Kelley Andrews & Aaron Edwards
April 14, 2019 • St. Andrew’s Church of Mount Pleasant & Family Home
In a Nora Ephron-worthy meet-cute, Charleston attorneys Kelley Andrews and Aaron Edwards locked eyes during a mediation case. Kelley, working alongside her father at his Mount Pleasant firm, was summoned to the conference room one day in April 2016, and that’s when she spotted Aaron representing the opposing party. “He’ll tell you he felt like lightning struck him,” she says. For her part, Aaron first captured Kelley’s attention that evening when he caught her in the hall and asked where the restroom was. “It was the best he could come up with at the time, I guess,” she laughs. A year later, Aaron dropped another winner on her when he leaned over during dinner out one night and asked, “Do you wanna get hitched?”
Whereas the ask was casual, the wedding was anything but. The couple held their ceremony in the church that Kelley grew up attending (
St. Andrew’s Church of Mount Pleasant in the Old Village), and the 300-some guest reception was in the beautiful backyard of her childhood home in Cassina Plantation.
Balancing refined elegance with the feel of an intimate cocktail party, planners
A Charleston Bride and
CRUSH Event Rentals transformed the Andrews’ family backyard and tennis court into a romantic spread dominated by crystal chandeliers, a posh reception tent, and a circular bar. Guests adhered to the formal dress code, sporting long gowns and black-tie tails.
“It was over-the-top in lots of ways, yet fun, laid-back, and relaxed—like me,” laughs Kelley. And even though the bride donned a couture gown from Paris, the celebration was not a touch stuffy nor ballroom-uptight, she notes. “It was just one big party filled with family and friends from every corner of our lives,” she says. “No one was putting on airs.”
Well, perhaps no one except her beloved cat, Sir Percy Blakeney. Kelley’s discerning seal point Himalayan starred in many a formal portrait alongside his mistress, and given his well-appointed leanings, it’s unlikely that he would have had it any other way. Not so for his new master. “Aaron would have married me in a barn,” says Kelley.
As their wedding video proved, however, a glamorous party at home was the better choice. “We didn’t really put everything together until we saw the wedding video,” says Kelley. “We both cried the first time we watched it.”
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