Bride | Travis + Chelsea
Both country fans, it seems that a meeting between Chelsea Loupe and Travis Hood at a Gretchen Wilson concert in 2018 was not chance, but written in the stars. “Neither of us were originally planning on attending, but nothing else was going on that night,” says Chelsea, who works as a physical therapist, while Travis is a businessman who moonlights as a bass player for Parish County Line on the weekends. “I was about to start PT school, not knowing what that would entail, so I said, ‘Heck, why not?’ Looking back, I’m sure glad that I did.”
Just shy of three years later, a concert once again changed their lives. “We were going with another couple—Travis’ best friend and his wife—to see Riley Green in Biloxi,” Chelsea recalls. “As I was finishing up getting ready, Travis came into the room at the condo and told me that we were going to join the other couple for a picture on the balcony, so I needed to hurry up before the sun went down. As we were approaching the balcony door to walk outside to take a ‘picture’, the wife of the couple we were with said she had to finish putting her shoes and jewelry on, so Travis suggested we go on the balcony to look at the view. Travis has always had a way with words, so after just a few sentimental words, it didn’t take me long to realize what was happening. Just as the sun was setting over the beach behind us, Travis got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Of course, I said yes—but neither of us remember what he said prior to asking me to marry him because we were so present in the moment. The proposal was so simple, but also so very timeless and intimate and true, which is all I ever dreamed of.”
Ten months later, they once again exchanged words that were timeless and intimate and true after Chelsea walked down the aisle at Maison Lafitte in Mandeville to meet Travis at the altar. Having been pronounced married, the couple joined their 275 guests for an on-site reception, where they dined on delicious food before getting down to the serious celebrating. “We wanted a fun party with all our closest friends and family there, and that’s just what we got.” Chelsea says. “No one left the dance floor, and that’s exactly what we wanted.”
As unique as the couple is, the reception bore unique touches that reflected them: light-up cowboy hats, a white acoustic guitar as the guest book, and a sparkly, rock candy-filled Champagne welcome table. After so much dancing, everyone was ready for the late-night snack of mini pizzas—another detail special to the happy couple. “Pizza is our favorite food, and we actually do a ‘stuffed crust Sunday’ every weekend,” Chelsea notes. “So we did mini pizzas in mini pizza boxes with cute stickers that read, ‘All you need is love and pizza.’”
Naturally, the wedding could not be complete without cake—a plain white five-tiered confection with alternating flavors of strawberry buttercream and almond amaretto with a white silk ribbon tied around it with a bow. The groom’s cake bore a little more color: a funfetti flavored cake replica of Travis’ golf bag with their dog, Clyde, laying down beside it.
After being sent off with the release of light up white balloons, the newly married Hoods left to honeymoon in Aruba. Now back home in Denham Springs, the couple is looking forward to a life together—and many, many more concerts.
