Scout Hodges & Will McCormick

May 24, 2025

Scout Hodges and Will McCormick met when they happened to be visiting New Orleans with their respective best friends at the same time. “It’s hard to describe it as anything other than love at first sight,” says Scout. They agreed to go to breakfast together the next day, and the two have been inseparable ever since—at least in the emotional sense if not the physical one, as their entire relationship was long-distance. Two years after that chilly New Orleans night, Will surprised Scout at his own birthday celebration—popping the question in front of their families, who were gathered on the patio of her childhood home. In wedding planning, the couple’s first priority was that the day be completely personal. “We really wanted it to look like ‘Will and Scout’s wedding’,’ ” says the bride.

Keep reading to learn more about Scout and Will’s love story and wedding-planning process.

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D Weddings: Briefly, tell us the story of how you met and got engaged.

Scout: We were set up by our two best friends, Coleman and Abby. Will and Coleman are best friends from High School; Abby and I are best friends from college. We all happened to be in New Orleans, Louisiana on a chilly December weekend, and we got together for drinks off of Bourbon Street! It’s hard to describe it as anything other than love at first sight. We got breakfast just the two of us the next morning, and not a day has gone by since that coffee date that we have not spoken to each other in some way. When we met, I lived in Washington, DC working on Capitol Hill and Will was in his second year of medical school in Athens, GA. We dated long distance up until the day of our wedding! About two years after we met, both of our families gathered at my childhood home in Dallas, TX to celebrate Will’s birthday. My mom and dad had prepared my favorite kind of evening: dinner on their back patio, dad on the grill, great music in the air, and family around the table. Will had planned the cherry on top which was to propose on that patio before appetizers had been served. He printed off 11 photos from our favorite memories and dates, posing them as a gift to me so that I could hang them up in one big frame. We reminisced about each one and discussed how we might frame them, when we realized 11 was a tricky number to arrange. That’s when Will suggested we could add one from that evening and dropped down on one knee.

D Weddings: What was your vision for your wedding day?

Scout: We wanted everything to feel warm, joyful and personal. And boy was it warm!! Though we briefly considered a couple of different locations, Dallas felt like the perfect fit. I was born and raised in Lakewood, frequenting the Arboretum throughout my childhood. I have worked in several flower shops and have always dreamed of one day owning my own, so it felt like there was nowhere better to celebrate our wedding day than being surrounded by Texas’ best flowers in the Arboretum. It would be airy and natural, yet beautiful and abundant with joy. Once we had settled on Dallas, we knew we wanted a traditional service at my home church, Park Cities Presbyterian Church. The sanctuary is absolutely breathtaking and draws one’s eyes up to the Lord, to whom all glory of our wedding day should go. I had one last stipulation, which was to get ready in my childhood home. My parents and family are more important to me than anything, and I wanted to reminisce on all of our wonderful memories and spend one last morning as a Hodges girl in our family home before I got to start a new family with Will.

D Weddings: What were the most important or meaningful elements of your wedding? Why were they significant?

Scout: Wow, where do we even begin? We really wanted it to look like “Will and Scout’s” wedding. Beyond the koozies and programs with our names on it, we wanted people to see us throughout different elements of the weekend. All of the watercolor seen throughout the wedding was my own work. I painted the watercolor flower vine that we used on our invitation suite, napkins, koozies, stickers and more! I also painted the picture of PCPC we used on our save the date and our wedding program. I designed the orange scarves we gave our guests to wave towards the end of the reception. They were a hit! I designed and painted all of these things with Will by my side. He got to help me come up with ideas and different design elements as we went through the process. We got to go through our day and not only recognize some of the artistry we saw, but know that our hands were involved in every detail of our big day.

Something that we consistently prioritized was having a personal connection with our vendors. I grew up with Emma Harper, our calligrapher, and both of our parents knew the parents of our wedding planner, Clara Hardy! My sisters work for and own the company that designed the earrings for the bride and wedding party. I really loved making personal connections with our different vendors. Centuries ago, weddings were gatherings compiled by everyone in your little village, and in a lot of ways, that’s how our wedding felt!

Lastly, I will say that we are so blessed to have such wonderful families. All throughout the day we were surrounded by our amazing families. We had distant step-brothers of grandparents from around the country, cousins that helped raise us, siblings that are best friends, and parents that are our greatest mentors all spread throughout our wedding that made it so magical. Not to mention my nieces and nephew stole the show on the dancefloor! Our families made the entire day feel filled to the brim with love and exuberant with joy.

D Weddings: What personal touches, if any, did you incorporate?

Scout: Personal touches were our first priority for our wedding day! My mother’s mom, Betty Gresham (“Memama”), is an absolute saint of a woman and a true role model. Due to health concerns, she was unable to attend our wedding in Dallas, and that was hard for me, Will and my family. So, to lift my spirits and feel like she was there with me, my mother lent me Memama’s sapphire necklace that had been passed down, my “something borrowed.” I carried it with me down the aisle, attached to my bouquet. I felt as though she was holding my hand the entire ceremony. Beneath the sapphire, wrapped around my bouquet, was a handkerchief gifted to me by my father’s mom, Nancy Hodges (“Mimi”). Mimi is the ultimate craftswoman with one of the most giving and selfless hearts I have known. She hand-made the outfits for my flower girls and ring bearer, and she also made the handkerchief she gave me. On it were the names of all 4 sets of Will and my grandparents and their wedding dates, followed by our parents names and wedding dates, and finished with ours. It was stitched in blue thread for my “something blue.” My “something old” was my mother’s wedding veil. It’s been worn by my aunt, cousin, mother, sister and now me!

D Weddings: What were some of your favorite moments from the day?

Scout: Our private dinner between the ceremony and reception was both of our favorite parts of the day. The Arboretum has this wonderful room, the bridal suite, that allows you to peer into the reception area without being seen. We both walked in there and looked at each other and thought, “we’re married?!?” Then we sat down and shared bites of our reception food and sips of our specialty cocktails. It was such a wonderful, peaceful moment. We were intentional to take a second, look at each other, and really soak it all in. The hustle and bustle of getting ready all day, then the blur of the ceremony, it all went so fast. That was our moment to slow down, take in all our memories from the first half of the day and prepare for the second, which would be just as exhilarating and joyful.

One really special moment was the photo my dad and I recreated during the reception. There is a photo of us from 20 years ago at the Alex Camp House. I’m twirling around on the hill and my dad is watching me. I actually painted a watercolor of that photo for him and gave it to him during our first look. Later that day, we recreated it in my wedding gown at the exact place the first photo was taken. It felt really full circle and was a really sweet moment.

D Weddings: What do you remember the most from the day?

Will: Between the ceremony and the reception, the day was a blur. I woke up and ran on the treadmill to calm my nerves, then headed to The Graduate Hotel to get ready with the groomsmen. As they trickled in, Scout’s brother arrived with a letter and gift from Scout. I opened the box to find a pair of cufflinks made from two pennies. As I looked closer, I noticed two dates, one inscribed on the back of each cufflink. Scout has always been so good at making sure even the smallest things don’t go unnoticed. As she went on to explain in the letter, these were pennies she had found throughout our relationship. One she found on our first date in New Orleans (December 18th, 2022) and the other on the day I proposed (August 2nd, 2024). This was the moment it finally sank in that this was, in fact, our wedding day. Queue my first tears of the day and a memory that will stay with me forever.

D Weddings: Were there any surprises?

Scout: Will’s groom’s cake was a fun surprise for the night. Will has never liked cake and frankly never will. He begged and begged for a cookie cake, to which I always replied “No, you’re not allowed to do cookie cakes at weddings, the bakers will refuse us!” This was of course a lie, as I was secretly working with our amazing baking team, Dallas Affaires, to make Will’s dream come true. I even told the Dallas Affaires girls to tell Will they don’t do cookie cakes. They played right along with it and were so great! Will’s cake was a stack of giant chocolate chip cookies, layered with icing and chocolate covered strawberries. On top was perhaps the best surprise of all, a Georgia Bulldog, to honor Will’s alma mater, with an Ole Miss collar and leash attached (a nod to my alma mater). The final and perhaps best detail was the Georgia jersey the bulldog wore, which was the number of Will’s grandfather, Bo Bradley (“BoBo”), who played football for the Georgia Bulldogs when he attended UGA.

My father, Gregg Hodges, and I have an undying love for the band The Avett Brothers. Having attended over 30 concerts together, we knew their music had to be incorporated into our last dance. However, if anyone knows me and my dad, they know we love a flare for the dramatic. So, we started off our dance to Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” and then halfway through, we had orchestrated a record scratch. At that note, we grabbed mics from the band and ripped into the Avett Brothers’ “Talk on Indolence.” For those that don’t know, the song begins with a 40 second rap/scream sequence that me and my dad have performed from the crowd together at every concert we’ve attended. At the end of the rap, it’s custom to scream “THREE, FOUR” as the band begins the rest of the song, however we cut the recording so that the Jordan Khan Manhattan Band could strike into “Hey Ya!” by Outkast. At that moment, our families poured into the stage and lit the dance floor up. The dance floor remained full the entire night from that moment on. It was epic!

Guests: 300 Signature Cocktail: Aperol Spritz; Old Fashioned First Dance: "Swept Away" by The Avett Brothers On the Menu: Mac 'n' cheese bar, beef carving station, taco bar