If there was ever a time that put things in perspective for people, like the importance of companionship, it was the COVID-19 pandemic. As we quarantined in our respective spaces, many who were separated from their loved ones and single found themselves not only wondering if things would ever be “normal” again, but also, if they’d ever find get the chance to find their person. That was the case for Kelley Carter. But long before talk of COVID was everywhere, the LA-based entertainment reporter and Another Act host admits she was already wondering that very same thing regarding love.
“I just wasn’t finding the right connection for me – and you know the world tends to communicate to women that if you don’t find love by a certain age, then that’s a wrap. And it wasn’t that I believed that in its entirety, but I do think that I was at risk of starting to feel that way – especially once the pandemic hit,” she tells ESSENCE. “I was like ‘oh man, the world is about to end and I still haven’t found my person. What does this mean?!’”
She continues, “But if I’m being honest, I also didn’t exactly know how to communicate what I was looking for. It wasn’t until I met Moreno that it really became clear: I was looking for him.”
In February 2021, the day after a quiet Valentine’s Day, Moreno McCalpin, a chemist and lab manager, put a smile on her face – from thousands of miles away in Atlanta. She’d shared a photo of herself with late actor Chadwick Boseman, director Ryan Coogler and the cast of Black Panther on Twitter to honor the third anniversary of the film’s release. Moreno, who followed her on the social media app and had commented on her posts in the past, this time commented something that would grab Kelley’s attention. He wrote, “Always can point you out with that beautiful smile.” It was the first comment on the post, which always stands out, but it also was a message she needed to hear. At the time, Kelley, who was reeling from losses incurred by her family amid the pandemic, felt isolated. She replied with a hug emoji, the hug she could have used.
“I honestly hadn’t seen any of the tweets he’d sent me before the one he sent in February 2021! But his tweet came at the right time,” she recalls. “It felt like a friendly face, even though they were only words. And for me, I suppose looking back I needed that kindness.” Kelley’s aunt and her husband died within days of each other of the Coronavirus, and her uncle was at one point hospitalized and in a coma due to it. Her parents, living in the Midwest, were “understandably terrified” while she was sad because she couldn’t travel home to support them and her grieving cousins. So Moreno’s comment was a soothing balm for her. It was also the beginning of their love story.
The two would go on to exchange messages more and more online, eventually talking on the phone before solidifying their connection in person when travel felt like it could be done safely. Love blossomed despite the fact that they were doing the long-distance thing, traveling back and forth to see each other at least once a month. Nothing, not even distance, could quell what was growing between them.
“He felt like home,” she says of Moreno. And she felt like his soulmate.
“We took this birthday trip to Puerto Rico for my birthday and just seeing the effort that she put into it to make sure I enjoyed my birthday – that was something I’d never had before,” Moreno says of when he knew she was the woman for him. “I was able to see how much she cared for me and how she just really wanted me to have a better life. That was important for me.”
“I wanted to marry her,” he adds.
He made sure to set things in motion to make that happen, proposing to Kelley a year after their Puerto Rican getaway on her birthday in 2022. He got down on one knee in front of a group of her friends and family during a trip to Mexico.
Soon after, Kelley and Moreno, with the help of their planner, Slomique Hawrylo, started planning the wedding of the summer. It wouldn’t be any old celebration of love. Inspired by her work covering Hollywood, Kelley wanted something big; something reminiscent of the glamour and prestige of the annual post-Oscars Governor’s Ball. The end result, which took place on July 14, was a vintage Black Hollywood themed event at the Hyatt Recency Hotel in Huntington Beach with lots of black, white and silver as far as the eye could see. The ceremony, a beautiful stark white scene, was done next to the Pacific Ocean. At the reception, things switched. Black adorned the walls, the long dining tables and even the cake, as did silver finishes. Guests all came dressed in black tie looks, and many of them were stars. Not only does Kelley work in entertainment, but she is also friends with those who are a part of it. Her best friend is Jemele Hill, who was the matron of honor among the wedding party, which included bridesmaids Gabrielle Union, Deborah Joy Winans, and Cari Champion all in black gowns. Chante Moore even showed up for the special day, singing “Love’s Taken Over” as the bride made her memorable entrance.
