, Rebecca had one directive: Do nothing for two months. "It's so important to enjoy being engaged before you delve into planning!" she says. When they did begin, they decided to re-create the feeling of that engagement trip. They chose the Biltmore Estate, George Vanderbilt's French Renaissance–style château in Asheville, North Carolina—an hour and half from Franklin, where Clay's family has owned cabins for generations. The weekend began with a bluegrass and barbecue rehearsal dinner at Antler Hill Barn as a nod to the area and their first dinner at a BBQ joint.
On May 27, 2017, 94 guests assembled on the Biltmore's manicured grounds and watched Rebecca's parents lead her down the aisle to Françoise Hardy's "Brûlure." The couple were wed under an arch of roses that echoed the ones they'd seen at Monet's home, Giverny. A friend read Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?"
But it was a simple moment after the ceremony, before they danced to the waltz from 2015's Cinderella, that Rebecca will never forget. "I was telling Clay I was nervous about dancing, because my feet were swollen," she says. "He got a chair, took me around the side of the house, sat me down, and gave me a foot rub." In that instant, in the shadow of a castle, a prince became a king.
Wedding Planning and Design: The Wildflowers | Photographer: Kayla Barker | Bridesmaid, Mother-of- the-Bride, and Mother-of- the-Groom Dresses: Nha Khanh | Calligraphy, Paper Goods, Bridesmaid Gifts: Plume Calligraphy for The Wildflowers | Day-of Coordinator: Weddings with Tara | DJ: The Flashdance | Earrings: Jennifer Behr | Florals: Bows and Arrows for The Wildflowers | Flower Girl Dress: Nelly Stella | Flower Girl Shoes: Mini Melissa | Groomsman Tuxedos: The Black Tux | Groom's Tuxedo and Bow Tie: J.Crew | Hair and Makeup: Claudia Mejerle | Martha Stewart Weddings Photographer: KT Merry | Rentals and Lighting: Classic Event Rental | Rentals: Snyder Events; La Tavola Linen; BBJ Linen | Ring Bearer Outfit: Janie and Jack | Shoes: Alexandre Birman | Tent: Sperry Tent | Transportation: The Elite Line | Venue, Catering, Cake: Biltmore Estate | Videography: Sharkpig | Wedding Dress and Veil: Mira Zwillinger | Welcome Bags: A Signature Welcome | Magazine Feature: Martha Stewart Weddings magazine
