New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and Dr. Lauren Cooksey married in Rehoboth Beach Sunday. Photo by Becca Neufeld Photography/beccaneufeldphotography.com.
New Castle Council’s highest ranking elected official married his girlfriend of two years Sunday night on the Rehoboth Bay waterfront.
County Executive Matt Meyer and Dr. Lauren Cooksey said I do in an intimate ceremony before 90 guests at Rehoboth Beach Country Club. It is his first marriage and her second.
Their romance and wedding seemed to largely fly below the state’s political and social radars.
Meyer joked Tuesday that he uses his skills as a former diplomat in Iraq to keep his private life private.
“We did a lot of redirection there,” he said. “I learned a lot of the tricks of the trade. I still have a few up my sleeves.”
Then he started laughing.
“It wasn’t like it was a big secret,” he said. “It was private.”
“We’re both in sort of big loud environments,” Cooksey said. “So it was nice to keep something just for us and our family and friends.”
Matt Meyer and Dr. Lauren Cooksey’s wedding was held under a chuppah at Rehoboth Beach Country Club.
Their busy schedules mean they can’t attend every political or social event together.
His job as county exec keeps him on the move for long days, often through weekends, as does her job as an emergency room doctor. She is vice chair of ChristianaCare’s emergency department.
Meyer and Cooksey met through a friend two years ago.
“It was sort of a no pressure situation,” Cooksey said. “We just sort of hung out with a mutual friend and really hit it off.”
Meyer said he always wanted to get married.
“I think I was always determined not to settle,” he said. “And I feel like I didn’t settle. I’m not one of these guys who’s like, ‘I’m never getting married.’ You wait and you look until you find the right one. I feel like I’ve found the right one.”
Matt Meyer and Dr. Lauren Cooksey had been dating for two years. Photo by Becca Neufeld Photography
Cooksey said their relationship seemed so natural from the start that she never feared getting involved with Meyer, even with the added stress of a political career.
Meyer is expected to run for governor in the 2024 race.
“I think we’re really good at separating it,” she said. “Both of us compartmentalize work and home and are really respectful of the boundaries of both.”
Meyer, Cooksey travel adventures
The couple made it a point to vacation together as they got to know each other.
“We’ve traveled quite a bit,” Meyer said.
Not only did they take trips together to Washington, D.C., New York and Vermont, but also Kenya, Honduras and Hawaii.
That is going to make planning a honeymoon hard.
“We’ve gone to all these honeymoon destinations already,” Meyer said.
Cooksey said she came to admire Meyer’s commitment.
“What you see with Matt is what you get,” she said. “He’s really committed to his career, but he’s also fiercely committed to family and his private life.”
At the same time, he’s never pressured her to be more visible or engaged in his political life.
“He lets me be involved where I want to be and I am able to step back,” she said. “I’ve got my own career and kids, and I’m able to focus on that. So there’s really a good balance.”
Meyer not only became a husband over the weekend, but also a step-father to Cooksey’s two sons, 9 and 6, from a previous marriage.
Ultimately, Cooksey said, they decided they couldn’t live without each other.
“We really have taken the past few years to get to know each other, and we’ve been on some wonderful adventures together,” Cooksey said, “and I think that will be the theme for the rest of this marriage, adventuring together.”
The couple married under a chuppah covered in a swag of white and blush roses, pink peonies and eucalyptus created by Flowers by Mayumi in Lewes.
Cooksey wore a formal-length silhouette lace gown with a V-neck bodice and plunging back for the traditional Jewish ceremony. It was presided over by their dear friend Rabbi Micah Kelber of Brooklyn, New York.
Meyer wore a gray velvet tuxedo with white tennis shoes and a yarmulke featuring neon green Stars of David made by a Ugandan Jewish community with whom he has lived and worked.
Rabbi Michael Beals of Beth Shalom Synagogue, Meyer’s hometown rabbi, also spoke and provided a blessing.
The reception at the country club included music by The Honey Badgers from Newark, a duo of singer-songwriters who focus on folk and Americana music, and a wedding cake from Lee Verzier, the daughter-in-law of a friend.
“I’m really happy that life brought us here,” Cooksey said. “We’ve each had a lot of life experience and that gives me a great kind of excitement because we’re going into this with that experience and knowledge for hopefully a wonderful future.”
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.
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