ESPN’s Kelley Carter Marries in Starry Wedding — Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, Olivia Munn Attend! (Exclusive)

"I’m so glad I waited for the exact right partner to do life with," the Emmy-winning journalist says of husband Moreno McCalpin, who she married in California

ESPN’s Kelley Carter has tied the knot!

For the Emmy-winning journalist’s star-studded California nuptials, she and her husband Moreno McCalpin selected a theme that is close to their hearts — and Carter’s career.

The couple centered their Huntington Beach ceremony, planned by Slomique Hawrylo at Carpe Diem Events on “Vintage Black Hollywood glam,” so their 200 guests could “step inside” Carter’s world for a night and “feel like they’re attending a once-in-a-lifetime vintage Hollywood Governor’s ball.”

Carter, an entertainment contributor for ABC News and senior entertainment reporter for ESPN's Andscape, tells PEOPLE that she “also wanted to pay homage to all of the classic, underappreciated Black actors and entertainers who never quite got the mainstream success and adoration they should have.”

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“Our hope is that our wedding will make everyone feel hand selected and wowed by our attention to detail in every aspect of our wedding, including even our friends who work in the industry and regularly attend fabulous Hollywood affairs,” she says.

Some of the industry friends at the July 14 ceremony, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, included Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, who was a bridesmaid in the glamorous nuptials alongside fellow actress Deborah Joy Winans and matron of honor Jemele Hill, a sports journalist.

Also in attendance were John Mulaney  and Olivia Munn, who shared a video of herself in her wedding guest glam on Instagram — along with several behind-the-scenes photos of herself getting ready with son Malcolm Hiệp Mulaney — which she captioned, “Celebrating the wedding of my sweet friend @kelleylcarter.”

For her own wedding attire, Carter says she knew she had to go big or go home.

“Because I get to attend the Oscars every year, I knew I wanted something that felt a little grander than the gorgeous gowns I get to wear annually for TV,” she tells PEOPLE, adding that the initial dress she selected was not the one she ultimately walked down the aisle in.

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Originally opting for a champagne-colored gown from Spanish brand Pronovias, everything changed when couture designer Katerina Bocci reached out to the journalist only three months before her wedding. Carter then flew to her home state of Michigan to see Bocci’s vision for an A-line, off-the-shoulder gown — the design that would eventually take over the slot of ceremony dress.

“Even though I had no idea what it would ultimately look like until about four weeks before our wedding, I trusted her completely,” she says of Bocci’s corset creation, which she also called a “dress made for a princess.”

“And it all worked out because the dress I originally got is the perfect party gown!” she adds.

Carter took the fairytale feel of her ceremony gown a step further with Christian Louboutin dégradé sandals, which she says said she selected because they "looked like glass Cinderella slippers." For the reception, she added a not-so-vintage — but more a lot more comfortable — touch to her wedding ‘fit.

“I had some custom, blinged-out Converse Chucks created because I knew I wanted to be comfortable the rest of the night!” she says.

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When it came to providing the soundtrack of the ceremony, Carter and McCalpin turned time back even further than Old Hollywood, taking inspiration from a Netflix period piece.

“I got obsessed with the orchestras playing modern pop music in Bridgerton,” Carter says. “So we hired a string quartet to surprise and entertain our guests by playing music by Drake, Beyoncé, Lizzo and more!”

McCalpin made his way down the aisle to the song that scored his September 2022 proposal to Carter, “All My Life” by K-Ci & JoJo, and for the bride’s grand entrance, guests were treated to a performance by R&B singer Chanté Moore, who crooned a special arrangement of her track “Love’s Taken Over.”

Moore also sang the couple’s first dance, “Old School Lovin',” at the reception, which was outfitted with a whiskey and bourbon lounge (McCalpin’s idea), a champagne lounge (Carter’s idea) and a cigar bar.

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Along with their great memories of the glamorous evening, each guest walked away with a copy of photography book Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments.

“Our planner suggested this – the coffee table book takes a bunch of Black actors and recasts them in large mainstream films – and we loved it,” Carter says adding that one of her friends and guests, actress Aisha Hinds, is featured in its pages.

“I didn’t know until we bought the books!” she added.

"We really wanted our wedding to be a sensory overload for our guests so our planner reached out to Alicia Hale who is a live event artist who did a live painting of our ceremony! It’s honestly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen — neither of us have ever had a painting of ourselves! Our plan is to gift my parents a copy and have the original hanging in our home together."

Carter adds: "For our wedding cake we still wanted Hollywood glam, but we also wanted to choose a flavor that brought us back to our Southern roots, so we picked a Red Velvet cake paired with a Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream. Sweet Traders designed a stunning showstopper cake, inspired by our theme Old Hollywood Glam. The cake featured unique shapes, intricate details of lace and feathers in a dramatic black color scheme with pops of silver, it completely blew us away! They didn’t stop there, Sweet Traders also made Moreno an epic Groom's cake featuring his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, in a retro Old Hollywood vibe. The inside cake was Devil’s food with Mango cream, Moreno’s favorite."

Carter also wanted an "unplugged wedding" and so to keep people off of social media and and live in the moment, they used used Yondr which "locks everyone’s phones up."

"I thought that was very cool and the exact thing that happens at big Marvel Hollywood premieres (the guests got to keep their phones with them, but were unable to take them out and use them). That meant that people were forced to make connections, utilize our super cool photo booth and stay out on the dance floor all night!

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Though the couple’s wedding was vintage-inspired, their 2021 meet-cute could not be more modern. “I slid into Moreno’s DMs,” Carter admits, adding that it means “everything” to marry him “at this point in my life.”

“We both are in our forties and didn’t rush to be with someone just to be with someone,” she says. “We both wanted to marry our soulmates, and we really waited to find the exact right match for one another. Our partnership is truly a testament to not giving up, having both faith and patience and holding out for the real thing.”

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She adds, “Too often women are pressured into marrying for a number of reasons, and I’m so glad I waited for the exact right, supportive partner to do life with.”

McCalpin echoed his wife’s affections, sharing that, of all the glitz and glamor they planned for the big day, the thing he looked forward to most was “finally being officially married to Kelley.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to celebrating with our friends and family,” he told PEOPLE ahead of the ceremony. “But I’m so happy to just officially and finally be married to her.”

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