Story by Shelbi LeMeilleur Photos by Thomas Ross
Colleen Duncan met her future husband during Gig ‘Em week at Texas A&M University her freshman year. Her roommate Alex was dating a guy in the Corps of Cadets, so Colleen and Alex spent their time hanging out with friends in Squadron 8, including Colleen’s now-husband Zach Linares. However, they didn’t start dating until after both had graduated.
“We were friends all throughout school so we shared a lot of memories from then, which I love,” says Colleen.
Alex wound up marrying her boyfriend Mitch, and Zach officiated the ceremony – it’s a tradition within their group of friends to be married by another member of the group. Mitch and Alex now live in North Dakota, and in 2015, they came back for a night that Colleen is sure to remember forever.
“We all went to midnight yell that night,” Colleen says. “We got a field pass to go down on the field at midnight yell. [Zach] proposed when the lights went out for Mugdown. All of his friends got it on video.”
Zach and Colleen live in Dallas, but ultimately decided to get married in College Station at Broken Arrow Ranch. “We decided to go back to where we met because that was pretty significant for us,” Colleen explains. “It was also halfway between us because his family is from San Antonio and mine is from Dallas.”
Planning a wedding from out of town did pose a bit of a challenge, but Zach and Colleen managed to make good use of their time. They went to the Brazos Valley Bridal Show for vendor ideas and scheduled all meetings to be on the same day. After they finalized the vendors, they only made two or three trips back before the wedding. The rest of their planning was via phone or email.
Zach and Colleen opted for an afternoon wedding. The ceremony was behind the venue underneath a big oak tree. Following the tradition within their group of friends, Zach and Colleen were married by one of Zach’s Corps buddies. “He gave a personal touch to the ceremony, and we loved it,” Colleen says.
One of Colleen’s favorite moments from their ceremony included another Aggie tradition. “We used a century tree seedling as our unity ceremony,” she says. “We dumped soil from Dallas and San Antonio into the Century Tree seedling representing that we are coming together. We will plant it whenever we get our first house together.”
Colleen says it was everything they ever wanted. She loved celebrating with friends and family, but the day just flew by too quickly.
“They say it goes by so fast, and it really does; it just flies by,” Colleen says. “Getting moments for just the two of you is so important because it seems like there is always someone else with you. Cherish the fact that it’s your wedding day and celebrate it … Really enjoy it and don’t stress too much about all the details because really at the end of the day you aren’t going to care about all the little stuff. … In the end, as long as you’re married, that’s the end goal.”
Linares Vendors
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