We love Dallas-based Luella & June lifestyle blogger Bradley Agather Means’s colorful, preppy style. It’s chic, but practical, and totally accessible. And since we’re always double-tapping her Instagrams we decided to ask her to reflect on the day she got married in honor of her fifth year wedding anniversary.
Funnily, she met oil and gas attorney Cole “Coley” Means during the summer of 2010 when he was supposed to be studying. “Coley was taking his bar exam prep course in Dallas. He had already accepted a job elsewhere in Texas with a September start date,” remembers Bradley. “I knew he would be leaving after Labor Day, and to be very honest, I thought it was just going to be a fun summer fling. Boy, was I wrong!”
Two years later, at his family’s ranch in West Texas, Coley asked Bradley if she wanted to get hitched. “It’s called Moon Ranch, and it’s a very special place to us because on top of everything else, it’s where he proposed,” says Bradley. “He did it right after an early breakfast, just after the sun had come up. I turned around, and there he was, on one knee. The surprise continued when out came my family and my best friends. We celebrated all day long—from sun up to sun down!”
They toyed with several different destination locations, but after much debate, the conversation always came back to Dallas. “It’s where I grew up, and it’s my home,” says Bradley. “For me, this city is a feeling—one I know really well. I wanted that on my wedding day.”
Once they had settled on the place, the rest was really easy. They were married in the church where Bradley grew up, and the reception was held at one of her favorite places in the city, The Dallas Museum of Art. “I loved that we were surrounded by beautiful works of art,” says the bride. “We really just wanted it to be a big, fun party with all of our favorite people. And, that’s exactly what it was.”
Bradley tapped planner extraordinaire Todd Fiscus of Todd Events to handle the aesthetics and logistics. “Nobody knows how to throw a party quite like Todd,” she says. “I had a vision for what I wanted, and he and his team made it come to life.”
She called upon another well-known industry expert to custom-design her dress too. “Lela Rose is a dear friend and so talented,” says Bradley. “She made me the dress of my dreams. My shoes were classic white suede Manolo Blank pumps—which I still wear quite often!”
For the reception, Bradley changed into a second dress. “My husband and I love to dance, and I knew the dance floor was where we would spend the majority of the evening,” she remembers. “Lela understood this immediately and created the most fabulous feathered frock. It was the kind of dress that was meant to move!”
Coley wore a custom Ralph Lauren tuxedo, and a Patek watch Bradley gifted him on the morning of their wedding, with bespoke boots of course. And, the flower girl wore a blue and pink dress from Oscar de la Renta.
The aisle was lined with pink peonies for the 7:00 p.m. ceremony, and after their vows had been exchanged, Bradley and Coley left the church in a 1936 Fleetwood Brougham Limousine. “My dad collects vintage cars, and the one that took Coley and I from the ceremony to the reception was actually one of my grandfather’s. It’s the car that my dad used to drive to church in as a child!”
At the reception, there were peonies everywhere. “I swear that my May birth was timed in accordance with peony season!” laughs Bradley. “I told Todd that’s what I wanted to see at the reception, and that’s what he did. I was surrounded by them everywhere I looked. It was magical!”
Bradley actually chose her wedding date based on the epic wedding band Party on the Moon’s availability: “I always knew we had to have this band, and we danced all night long!” After that, dessert was one of her favorite parts of the party. “There are two desserts that Coley loves nearly as much as he loves me: Dairy Queen Blizzards and Oreos,” says Bradley. “I surprised him with both. In lieu of a groom’s cake, we had a large four-foot stack of Oreos accompanied by mini DQ Blizzards. “Coley and I spend nearly every Sunday lunch having burgers at Maple & Motor, so for a late night ‘snack,’ we surprised our guests with M&M burgers. Not sliders, mind you! These were full-size cheeseburgers, and everyone loved them!”
After the reception, Coley and I left in another one of the father of the bride’s cars. This one was a 1967 red Cadillac convertible. “We headed to my favorite hotel, The Mansion,” says Bradley. “And, Coley continued to eat Oreos that he had stashed in his tux pockets for the ride there . . . “
Now, that you know how it all went down, we asked Bradley the one piece of advice she’d give to a couple going through wedding planning now. Her response? “Don’t leave the next morning for your honeymoon! Wait until Monday, at least,” she warns. “That was my one and only regret. We left much too early on Sunday morning. It wasn’t really the rest I needed so much as the recap/gab-fest with my mom and sister so we could dissect every moment. A girl needs that!” So true.
