Story by Farrin Velasco Photos by Dreamy Elk Photography
Becca Langley and Brett O’Donnell’s love story began a little differently than most; that’s because when they met, Becca was dating someone else. Brett says by the time he found that out he was already hooked.
Brett and Becca met in a class at Texas A&M University just after Brett had switched to a new, fairly small major. “I was fairly socially awkward so I wanted to practice talking to people,” Brett explains. “So, I sat in the front row one seat over from the lefty desk because I figured it forced a left-handed person to sit next to me.”
Becca ended up being that person. Brett says he saw her out of the corner of his eye and thought she was way too attractive, and that he wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. Finally, after a few more classes together Brett worked up the courage to talk to Becca.
The two bonded quickly over projects and through other classes they had together. In the summer of 2014, Becca finally became single.
“I started trying to work out how I was going to ask her out,” says Brett. “Becca is a very, very attractive woman and I knew that she would get asked out immediately so I knew I had to do it before somebody else did.”
After days of planning and perfecting what he was going to say, the opportunity to ask Becca out finally arose when he was walking to class with his best friend’s future wife.
“Becca ran up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and a voice in my head said, ‘Dude, if you don’t blurt it out you’re going to [sic] choke,’” says Brett. “I basically yelled at her, ‘Do you wanna go on a date with me?’”
When Becca remembers the moment, she laughs and says that Brett said it all so fast, like one word without spaces. As soon as the words came out of Brett’s mouth, he turned to his best friend’s future wife and yelled, “I did it! I did it!”
Three years later to the exact day and time they met, Brett proposed. Brett wanted to surprise Becca with the proposal, so he made sure to go the extra mile so that she wouldn’t suspect anything.
“I threw Becca off my scent because we had gone to go look at rings like eight months before I proposed to her and then about a week or two before the engagement party I was like, ‘Hey so what did you like in a wedding ring? You like this right?’” explains Brett.
By this point Becca believed Brett already had the ring, so she was understandably a bit disappointed. Becca also says she thought all her high school friends had come to College Station to see a mutual friend who lived in Montana, so she didn’t suspect a thing.
On the morning of the proposal, Brett told Becca they needed to pick up a computer part for a project Becca was working on at Texas A&M’s campus.
“I wanted an excuse to get her outside of the Kleberg building because that’s where we met,” says Brett. “So, we go outside and I stop her and look at her in the eyes and said, ‘Do you realize that three years ago from this spot is the first time that I ever walked away from you and ever since that moment I felt like every moment I spent apart from you was a waste of time, and I’m done wasting time.’”
Becca planned most of the wedding while Brett was in Virginia, working on his law degree.
“I wanted it to be pretty and classy but also still have things that were representative of us,” says Becca.
She chose the wedding colors from an old Irish folk song called The Orange and the Green about a Catholic (Becca) and Protestant (Brett) getting married. The Dungeons and Dragons cake toppers were also representative of the couple.
Becca’s favorite part of the wedding was all the family and friends who were willing to travel so far to come celebrate them and how much they love each other, she says. Brett’s favorite part was watching Becca come down the aisle.
Luckily for Becca and Brett, the wedding day went off without a hitch, which they attribute to their vendors.
“All of our vendors pulled it off literally perfectly,” says Brett. “I feel like every single wedding has some tragedy that happens right before the day of, but nothing like that happened. … They did an amazing job.”
O’Donnell Vendors
- Ceremony St. Mary’s Catholic Church
- Reception Downtown 202
- Photography Dreamy Elk Photography
- Catering/Cake D’Vine Cuisine
- Florals Unforgettable Floral
- Rentals Ashley & Co.
- Coordination Stephanie with Ashley & Co.
- Hair/Makeup Naturally Flawless
- Cake Topper WhiteHartCreations on Etsy
- Calligraphy Becca Langley
- Stationary Combination of Basic Invite (Invitations, RSVP, etc) and TheSunshineGarden on Etsy (programs)
