“Would Kelli from last Monday ever believe this???” I texted to Kelli two days after the wedding. “Never,” she replied. We were in the midst of pop-culture entertainment overwhelm following the surprise appearance of Camila Cabello showing up to sing the father/daughter dance song, “First Man.” We have both been interviewed and videos of Kelli, her dad, Mike, and Camila have gone viral, appearing on Entertainment Tonight, People, and Pop Crave.

I’ll tell the whole story below, but first, Kelli & Michael’s wedding was an absolutely gorgeous day at one of my favorite venues, Walker Homestead. It was much more humid that we expect in mid-September, but the cloud coverage made the actual temperatures a bit milder than the previous weekend.

Kelli and Michael had been back in Iowa in July for their engagement session and we had so much fun that I was instantly counting down to their wedding day. They couldn’t bring their dog, Ryder, along on that trip, but I was so excited to hear that he would be coming to the wedding!

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Photography: Emily Crall Photography

Venue & Catering: Walker Homestead

DJ: Riley Mullane

Florals: the bride’s mom, Beth

Bridal Gown: The Bridal Shop

Maids’ Gowns: Azazie

Suits: Men’s Wearhouse

Rings: Rare Carat and Helzberg Diamonds

Invitations & Paper Goods: Canva

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Right after they first saw each other, they shared their vows privately and it was such a tender moment.

Kelli’s mom did all the florals, including this beautiful arch, for the wedding!

When Kelli told me on Saturday morning that she had run into Camila Cabello the night before at a hotel bar after the rehearsal dinner, my first thought was, “Like, the Camila Cabello?” (Yes, truly.) Upon recognizing Camila, Kelli went up to her to tell her how she was doing her father/daughter dance to Camila’s song, “First Man.” 

Camila was in town for a friend’s wedding (also on Saturday), but instantly wanted to sing it live for Kelli and her dad, Mike. They exchanged phone numbers and, by Saturday morning, it was “this crazy thing that had happened and thank goodness someone got a photo of them talking because no one would believe it otherwise.” Camila’s manager told Kelli that Camila would try to make it to perform, but she had some other plans to attend to as well. So there was hum that perhaps Camila would be able to come, but it was all very up-in-the-air and, of course, never the faintest expectation when Kelli had told Camila about the dance song the night before.

When the ceremony ended around 4 PM, there was a team huddle because it had just been confirmed that Camila would actually be coming. We had about 30 minutes for guests to mingle and enjoy cocktail hour while vendors coordinated with Camila and her management team for the music file, ideal placement (which was not in front of the parking lot, haha, but I actually love how that ended up; very genuinely telling the story of the impromptu nature of everything), and taxi ETA. 

Camila and her boyfriend, Henry, arrived at 4:30 and DJ Riley Mullane got her set up with a mic and then made the announcement for the guests. Camila was the sweetest soul and, before singing, told the story about how her and Kelli met the night before and how Camila wrote “First Man” for her own dad and what that relationship means to her and dedicating it “to daddy’s girls.” Camila sang and they danced and we awed at what a truly unexpected surprise of a day it had turned out to be. Talk about the most special and memorable father/daughter dance ever!!