Both John Kelly and Edie are blessed to have all of their siblings in their wedding party. While having siblings can often be a source of rivalry, these are the people who have walked alongside John Kelly and Edie as they grew to become the people they are today. For Edie, Will has always been a role model who has helped her discover a love for running, music, and movies. On the Hawkins side, John Kelly cherishes every moment he gets to spend with all of his siblings—Fischer, Harrison, Anna Kate, and Ford—whether that's going on a trip to Disney World, playing board games, hanging out at the lake, or laughing at the crazy dogs who reside at the Hawkins house.

In June of 2024, after the couple's engagement, Edie had the fun task of getting to ask some of her closest friends to be her bridesmaids. To ask each friend, Edie spent a lot of time thinking about what she loves most about her friends and she picked out a paperweight that she felt represented these qualities. They may just be objects on a table for some, but collecting paperweights has been an important part of Edie's life. Growing up, Edie has always loved looking through her mother's extensive collection at home, which began with her great grandmother Mammy's love of decorative items. So it was special for Edie to get to gift one of these to these ladies as they were asked to be a part of such a special day.

What's so fun about weddings is that you get to bring together groups of people that may not even know each other. To Edie, this is what she loves most about her bridesmaids. Sarah and Anna Kate are family and have been able to see Edie as she grew up in Homewood and as she began her relationship with John Kelly. Evie is Edie's closest friend from the Birmingham area as they met through playing on a Birmingham-based Ultimate frisbee team. Edie became friends with both Sydney and Isabel while at Davidson College. Lila and Edie became friends and running buddies while they were in the clubs program in Montreat, North Carolina. And a few years later, Edie became friends with Sage and Caroline as they were on Montreat Summer Staff together.

While Edie hasn't been around these friends much while at Samford, she finds that a simple phone call makes catching up with them just as easy as if they were always side-by-side. And that's what makes a beautiful friendship.

Anyone who knows John Kelly can attest to the fact that it is extremely difficult to not like him. John Kelly is one of the nicest, goofiest, and most caring people to exist and he is a friend to all. So knowing this, you can also know that the friends that he has chosen to keep in his bubble are just as special. John Kelly and William Pitts became friends while on Montreat Summer Staff as camp counselors and with rooming together. They share a common music interest, which if you know John Kelly, is incredibly important. John Kelly, Sam, and Ethan—along with William Smith— all became friends throughout their time in Homewood. They spend most of their time hanging out over Playstation. But recently, they have also begun to spend time together in person too!

And as the wedding party guys all learned over their trip to Gatlinburg, TN, it's really easy to get along once you find something stupid to laugh about. Without John Kelly even being there, the groomsmen bonded over their desire to become pirates. If you listen closely, this recurring joke may be brought up once (or a hundred times) at the wedding reception.