Peak Season

Asheville is incredibly busy during the fall (and for good reason!) due to the beautiful foliage. If you will be joining us, we recommend reserving your lodging ASAP to ensure you find the best deals and availability. We have reserved two hotel blocks, but there are also numerous Airbnbs if you prefer!

Shannon Kelly

and

Andrew Novinski

Meet us in the mountains for our wedding celebration on

October 26, 2024

159 days until the big day!

OUR LOVE STORY

The stars had to align for a Texas boy and Florida girl to cross paths in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. Andrew moved to Asheville, NC in 2020 during the pandemic to leave behind his insurance desk job in search of some adventure as a field instructor in wilderness therapy. Shannon was working remotely as a PA and after a year of quarantine, she was also looking to for some adventure herself! In the fall of 2021, Shannon decided to go on a road trip up the east coast before moving in with one of her best friends (Bridesmaid Emma!) in Connecticut.

During her road trip, Shannon was spending two weeks in Asheville and was looking to meet up with a local to discuss some food, brewery and hiking recommendations to explore while she was in the area. She saw Andrew's profile on Bumble and knew she HAD to meet him after seeing they had many shared interests such as SEC football, tacos, and Taylor Swift (Oh, and it didn't hurt that he was super cute too!)

Since she was just passing through town, neither of them expected the dinner they had on September, 21st, 2021 would lead to anything other than friendship, but fate had other plans. After dinner, they didn't want the night to end so they grabbed a beer at Catwaba brewery, then shared an ice cream sandwich at Sunshine Sammies and walked around the city together. Several hours of great conversation later, they knew they had found something special in each other. They spent the rest of the time that she was in Asheville going out on more dates and getting to know each other better.

Andrew and Shannon were both incredibly sad to say goodbye to each other when she left Asheville to finish her road trip because they knew the odds were against them to start a brand new relationship long distance (especially given that Andrew worked in the woods and was completely off grid for 8 days at a time!). However, they managed to stay in touch through countless hours of Facetime date nights and trips back and forth from CT to NC to visit each other. They dated long-distance for about 6 months before Shannon took the leap to move to Asheville full-time in the Spring of 2022 so they could be together...and the rest is history!

Elly