“My favorite moment was when I got to see Kelley walk down the aisle with her father and of course saying I do,” says Moreno. “Just looking at her at the altar, I was thinking, I must be dreaming. I can’t believe this is me — that this is us.“
It went down like a Hollywood fairytale. It was a happy ending to a love story befitting the entertainment queen, who at one time didn’t know if she’d ever find her prince.
“I want women – especially Black women – to know that we are worthy of being loved wholly and fully. And there is no age limit to finding love,” she says. “For so many years I suppose I thought that if I didn’t find love by a certain age, I was going to be put out to pasture because quite frankly, that’s how the world makes us feel. There is no need to rush and marry in your 20s or even your 30s. I think having a lived life has been beneficial to me in knowing exactly what I wanted when I found it.”
“Don’t be pressured into a bad relationship,” adds Kelley. “Quiet the outside noise – even as it comes from well-meaning people in your life – and hold out for the real thing, because you absolutely deserve.”
Learn more about their love, how their big day came together, and see photos from their unforgettable celebration in this week’s Bridal Bliss.
“He just always makes me feel beautiful,” says Kelley. “When I’m not working, I almost never wear makeup around him – and as silly as that sounds, that’s a first for me. I used to be super insecure about any discolorations I had on my skin and I always felt the need with men to present perfection in whatever ways that I can. But Moreno let me know that I can just be who I am and he would still love me.”
The invitations for the couple’s big day were made by Scripted Ever After, based in Plano, Texas.
As the theme for the big day was vintage Black Hollywood, so was the theme for the bride’s look. The dress was custom made by Katerina Bocci. “She created an A-line, sweetheart off-the-shoulder corset gown with a back bustier, 3D hand-beaded flowers that adorned the sweetheart neckline with a 90-inch train, with cluster embroidery in silver lace on top of a soft nude underneath. And don’t get me started on that veil!” Kelley says. “It was a soft matching cathedral veil that was 13 feet long with a touch of matching lace appliqué. To me that dress screamed 1940s with a modern twist.”
The gorgeous side-swept hairstyle was courtesy of Davonte Blanton. “Once I told him the vibe of the wedding we played around with various styles for hours. Even though we hadn’t settled on one in our first session, I knew he’d be able to come up with something period appropriate,” she says. “One day he sent me a reel on Instagram and was like ‘What do you think?’ and I became obsessed with this throwback coif that he sent me. It felt like something Dorothy Dandridge or Hattie McDaniel would have executed beautifully.”
“I loved all of the surprises we had for our guests,” the bride shares. “We are both members of Black Greek Lettered Organizations: Moreno is a Kappa and for all of the Kappas, we had kanes created for them with their initiating chapter already on them, and they were able to get them customized on site with their line number on them; and I’m an AKA, and I gifted my sorority sisters with customized pink tea rose scented candles wrapped in an antique rose gold vessel created by a black female candle maker – Kelly M Candle Company. And every guest got to leave the wedding with a beautifully wrapped gift and inside of it was a coffee table book: Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments; the book takes a bunch of Black actors and recasts them in large mainstream films.”
They also served pizza during the reception after guests danced the night away and enjoyed the whiskey and champagne bars present. But no surprise beat a performance from Chante Moore.
“We also surprised literally everyone in our wedding – including our wedding party and my best friend whom I tell everything to! – with performances by Chante Moore. She sang me down the aisle with a rendition of ‘Love’s Taken Over’ and she also performed for our first dance ‘Old School Lovin,’ which is one of my favorites by her but also so on point with the wedding theme!”
“My favorite moment, other than saying ‘I do,’ because that truly was my favorite, was walking down the aisle toward my husband with my dad William Carter,” says Kelley. “My dad was so emotional. I’ve been a daddy’s girl since birth so the idea of ‘giving me away’ even to a man he loves for me, he was really overwhelmed with emotion and it pretty much made all of our guests tear up seeing how much my dad loves me. Just a very touching moment for everyone there.”
