An officer and a gentleman
Army captain writes letters to his future bride from Afghanistan. One year later, they meet.
Cupid’s arrow struck U.S. Army Capt. David Van Vranken through Facebook. Six years ago, the photo of an arresting redhead popped into his newsfeed — besotted, he wasted no time asking mutual friends for an introduction.
“It’s a very funny, modern story,” says Layne Lynch, the former mystery woman and now David’s wife. The newlyweds tied the knot in November.
Aside from that initial love at first “like,” a scripted version of their courtship would read more period-piece than romcom.
Layne, 29, describes herself as extremely analytical and a bit old-fashioned. Under normal circumstances, David’s boldness might have scared her off; but she was open to meeting someone, and he was about to deploy.
The relationship developed slowly. Every so often, her uniformed suitor would telephone to check-in from Afghanistan.
“I was out and dating other people,” she admits. “But he would write me these letters, which was such an old-school thing that I always dreamed of.”
Her grandfather had written to her grandmother during World War II. Those letters, Layne says, are what kept their romance alive.
After a full year of transatlantic correspondence and phone calls, David finally returned to Texas. The evening before Layne drove to Austin for their first face-to-face meeting, she and her mother, Mary Lynch, attended a tasting and booked a room downtown at Hotel Icon. Their giddy sleepover — mostly spent chatting about Layne’s upcoming big date — is one of the motherdaughter duo’s favorite memories.
“I could tell right away that he was a fit for me,” Layne recalls of the moment she entered Botticelli’s on South Congress. “He stood up and pulled out my chair — it was natural, and not a forced thing. I could tell that this was not like anything else.”
Conversation flowed easily. They’re both of Irish ancestry and have a thing for words. David, 28, writes creatively in his spare time; Layne is an executive assistant who also freelances for Texas Monthly. And they love dining out.
“As a food writer, people always rely on me for restaurant recommendations, so it was really refreshing to have someone else take the lead,” she says. “David suggested places that I would never think of going. That’s one of the things I loved about him.”
Lucy’s Fried Chicken, Foreign & Domestic and the nowshuttered Olivia became their go-to haunts whenever Layne was in town.
Her new beau had thoughtful — albeit unorthodox — gift ideas, too. Once, David presented his girlfriend with a 4-foot ladder because he didn’t want her changing light bulbs on some wobbly chair.
That was the moment she knew he was “the one.” “It’s just this idea that he’s looking to take care of me and drove to Home Depot … he bought me a ladder, and it was incredible.”
There was talk of marriage, but someone would have to move. After two years of dating long-distance, the couple decided to take command of their own story. David, a Dallasborn native, became an official Houstonian in 2013.
With another deployment looming, they postponed the engagement until 2015. Layne knew first-hand of military marriages that crumbled after too much time apart, and she wanted to make sure their commitment could weather the storm. It was equally important to David that his father and future bride meet; he and Layne rented an old, rickety Impala and road-tripped to Florida.
Like many vacations, everything that could go wrong, did. Layne acknowledges that the mishaps only confirmed how right they were for each other.
“I hate the beach, and I hate Disney World,” she confesses. “Getting engaged on the beach was my worst nightmare. I always said, ‘If he proposes at Disney, I’ll say no. And if he asks me on the beach, I’ll definitely say no.’ ”
Sure enough, David popped the question oceanside.
“It was actually really sweet— there just happened to be sand,” Layne adds, laughing. “I said ‘yes!’ ”
Her excitement turned to sadness when her new fiance deployed again shortly after the proposal. She emailed Rachel Starnes, author of “The War at Home: A Wife’s Search for Peace (And Other Missions Impossible),” for guidance. To Layne’s surprise, Starnes responded quickly, and encouraged her to lean on loved ones for support.
The bride-to-be took Starnes’ advice and passed the time planning the wedding with her mother or sending Pinterest-researched care packages to David. Letters, of course, were exchanged, too.
“He’s one of those guys who wants to get married but doesn’t necessarily want to handle all of the details,” Layne says. She and Mary, on the other hand, are very detail-oriented.
Mother and daughter settled on a vintage theme with subtle, personalized touches. One friend hand-drew save-the-date cards and formal invitations, another brewed a custom Van Vranken wedding ale for the reception dinner. Amber Ben Dance Shoes designed velvet, emerald kitten heels to complement Layne’s royally influenced lace gown.
“I wanted something like Kate Middleton’s gorgeous Alexander McQueen dress, which revived the long sleeve, but with a lower cut,” she explains. The inspiration for her cathedral veil sprang from the big screen. “In ‘The Sound of Music,’ there’s that scene where Maria’s walking down the aisle, and the shot from above is really elegant and classic.”
Overall, her vision for their “I dos” came together nicely. Then Hurricane Harvey made landfall, and floodwater devastated several buildings downtown, including the couple’s reception venue.
“I thought that Magnolia Ballroom would be fine, but my dad said that if the Wortham (Center) flooded, we should check Magnolia,” Layne says. Unfortunately, her father’s hunch proved correct, and she had 90 days to find a new space. “Everyone kind of laughed when I asked if they had availability. Then my mother suggested that we look at Hotel Icon.”
On Nov. 18, following an intimate ceremony at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, that’s where 75 guests toasted the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Van Vranken.
“I’d been to weddings with 400 people and thought, ‘There’s no way you know everyone here well enough to have them witness the most important day of your life,’ ” the bride says. “And it all seemed very fitting to come back to the Icon; I really love that I stayed there the night before I met David.”
The morning of her wedding, the bridal party primped in Layne’s apartment. It had long been her dream to get ready at home.
Later, the father of the bride performed all of the readings, including a notable homily that emphasized the sanctity of marriage and working as a team.
Shortly after she and David were pronounced husband and wife, Layne heard a gasp on their way up the aisle. “My veil caught on one of the lanterns, I thought it was on fire! Thankfully, it wasn’t, but that was our one little hiccup that reminded us that this isn’t a fairytale — it’s reality.”
Butter & Co. caterers created a Thanksgiving-inspired wedding feast complete with turkey meatloaf, rolled Texas steak, Brussels sprouts, jalapeño pumpkin muffins and 12 different pies from Red Dessert Dive.
Their first dance was a lastminute change to “Nothing Can Change This Love” by Sam Cooke.
“We were originally going to do a Leon Bridges song but didn’t want to look like we were performing,” Layne explains. “So we danced the way we would in our living room.”
Come spring, the Van Vrankens plan to spend 10 days honeymooning through Ireland; coincidentally, their wedding photographer will be in Dublin around the same time and promises to capture their vacation on film.
Must be that Irish luck — because as David knows, a great photo can change everything.