Arkansas Bride’s designer and art director is tying the knot in 2026, and we couldn’t be more excited for her. Meredith, we cannot wait to watch you walk down the aisle and say “I do!”
Read their story written by Meredith on her The Knot website:
“It was March 2022, and I was living in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was driving my little 2000 Saturn at the time (if you know, you know) and decided I needed a better car. So, on March 31, 2022, I decided on a whim to drive home to St. Louis to buy a car I had found online a few days earlier. I contacted the dealership and let them know I was on my way and would be there in around six hours. They said they hadn’t had any interest in the car yet, so it should still be there when I arrived. Of course, with my luck, they sold the car while I was on the way.
I arrived home and figured I’d just spend a nice weekend with my parents instead. Now, if you know me, you know I’m not exactly spontaneous, so taking this trip on a whim was not a great idea. I hadn’t prepared at all for the trip and kept thinking about all the laundry I had to do and how I hadn’t cleaned my apartment. I told my mom I’d have to go back the next day — because I should know better than to try to do something without extensive research that normally ends with a spreadsheet detailing everything. She totally understood, and we went to bed.
Before I actually went to sleep, I figured I would do what any single girl would do when visiting a city different from where she lives — I opened Bumble, just to see what was out there. The choices in Little Rock really weren’t great, so I figured it couldn’t be any worse! I came across this really cute boy named Matt. He was 26, 6’4″ (score!!), and VERY cute. I swiped right — and the rest was history!
Fast forward to August 2022, and we’re in New York City for Matt’s 27th birthday. The week prior to our trip, I had gotten a horrible sunburn on my shoulders that hurt anytime I moved, but I got all I could out of my little travel sunscreen and braved the outdoors once again so we could go to Central Park. As we were walking through the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, Matt grabbed my shoulder to stop me from walking through someone’s photo. Of course, he grabbed my sunburn — not knowing it would hurt me — and I, of course, got annoyed. I started walking even faster than I already was (my inner Northeasterner came out), and I walked right past Bethesda Fountain. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had been planning to ask me to officially be his girlfriend in front of the fountain. He ended up asking me later that night at a hole-in-the-wall barroom we found near where we were staying.
Two and a half years later, Matt took me back to the place where we went on our first date — Defiance Ridge Winery. Instead of walking inside, Matt took my hand and we started walking in the other direction. It had snowed about a foot the previous week, so as we made our way to what would become the proposal location, we were climbing over snowbanks and slipping on ice. It was quite graceful. We finally arrived at the top of the hill, and Matt got down on one knee!”
Check out their engagement pictures taken by Kat Marcum in St. Louis, Missouri:
