When Tiffany McGhan and Tuf Cooper said their I-do’s, it was to have and to hold from this day forward, but the honeymoon had to wait.
Tiffany Cooper the creator of the Western fashion blog Fashion Posse. Tuf Cooper is a star rodeo cowboy. They met through mutual friends eight years ago. Their first date was a doubleheader — a Texas Rangers baseball game followed by a Dallas Cowboys football game — that required walking from one stadium to another. We talked with Tif Cooper about what happened next in their love story.
Cowboys & Indians: How did you know he was the one?
Tif Cooper: [Laughs.] I don’t know. We’ve been doing this show, Tuf n’ Tif, on Ride TV, and they’ve been trying to get it out of us. They came out recently with a little documentary in 20-minute segments online on our relationship — from our baby pictures all the way through our wedding. We definitely took our time getting to know one another, but he does have all the qualities “the one” should have.
C&I: How did he propose?
Cooper: He proposed on stage when he won his all-around championship in Vegas. You can Google Tuf engagement and see a video of it online. It was a total surprise. We’d been together seven years. We hadn’t put pressure on each other to do that and hadn’t talked about it in years. He had told himself that summer if he won the all-around that that was what he was going to do with his speech. He hadn’t told anyone, including his mom. So everyone was really surprised. It was funny because we’ve kept our relationship private. For him to propose in front of so many people in a moment when he was being recognized for something he’d worked for since the age of 13, for him to take that moment and make it all about us, was pretty special.
C&I: Did he pick out the ring?
Cooper: He didn’t have a ring there when he proposed in Las Vegas. He jumped the fence after and came up to the stands and handed me his gold buckle and said, “This is all I got right now.” When we got home, we went to Intergem at Dallas Market Center and picked out a ring together. The ring is bigger than I thought. In the past when we’d talked about it maybe three years earlier, I said, “Buy me a good horse and little ring.”
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C&I: Where did you get married?
Cooper: The wedding and reception were at night at River Ranch Stockyards in Fort Worth. The wedding was live, and I was really crunched for time and ran out of time to do hair and makeup. So my hair was down during the wedding. We did bridal photos afterward.
C&I: Tell us about the dress — or dresses.
Cooper: My wedding ceremony dress was from De Ma Fille Bridal in Fort Worth. My reception dress was an original by Mila Hoffman Couture in Dallas. It had lace, satin, and a big bustle with flowers and feathers and a corset on top in keeping with our Old West theme.
C&I: How about your vows?
Cooper: We wanted to keep it fun. We didn’t want to cry on television, so we didn’t write our own vows. His uncle, who’s a world champion calf roper, did a part in the wedding, and my uncle did the ceremony. Tuf secretly changed my vows to make me promise to do all the rodeo driving, saddle his horses, and let him sleep in.
C&I: Did you incorporate any traditions?
Cooper: Tuf didn’t want his wedding to be like anyone else’s, so we didn’t keep to tradition too much. I did have my grandmother bring my great-grandmother’s pearls for my “something old/borrowed.” Inside the bag the pearls were in was a handwritten note from my great-grandmother to my grandmother letting her know the pearls were real.
C&I: That must have been special. Any other super-special moments from the wedding?
Cooper: Both sets of our grandparents have been married over 50 years. They stood up during the ceremony and gave marriage advice. Both said, “Do everything together. Go to church together, work together.” They don’t spend much time apart, and that contributes to their long marriages.
C&I: What was your reception like?
Cooper: We got married at River Ranch Stockyards in Fort Worth on New Year’s. It was a big New Year’s Eve party. There were 600 people there. We had an Old Wild West theme. I was so impressed with all our guests for participating in the theme. Everyone dressed up — it was great to see everybody’s outfits.
C&I: Any other departures from the traditional?
Cooper: In our ceremony, we incorporated the cord of three strands: We braided three pieces of rope together as my uncle explained the cord of three strands is not easily broken, from the Bible verses in Ecclesiastes 4:9 – 12. At the reception, we did shots of Pendleton Whisky for our toast.
C&I: Guessing the music was country.
Cooper: Our special song as a couple is “You” by Jason Cassidy; that was the song I walked down the aisle to. Our first dance as a married couple was “Who I Am” by Wade Bowen. As far as recommending particular songs for great reception music, I’d say you can’t go wrong with ’90s country.
It was a big New Year’s Eve party. There were 600 people there. We had an Old Wild West theme. I was so impressed with all our guests for participating in the theme.
C&I: Where did you honeymoon?
Cooper: We went to Waco and Odessa and Denver and Chicago, all to go to rodeos. I call it the all-exclusive rodeo package. Right after New Year’s, the Texas circuit finals were on the third, so there wasn’t time to honeymoon. We’ll probably plan a honeymoon sometime after the Houston rodeo, but we haven’t decided yet.
C&I: Where have you settled down?
Cooper: Right now we’re living in Weatherford, Texas, on a 13-acre place close to my sister. Tuf had a house near the Cooper family compound in Decatur but recently sold it.
C&I: How’s married life?
Cooper: It’s awesome. We had a good relationship before. It’s even better now.
Sharing Wedding Memories: Visit Ride TV to see Tif and Tuf’s cowboy wedding. See more Western weddings and share your own wedding memories and photos. Find Tiffany Cooper at fashion_posse on Instagram, Fashion Posse on Facebook, and in person at a rodeo.
From the May/June 2019 issue.