Fate seemed to bring together Jordan Mann and Dustin McCoy. Acquaintances since high school, they both attended a friend’s graduation dinner. “When we locked eyes that night, we knew that we were going to have a story together,” states Jordan. Fast forward a few months … Jordan had lunch with a mutual friend of theirs and jokingly told the friend she planned to marry Dustin McCoy. The friend laughed out loud and related: “That’s funny because he said the same thing about you.”
“I texted him [Dustin] and asked when are we getting married, and he responded that he had his bags packed!” Jordan recalls. She was in nursing school in West Virginia and visited Dustin in Nashville, Tenn., where he was attending auto mechanic school. They became a couple after only one meeting.
Dustin hails from Newport and Jordan is from Peterstown, W.V. She followed him just over the border to the New River Valley, taking a nursing job in Blacksburg. “This is officially my home sweet home,” she declares. “We couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. It’s the most beautiful place on earth.”
The couple became engaged on March 5, 2016, and set the wedding for Sept. 17, giving them just six months to plan. All went incredibly smoothly, and Jordan never stressed throughout the process. “I owe a lot of that to the sweetest mama and mother-in-law,” she smiles. “I had a wedding planning book that my cousin bought for me, and Dustin and I took that planner and wrote down a list of things that were important to us for our wedding day.”
Fate intervened again when Jordan shopped for her wedding gown. “My mama, mother-in-law, three best friends, cousin and husband’s aunt all went with me to find the dress. When we walked in, Jane at AmRhein’s [in Roanoke] said: You have got to try on the Melanie by Maggie Sottero.” It was the first dress I tried on. My best friend cried, and I knew it was the one. To be sure, I tried on 10 more gowns, but came back to that first one. It was a magical moment, and I wanted to wear it everywhere.”
The biggest challenge was deciding on a venue. The couple finally opted for a backyard wedding and felt lucky that her parents have a beautiful backyard. In an unusual move, the couple did not have a wedding party. “We have many amazing friends, whom we honored with roses and a VIP section, but Dustin and I decided that our wedding day was about the two of us joining as one in the eyes of God, and we wanted that to be the focus.”
Though the wedding was in Peterstown, the couple used several vendors from the New River Valley. Narrows Flower Shop created the bride’s wildflower bouquet, and the DJs were Kelly and J.P. Griffith of Pembroke. Jordan was in for a treat with her mother being a master esthetician who owns Allure Spa and Skin Health Boutique in Pearisburg. She received microdermabrasion to prepare her skin and a massage to relax. Her mother contributed her own supplies and skills to help with makeup for Jordan and her best friends, who were with her getting ready.
Country elegance was the wedding theme, and Jordan’s favorite details include cowgirl boots donned under her wedding gown; a pin attached to her boot that was her Gram’s, who passed away when she was 11; her mother’s engagement ring worn for good luck for a long happy marriage. “One of my favorite food things is that we had a donut bar,” Dustin adds. “We love donuts, especially the ones from Hilltop Grocery in Newport. They made the most delicious and pretty donuts for our wedding.”
Sadly, on the Thursday before the wedding Dustin’s grandfather passed away unexpectedly. “We experienced grief and sadness mixed with the joy and excitement of our upcoming wedding. We decided that he would have wanted us to get married as planned, so we saved him a seat at our wedding with his Dodger’s ball cap and a white rose.”
Jordan didn’t have time to get her eyebrows done or the spray tan she scheduled, and the couple had to push the honeymoon back a couple of days for the funeral. They quickly realized those things didn’t matter. “We both were reminded how fragile life really is,” says Jordan. “What mattered was that I was getting ready to marry the love of my life and my best friend.” Whether through decision or destiny, or both, the wedding was everything the couple dreamed it would be.
Jennifer Poff Cooper is a Christiansburg-based freelance writer who frequently contributes to New River Valley Magazine.
