Allie Michie and Matthew Lucas go way back—since childhood, in fact. Both from Midland, their two families were friends. So it wasn’t unusual when Matthew, a University of Texas graduate working in Fort Worth, called and asked Allie, a senior at TCU, to join him for dinner.

“He would take me and some of the other Midland girls out to dinner,” Allie remembers. Eventually, Matthew stopped inviting the other girls, making it dinner for two. But the pair didn’t start “officially” dating until 2013, after he had made the move back to Midland, and she was living in Dallas. “He was completely different than the guys I’d dated,” she says. “He’s the nice, ‘do anything for you,’ kind of guy.”

With more than a year of successful long-distance dating behind them, Matthew got used to hearing, “When are we going to do this?” He would respond, “Soon.” She would shoot back, “How soon is soon?”

Allie would get her answer soon enough, but not the way Matthew had scripted. Aware of her “weird obsession with doormats,” Matthew thought he’d hatched the perfect plan: He would walk her across a doormat emblazoned with his surname and initiate the bended-knee exchange. It would be romantic. But fate stepped in, and an infection landed him in the hospital. From his bed, he was on the phone tending to details. Released from the hospital, he rushed home to set the stage. His plan would be diverted yet again, when the UPS driver delivering his custom “Lucas” mat was in an accident en route.

Matthew was resolute on following through with it—doormat or no doormat—as he’d arranged for their families to be present to celebrate following the proposal. He drove Allie to her mother’s house, and once inside, casually dropped an envelope. Allie picked it up and opened it. On the note inside were the words, “How soon is soon, you ask? Soon is today.” Down on one knee he went, pulling out the radiant-cut solitaire she’d always imagined as her engagement ring.

Allie made quick work of planning her day, tapping Todd Fiscus to realize her dream wedding. She selected The Breakers Palm Beach as the destination for her Memorial Day weekend nuptials, smitten with its architecture and South Florida beachfront. Allie already knew her mother would stand next to her as her matron of honor on May 23. Likewise, Matthew’s father would serve as his best man.

She wanted her day to be a dramatic affair (as if 23 attendants on each side wasn’t fanfare enough). To the bride-to-be, that meant a glamorous black-tie event. “Any excuse to dress up is a good excuse,” she declares. Her lace-and-illusion Galia Lahav gown didn’t disappoint in the drama department. Nor did the groom’s navy Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo.

For the ceremony, candles lit the procession path in the Mediterranean Ballroom. The bride chose an up-tempo arrangement of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” for her walk down the aisle. “I’m super emotional, and just wanted to get down there,” she says. “I cried anyway.” As a surprise to her groom, Allie had Todd hire a gospel choir. The file of robed singers burst through the ballroom doors belting “Oh Happy Day” as the couple kissed for the first time as husband and wife. “Everybody started singing and clapping their hands,” she remembers.

The 400 guests relocated to the Venetian Ballroom for a reception, seated dinner, and dancing to music of the Starlight Orchestras. Allie dismantled her up-do and slipped into a back-baring reception gown designed by Nardos Imam.

Friends and family, stationed along the seawall, brandished sparklers as the Lucases departed their reception. “It was a blur,” Allie says looking back on the day. “But it was filled with so many great moments.”

—Stacy Girard

She wanted her day to be a dramatic affair (as if 23 attendants on each side wasn’t fanfare enough). To the bride-to-be, that meant a glamorous black-tie event.