In addition to watching Kelley descend down the aisle, moments with family and friends also made the day special for Moreno. “I loved sharing the dance floor with my sister Ashley Prewitt. We danced to ‘A Song For Mama’ by Boyz II Men as images of our mom, Gwendolyn McCalpin, grandmother Willie Mae McCalpin and our great grandmother Marie Barnes (our great grandmother raised us) played on TV monitors in the background in a memorial tribute video that Kelley and I put together as a surprise for everyone. Before the song was over, my aunties Nina and Faith McCalpin – my mom’s sisters – joined us on the dance floor in tears. It was an emotional moment and Kelley and I both wanted to celebrate the people who raised me at our wedding. In fact, I picked our wedding date because July 14 would have been my mother’s 60th birthday. So we really wanted that presence there.”
He adds, “I really loved celebrating with my Kappa brothers and seeing the Kappas celebrate Kelley when we sang the sweetheart song for her.”
Kelley, who knows a thing or two about star power, had a wedding party packed with it.
The ladies, including Jemele Hill, Cari Champion, Gabrielle Union and Deborah Joy Winans, smile before the ceremony.
“It was important for the guests to not just attend the wedding but experience the wedding,” shares wedding planner Slomique Hawrylo. “As they walked into the ceremony space we wanted them to feel the freshness and purity of the white while embracing the beauty of the natural elements of air, water, and fire. Introducing the boldness of pure white and elements of the earth allowed the guests to transport themselves to the mindfulness of the purity of love and the natural place it has in all of us.”
“The transition from the purity of white in the ceremony to the boldness of black in the reception was intentional,” adds Hawrylo. “We wanted the guests to feel the passion and all the romantic elements of the space. Nothing says romantic, sexy and sultry like the power of black. Staying true to the old Hollywood ball experience, we teased all of the senses of the guests. Sight; the illumination of a timeless glass candelabra. Touch; the black velvet table linen that paid homage to the classic velvet ballgown. When you touched it, it transported you back to your favorite Hollywood movie. Smell; the smell of dark rose and labdanum, a candle custom made for the wedding by the name Sexy & Sultry filled the space as it burned in a vintage silver glass jar that had hints of it belonging on a beautiful old Hollywood vanity. Taste; you can’t have old Hollywood without the classic tingles of your tastebuds experiencing champagne and whiskey. Then there is the beauty of hearing; having guests close their eyes to take in the melodic range of Chante Moore as she serenaded Kelley and Moreno.”
The two share a smooch outside of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Huntington Beach, Calif.
“I knew I wanted classic, clean colors and something that wouldn’t feel dated when we looked back on the photos years from now,” Kelley shares. “The two colors that we immediately agreed on were black and silver. We didn’t want to be so on the nose with what you normally see of Hollywood Regency-inspired events, but I wanted something that felt elegant and sophisticated and Moreno agreed. I left the design of our actual wedding up to Slomique. I just trusted her and knew whatever she came up with would be so perfect. And I was right!”
After wondering if love and marriage was in the cards for her, Kelley wants other Black women who are waiting for their person to remain encouraged. “Finding love in your 40s doesn’t discount you from the things that you hold near and dear to your heart – like starting a family,” she says. “I allowed the noise around me to scare me into thinking that those things were true, but it’s not. Love is on the horizon if that’s what you desire.”
Vendors
Invitations: https://www.scriptedeverafter.com
Candles: https://www.instagram.com/kellymcandleco/
Cigar Bar: http://papisiano.com
Linens: https://bbjlatavola.com
Photo Booth: https://www.luckyphotobooth.com
Live Painter: https://www.aliciaanneart.com
Yondr: https://www.overyondr.com
Cakes: http://sweettraders.com
Late night bite: https://www.angelenoswfp.com
Florist: https://blueirisflorist.com
Groom’s Tux: https://www.miguelwilson.com
Bride’s Gowns: https://katerinaboccibridal.com and https://www.pronovias.com
Photography and videography: https://www.moodpv.com
Hair: https://www.instagram.com/stylesbydavonte