Written By Melissa Reardon
Photographs By Lucy Cuneo
A transplant from Virginia, Weston “Wes” McAfee vividly remembers the first time he saw his future bride-to-be. Charleston native Dana Elaine...
October 4, 2025 • The River Course at Kiawah Island
Sparks were already in the air when Caroline Yevak met Bobby Ross on the Fourth of July 2017 during a holiday weekend on Connecticut’s Sprite Island. After being introduced through a mutual friend, the two quickly realized they would both be interning in Manhattan that same summer, just across the street from one another. Over the next several years, their relationship unfolded in the cozy glow of New York’s neighborhood restaurants, where they loved lingering over dinners and spending weekends exploring new places. After school moved Caroline to Boston, Bobby proposed in a quiet corner of a local park before surprising her with both of their families, whom he’d flown in for the weekend.
For their big day, the couple chose Kiawah Island’s River Course, a place to which they have deep ties through her family. Caroline and Bobby envisioned an elegant dinner-party atmosphere inspired by their favorite Big Apple eateries, but they also wanted to embrace the natural beauty of the Lowcountry. With help from planner Lillie Simpson of Sarah Lillie Designs, the celebration blended both whimsical and refined details, from stationery adorned with watercolor illustrations by Julie King to custom-bound bar menus and calligraphed matchboxes that doubled as escort cards.
Surrounded by 165 loved ones, the couple exchanged personal vows in an outdoor ceremony overlooking the River Course before dancing the night away inside the clubhouse ballroom, which was dressed in shades of early fall and showstopping arrangements of textural florals. One of the evening’s most unforgettable moments unfolded when Bobby covertly shifted “Sweet Caroline” from the “do not play” to the “must play” list, sending guests into a frenzy on the dance floor.
