NHL Star Kevin Hayes and Katya Vasilyev on Their 'Perfect' Beach Wedding — See the Photos (Exclusive)

The couple shares exclusive photos and details of their ceremony with PEOPLE, calling the wedding "just a very, very special moment"

Kevin Hayes is officially married — and still smiling about his special day.

The Philadelphia Flyers hockey star, 31, tied the knot with wife Katya Vasilyev at the Wychmere Beach Club - The Dune in Harwich Port, Massachusetts, on July 16, nearly a year after getting engaged in Sept. 2022.

The couple both attended Boston College, but didn't know each other at the time. They later met through a mutual friend and Kevin would go on to propose four years later, at a spot special to them: N.Y.C. bar Employees Only.

For their black-and-white themed wedding, the couple chose the same venue where Hayes' late brother, former Boston Bruins player Jimmy Hayes, married wife Kristin Hayes in 2018. Jimmy died in 2021 at age 31.

"It was special to us in that sense,” Vasilyev exclusively tells PEOPLE. "Jimmy had gotten married in the original room, called The Harbor Room, and we looked at that room and then we looked at the new place called The Dune. It could not be more perfect."

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The "stunning" space featured a two-floor building with a rooftop on the beach, which “just spoke to" the couple.

"It was kind of like a fresh beginning, so to speak," Vasilyev adds. "It's very not Cape Cod-y in a sense. It's very modern, it reminds me of Miami, honestly, the 1 Hotel. And I feel like that's very up my alley.”

The pair ended up having two ceremonies due to Vasilyev's Russian Orthodox background. They first held a more intimate ceremony in a Russian church in Boston with a cocktail reception before their more lavish affair. “My mom had passed away a few months earlier and she had really wanted us to get married in the Russian Church," she says. "So we kind of joke that we had two weddings."

The bride walked down the aisle in a strapless, A-line Katie May dress for their first ceremony and a more modern Sau Lee evening gown at the second.

"It was pouring rain that whole day on that first wedding. And we consider that our actual wedding date and our anniversary because obviously, that's actually when we got officially married," Vasilyev recalls. "I had walked up to Kevin at church and I feel like he does not get nervous ever. And he whispers to me, he's like, 'I am so nervous right now.' And we were both kind of just shaking a little bit, but it ended up being a very beautiful ceremony."

The pair were surrounded by loved ones at their second nuptials, including 10 bridesmaids and 12 groomsmen. Vasilyev was joined by sister Ksenia Vasilyev, Soti Pericli, Karen Forman, Carly Mellos, Kiki Pericli, Madison Chambers, Katherine Downey, Jenny Ren, Andrea Cihlarova and Beatrice Pascual, who all dressed in Jenny Yoo.

Kevin, meanwhile, had a mini hockey reunion with some of his former teammates. His groomsmen included Keith Yandle, Chris Wagner, Chris Calnan, John Gaudreau, Quinn Smith, Rick Nash, Brady Skjei, Jimmy Vesey, Ed Shea, Anthony Melchionda, Paul Carey and Mike Reardon.

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"I mean, it was wild, the welcome party, just seeing how many guys I played with or met along the way kind of come together," Kevin, who was traded to the St. Louis Blues in June, tells PEOPLE. "Even guys who have played against each other before, who've never met each other, or guys who have actually fought each other ... they're meeting each other at my wedding. It was kind of funny."

Vasilyev adds: "I feel like we're lucky in that we have a great amount of friends and people that love us."

As guests dined on short rib salmon, vegetable risotto and local ice cream from Sundae School, they also were entertained by rapper Sammy Adams. The musician is a good friend of Kevin's and performed at the reception.

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“That was probably the most symmetric part of the wedding,” Kevin says, noting that the rapper performed his hits "All Night Longer" and "Driving Me Crazy,” tunes that were “kind of bangers that everyone can jump around to and dance to.”

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“And he absolutely killed it,” he adds. “Everyone the next day was talking about it.”

The couple’s first dance, meanwhile, was “God Bless the Broken Road." Marc Roberge from the band O.A.R. even surprised them at the rehearsal dinner to perform four acoustic songs, including Kevin and Jimmy's favorite song, "I Feel Home," and “Miss you All the Time," which was a nod to the late hockey player.

"It was sort of like a tribute to Jimmy, and my mom as well. And he finished on a very happy song and it was just a very, very special moment," Vasilyev tells PEOPLE. "I think there was tears in everyone's eyes, but again, I feel like there were happy tears."

As for their honeymoon, the newlyweds "kind of already did it." Prior to saying "I do," Kevin says the pair spent a few days in both London and Italy.

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