Feast Your Eyes on This Stunning Valentine’s Day Wedding

SB Note: As we think about this upcoming Valentine’s Day 2021, we are thrilled to feature, for the first time, a wedding from 2018 that captured our hearts in all of its splendor. Here’s to weddings of the present, the past, and the future. To small weddings, to large weddings, and to everything in-between. And, most importantly, to celebrating love and hope.

Margaret Wolcott and Mike Reinbold were set up through mutual friends in 2016, first meeting at a get-together at a friend’s house in Dallas, TX. Little did Margaret know on that summer night that she’d return to the same house 10 months later for the surprise of her life. “Mike proposed in front of the house where we met,” Margaret shares. “I thought we were going out to dinner with friends that night. He asked me to meet him there because he said he had some business to do first.” But when Margaret pulled up, Mike was standing under huge red balloons that read “M❤M,” solidifying the theme and color of this incredible wedding story.

Heart balloons and wedding party outside

We are elated to share this remarkable Valentine’s love story with you!

“I saw a photographer from the corner of my eye and knew what was happening! [Mike] walked me to a table with pictures of us, an arrangement of my favorite flowers, and he’d framed the prayer I had written and shared with him months earlier. It was the prayer I had been journaling for years, but two months to the day before I met Mike, I wrote it down once again, praying for my future husband.”

Now on one knee, Mike said the sweetest things Margaret had ever heard. “He was so smart and wrote it down earlier so I will always have those words he said to me,” Margaret says. (Well done, Mike!) After the inevitable yes!, she wrapped Mike in a huge hug and spotted her Nana’s hair popping out from behind the curtain. “He had planned for our family to all be inside to celebrate! Then friends showed up, and he catered dinner for all of us so we could truly enjoy the evening with all of our loved ones. It was one of the happiest days of my life!”

On February 17, 2018, at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, Margaret and Mike were married.

Their 10-month engagement was all but perfect for Margaret. “If anything, I would have done shorter, but it was the right amount of time to get everything planned to perfection without tight deadlines,” she adds. Margaret immediately hired wedding planner Rachel Derman and day-of coordinator Paige Chenault to take the helm. “I am a firm believer in hiring people you like. People you enjoy spending time with. People you trust! I knew Rachel and Paige always had my best interests in mind,” Margaret says.

When it came to picking the venue, Margaret had always dreamed of getting married in the church she grew up in. “I also wanted to be able to have a large wedding, so Brook Hollow Golf Club was ideal for the reception,” she says. We asked how she was able to keep such a consistent and tasteful red aesthetic throughout. “Red is my favorite color. One cold winter day in 2017, Mike sent flowers to my office with a card that said, ‘Just because. I love you.’ It was so sweet and was THE most stunning arrangement of deep burgundy peonies I had never seen before. There were pops of red poppy and berries and fern. It was the inspiration for our wedding flowers.”

Valentine's Day wedding stationery suite

This shot of the elegant stationery suite also shows off some of the flowers used throughout the celebration.

Red and pink bouquets for a Valentine's Day wedding

The stunning floral design was inspired by a “just because” flower delivery Mike sent Margaret when they were dating.

Margaret says picking her dress was an adventure. “I had always thought I wanted all lace. I tried on a stunning Vera Wang dress that, in my mind, was THE dress. However, it really didn’t flatter me. I was lost in the lace. Then at Warren Barrón, the cute girls helping me suggested I try some dresses they thought might be right. I tried on the ball gown-style Viktor & Rolf, and it made me feel so beautiful and like a BRIDE!” Once Margaret assembled the most stunning and meaningful ensemble, she decided against a first look. “This was very important to me. I wanted the first moment I saw my groom to be when the church doors opened and we could see each other from down the aisle!”

Dallas Bride and bridesmaids and balloons

The bride and her bridesmaids prepare for an unforgettable night … balloons in tow, of course!

“My grandmother had an old lucky penny she had in her shoe for her wedding,” Margaret says. “I used the same one in my shoe.” Her something new was her dress, her something borrowed was the pair of earrings she wore, and the something blue was the date and her new name she had sewn into her dress.

Despite a strict agreement to not see each other before the wedding, Margaret did have a slight scare right before the ceremony. “I had arrived last and was taking pictures outside of the church. As I was taking pictures, from the corner of my eye I saw a line of men in tuxedos. I was so nervous Mike was going to see me, so I picked up my giant dress and just started running in my heels in the opposite direction! Thankfully the groomsmen did not see me, and my groom was safely tucked away in the church.”

A glowing bride and her adoring family create a striking visual against the bare winter backdrop.

After an emotional, joyful exchange of traditional vows, the two walked back up the aisle together as husband and wife.

Margaret wanted the party to heat up right away, so they surpassed cocktail hour and skipped straight to dinner. As soon as the 400 guests arrived at the reception, the food stations were opened, serving up piping hot Southern favorites. “We wanted our guests to be able to enjoy dinner, then be able to dance the night away!” Margaret says. Mike and Margaret are both big dancers. When they arrived at the reception, they had a quick private meal — just the two of them — while their guests fueled up in the ballroom awaiting their entrance. “We talked about how we didn’t want to get separated during the reception and planned to spend our entire night on the dance floor,” Margaret laughs. “We did just that!”

Candelabras and flowers on table for Valentine's Day wedding

These dreamy pink and red hues by Three Branches Floral and stunning crystal candelabras are the stuff of fairytales.

Following the bride’s through-line of red, red, red, their towering cake was filled with rich red velvet.

Once Mike and Margaret made their entrance, their first dance was to “Somebody to Love,” and Margaret danced to “Unforgettable” with her dad (his choice!). We love the monogram spotlight!

Then, the cake was cut and it was straight to the dance floor. “We did not leave, and I think that was something that kept the energy going,” Margaret recalls. “Mike loves music, and picking the band was of utmost importance to him,” Margaret tells us. “The Jordan Kahn Orchestra did the best job singing one of our favorite songs, ‘Wake Me Up’ by Kygo. Mike and I danced on the stage to this song, and it was a highlight of the night for sure!”

Once the band took their final bow and Margaret and Mike reluctantly left the dancefloor, it was time for a still-buzzing crowd to send them off. Brimming with love and ready to take on life together, the Reibolds exited through a sea of sparklers and waved to their best friends and closest family through the windows of a stark white Rolls Royce. Next stop? The honeymoon of a lifetime throughout Southeast Asia! “We spent three weeks exploring different areas like Dubai, Ubud, Sumba Island, Chiang Rai, Bangkok, and Hong Kong,” Margaret remembers fondly.

Bride and groom exit at Valentine's Day wedding

Valentine’s headbands and other clever props were strewn across the dance floor and stayed with guests until the very end.

To the newly engaged in the heat of stressful wedding planning, Margaret offers some sage advice: “Hire the right people! People you enjoy spending time with and that you trust,” she says. “At the end of the day, it is about you and your groom. I was fortunate to have planned my big wedding in a pre-COVID world. If we were to be married now, I know it would look a lot different. I think a small, intimate wedding with your closest friends and family sounds so special and amazing! Especially in retrospect, what matters most is my marriage with Mike, not how we celebrated the occasion.”

Thank you, Margaret, for letting us relive this love-filled day with you. And thank you to John Cain for the gorgeous photography.