Laken and Dillon exchanged vows in an outdoor ceremony at Wilderness
Lodge. The bridesmaids donned rust-colored gowns, a hue that was also
incorporated in the floral decor and bouquets.
L laken fleming always had her sights set on marrying a cowboy—one who owned a cattle ranch in Montana. The girl of Dillon Meadows’ dreams was happy, had good Christian values, and cherished family. Besides the Montana thing, they hit a home run. a match made at mountaineer field Laken, of Bridgeport, and Dillon, of Paradise, Texas, met in September 2017 at West Virginia University. She was earning her master’s in health sciences, and he was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management. It was a blind date arranged by Dillon’s WVU roommates and baseball teammates. Though both were skeptical, they met sight unseen at the WVU vs. East Carolina football game. “He was wearing a cowboy hat,” Laken says. “It was hard to miss him.” Under that hat, she found a handsome Texan who liked to have fun but took his faith, academics,
and goals seriously. His family even had hundreds of longhorn and angus cattle. Dillon was just as impressed with Laken. “She just kind of had this glow. I know it sounds cliché, but when I first looked at her, I said ‘Holy cow, who is this girl?’ She was giddy and super polite, nice, and respectful. It just seemed like everything that mattered to me, I saw in her right off the bat.” Though the attraction was mutual, it took Dillon three tries to get Laken to go out with him again. “I kept saying I had to study,” she says. “I really did.” But the courtship continued. “We shared a passion for the outdoors,” says Laken. Daughter of Curtis Fleming, host of Fly Rod Chronicles , she grew up traveling the world to film shows, fly fishing and hunting. Dillon was into that, too. So, many of their dates were spent fishing and hunting deer, squirrel, and eventually even hogs. Their love deepened. Laken learned that Dillon had overcome three major surgeries to pursue his dream
54 | WV WEDDINGS Fall/Winter 2021
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