Bride: Megan + Eric
Eric & Megan
By Liesel Schmidt
While it may seem likely to Megan Atkinson and Eric Bertucci that they’d crossed paths before actually meeting in April of 2017, the pool party that precipitated their actual introduction is something they’ll never forget. After all…it’s the beginning of their story.
After their first date—a Rangers vs. Astros game seated behind the Rangers dugout—the two became inseparable; and after three years of dating, they knew that they wanted to be together forever. “Eric pulled off the greatest surprise ever when he decided to propose in Crested Butte,” recalls Megan, who works as a financial analyst/CPA, while Eric is a project manager for a custom home builder. “He was a sneaky one, throwing in little comments here and there that derailed any thought of him possibly proposing on this trip. Besides, the trip had been planned a year in advance by my mom and aunt—and not with the idea of Eric proposing. It was just a family trip to the mountains. So we arrived a day earlier than my parents and brother, and then we went out for an early hike with my cousin, Chris, the day of their arrival. He wanted to show us the mountain before everyone arrived…or so I was told. We left the condo before 7 a.m., hiked to the top of the trail, chatted there for a bit while taking in the beauty around us, and then began our trek back down the mountain. As we made our way through a ravine filled with wildflowers, I asked Chris if he wouldn’t mind taking a picture for us. He snapped two photos, and then the next thing I remember is seeing Eric next to me down on one knee. I had never felt such overwhelming joy in my entire life—and my face says it all in the photos. It was such a whirlwind of emotion and excitement that I had to ask Eric afterwards if I had even said yes!”
Nine months later, on May 29, 2021—their four-year dating anniversary—Megan walked down the aisle at Felicity Church wearing a fit and flare lace gown with a deep neckline and back as Eric waited to meet his bride. As 140 of their friends and family watched, the couple were pronounced married by Megan’s cousin, who served as the officiant —and then the celebration really began.
“We were actually the first wedding at the venue post-COVID restrictions,” Megan notes. “All restrictions were lifted only days before our wedding by the City of New Orleans—that was the biggest and best surprise along the way.”
After the ceremony, the newlyweds joined their guests on-site at the church for their reception, complete with a buffet of Cajun classics that included a po’boy station. The celebration was kept lively by a karaoke rendition of Carley Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe” by Megan and one of her cousins’ husbands and some singular dance moves. “One of Eric’s groomsmen’s girlfriends did the worm twice during the reception!” Megan recalls with a laugh. And though the band may have had to pull in a ringer to substitute for their usual lead singer, no one had any complaints for the switch-up. “She was incredible!” says Megan.
Having danced and dined…and danced some more, the couple cut into their wedding cake, a two-tier almond cake with buttercream frosting, as well as a berry Chantilly cake. With a happy send-off from their loved ones, Megan and Eric went on their way to honeymoon in St. John, USVI. Now back home in Houston, the Bertuccis are happily looking forward to a future filled with many more chapters of an already amazing story.
