Timeout for a wedding

Just weeks before her wedding to No. 12, Rachel Glandorf, a 6-foot, lean and blonde Baylor University graduate, appears calm and relaxed on a late June afternoon despite her serious to-do list, which includes officially becoming an NFL wife and moving from Austin to Cleveland.

Little did she know that her decision to go to Baylor would lead her into the gaze of a star Longhorns quarterback. He's Colt McCoy, now a rookie for the Cleveland Browns.

"It's funny how that worked out," said Glandorf, dressed in white denim, a ruffled blue top and gold sandals.

The former KEYE-TV intern and her star quarterback will marry at an undisclosed location in Austin this month. The couple declined to publicly offer details about their wedding date or venue. Former teammates from Glandorf's days of running track at Baylor and McCoy's time at the University of Texas will be part of the festivities, which were planned by Caplan Miller Events and catering firm Kurant Events.

"We knew we'd have to elope or do it big," said Glandorf, 23, who was born in Pasadena, Calif., and went to high school in Vail, Colo.

"I'm just really looking forward to our wedding day," said McCoy. "I'm truly blessed to have found someone who believes in me the way she does, someone who has given up - and will continue to give up - so much so I can chase my dreams.

"I can't wait to spend that day with her and all the people who mean so much to both of us. I'm just a really lucky guy."

Glandorf met McCoy in summer 2008 when she was an intern at KEYE.

"I interviewed him multiple times before we actually went out toward the end of the summer," she said. "Originally, I tried not to date him. I heard he was a good guy. But you never know."

They went to Santa Rita on West 38th Street for Date No. 1. Glandorf played it cool: She brought along a friend, to McCoy's surprise.

"He wasn't so happy about that," she said.

They kept their dating a secret for a while. Favorite date spots for the couple included meals at Z'Tejas on West Sixth Street and strolls on the Capitol grounds.

"We didn't want it to be uncomfortable for everyone," she said. "Once the season started and I was sitting with his parents is when everyone figured it out."

She began calling Austin home in spring 2009.

Glandorf has become close to McCoy's family and treats his brothers, Chance and Case - the latter a UT freshman - as her own. She said she got to know the family well on long game days.

Now, numerous games later, it's time for Glandorf to officially become part of that family.

The main colors of the wedding will be navy and white with touches of yellow, said Courtney Caplan, president of Caplan Miller Events.

The bride will wear a custom ivory gown with hand-embroidered lace and a combination of hand-cut flowers and crystal detailing created by Dallas-based designer Vatana Watters. Bridesmaids will wear Alfred Sung dresses. Jessica Epstein, owner of Serendipity Bridal on West Anderson Lane, arranged for the bride's gown.

"We pieced together the perfect gown," Glandorf said.

McCoy designed his bride-to-be's wedding ring, which comes from Russell Korman Fine Jewelry and Watches. He, best man Jordan Shipley, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver and McCoy's college roommate, and the groomsmen will skip tuxedos for suits.

The bridal party will include 15 ushers, six bridesmaids and six groomsmen and seven women in the house party.

"I didn't want our wedding to be a boring awards banquet," Glandorf said.

A traditional ceremony led by Pastor Matt Carter will flow into a festive reception. Kurant Events, owned by Carrie and Steven Konarik, created a menu to feed a football team. Highlights will include a grilling station with quail and other meats , agua fresca, a vintage soda station, music and desserts such as a blackberry cobbler that will be dubbed Colt's Cobbler (See recipe, D6).

"We want to keep the event moving at all times to keep the guests interested and engaged throughout the night," Caplan said. "We are also using entirely local and Texas vendors. Everything from the stamps on their invitations - the state of Texas - to their venue choice to the locally grown food, all support the pride that Rachel and Colt have for this great state."

A honeymoon to the Bahamas has been planned, Glandorf said.

"Hopefully we'll sneak that in," she said.

As a rookie, McCoy doesn't have a flexible football schedule. Training camp is expected to begin in late July.

Since their engagement in January, the couple hasn't seen each other on a regular basis.

"I don't think I have seen him more than five times," Glandorf said.

To the dismay of Longhorn fans, McCoy injured his right throwing shoulder during UT's 37-21 loss to Alabama in the BCS National Championship, but the injury didn't stop McCoy from proposing to Glandorf a week later on Jan. 11.

That night McCoy told Glandorf that he had to pick up his cleats at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

"I had asked him a million times to go out on the field," she said.

Each time McCoy had an excuse, but that night Glandorf had decided it was her last shot to be on the field.

"We were on the 50, and I turned to see `Rachel, I love you! Will you marry me? Colt,'" on the giant scoreboard screen, she said. "Then I turned around to see him down on his knee. He left the day after we got engaged, and I didn't see him for a month."

Glandorf said she is used to McCoy's schedule and dedication to football. After all, during his senior year at UT, they saw each other five hours a week, she said.

"I think I saw him more when I went to Baylor," she said. "Being an athlete, I know the time commitment." (In college, she ran the 400-meter hurdles and 800 meter.)

For her 23rd birthday in June, Glandorf, who has a degree in journalism-public relations, took a last-minute flight to Cleveland to see her man for a day. It was her first trip to the city, which she'll soon call home. While there, she met one of McCoy's strength coaches who's from Texas, and the coach's wife took Glandorf on a tour of the Rust Belt city.

McCoy, who's living in a hotel these days, usually works 14-hour days, and the two catch up at night over the phone.

"We usually talk a little bit right before we go to bed," Glandorf said. "He really likes his rookie class."

The move to Cleveland away from their family, friends and their Westover Hills Church of Christ family doesn't worry Glandorf. Her parents, Steve and Liisa Glandorf , relocated from Colorado to the Georgetown area, where her father is a principal of Zion Lutheran School in Walburg and her mother, who was high school math teacher, substitute teaches; her brother attends San Diego State University in California.

"We've kind of been preparing for the last few years for this time," Glandorf said.

The couple will be back in Austin during the off-season, she said. The bride-to-be said she doesn't plan on jumping into a career. She wants to do some volunteer and community work, and eventually have a few little McCoys to watch over. ("Colt and I both love kids and plan to have quite a few," she said.)

The plan is clear: She wants to "get settled and have some Colt time."

"We just need to have that time, and I want to be there when he gets home," Glandorf said.

mharper@statesman.com; 445-3974

Colt's Cobbler

For crust:

1 lb. of all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. of sugar

1 Tbsp. of salt

2 sticks cold butter, cubed

2 egg yolks

3/4 cup of ice water

For filling:

8 cups of fresh blackberries

3/4 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of cornstarch

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

For egg wash:

1 egg

1 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. turbinado sugar (raw sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt together. Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, break up cold butter in the flour mixture until the size of peas, then add egg yolks. Quickly add ice water and blend slowly until the dough just comes together. On a floured surface, knead the dough together into a ball and pat down to a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour before rolling.

In a bowl, gently mix together the berries, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla.

Divide the dough in half and roll into two rectangular pieces, one 14 inches by 17 inches and another 10 inches by 14 inches. Place the larger rectangle in the bottom of a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish. Pour in blackberry mixture. Cover with the smaller piece of dough. Gently crimp together the dough all around to seal the edges.

For egg wash, beat egg with water in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, brush entire top layer of dough with egg wash and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. After 30 minutes, cover with foil and continue baking.

- Misty Lowe, Kurant Events pastry chef