Bridal Bliss: Rayna And Randall's Backyard Bash Had Plenty Of Personal Touches — And Just 11 Guests

When Rayna met Randall, which may we just say rolls off the tongue in an adorable soulmate-y way, the Texans had some light hurdles to overcome. For one, she was on her way out of the door when he was working up the courage to introduce himself, and well, he knew nothing of one of her favorite TV characters with whom he just so happened to share a name.

“I was attending an Urban League Young Professionals event and Randall was in town for a work conference and had walked over to the hotel bar for a drink with some colleagues,” she says of the of the moment in 2019 at the South Congress Hotel in Austin. “I was about to leave and had called my Uber, and he came up to me and introduced himself, saying, ‘Hi, I’m Randall.’ I said, ‘Oh em gee, like This Is Us!’ and he told me that he didn’t watch the show. I told him that ‘Randall was the best ever, and I’m Rayna Reid, but my Uber is here. Gotta run!’”

In her rush to not miss her ride home, Rayna wasn’t able to trade numbers, social media profiles, business cards — anything with Randall. She thought she might have missed out, but little did she know, she made enough of an impact on him in their very brief introduction that he decided to look her up online. He would eventually find her after going through 11 search pages looking for the right “Rayna Reid.”

“Later on that week, I got a message on LinkedIn from Randall where he told me that it was great meeting me and that he would be back in town at the end of the month for another conference and wanted to take me out to dinner,” she recalls. “After he searched for me through LinkedIn, I felt so special.”

His diligence to find her paid off. The two ended up hitting it off. She had a feeling very early, literally the night they met, that she could have found her person. His inkling came a few weeks into their actual relationship.

“I knew she was The One after spending our first weekend together at her place in Austin,” he says. “It was fun, relaxing, and nervously exciting. I think we discovered that we were excellent at hanging out together, and as I was driving home to Houston I remember thinking how much I wanted to continue hanging out with Rayna.”

That feeling would continue, culminating in Randall asking for Rayna’s hand in marriage in a super romantic way in 2021 (more on that shortly!). The two, who reside in Houston now, would go on to plan their big day miles and miles away at Rayna’s parents’ home in Newport News, Va. It wasn’t the easiest process (when is doing anything long distance?), but the end result was the perfect microwedding in her parents’ backyard. The two said “I do” on June 11 in front of just nine guests in a ceremony and celebration that was all about embracing things special to the couple; from their love of books to Rayna wearing one of the beloved dresses from her days competing in pageants as her wedding gown. It wasn’t the conventional wedding of the supposed “post-COVID” era where it’s often go big or go home, but for Rayna, it was “a dream come true.”

Check out photos from their very special day and learn more about how it all came together, below.

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