Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley Recalls ‘Love at First Sight’ With Wife, Cassie

Lady Antebellum’s Dave Haywood already revealed that his relationship with his wife, Kelli Cashiola, slowly built from a friendship into something more, but for Haywood’s bandmate, Charles Kelley, and his now wife, Cassie McConnell Kelley, love came quicker – a lot quicker.

“I’m not gonna say it was like a movie, but it was like a movie,” Kelley shares. “The first time I met my wife was like, it really was true love at first sight. We actually had just started the band, and Dave and I, we decided we were going to get the band together and go out to this dinner. Little did we know that Hillary [Scott] kind of secretly was trying to set me up with Cassie, and the reason was because our keyboard player Jonathan, who still plays with us today, was dating Cassie’s sister. So all this to say they were getting ready and I didn’t know this was going on.”

The restaurant, popular Nashville eatery South Street, is where the sparks instantly started to fly.

“There were like 15, 20 of us, and we’re upstairs. I get there a little late, but I get there and we just lock eyes the whole night,” recalls Kelley. “We’re kind of looking at each other, and we’re like, Holy moly.’ She’s the prettiest girl that had ever paid me any attention. It was one of those things where we just started all as a big group going bar-hopping, and we never left each other’s side. We just started talking. Every bar we went to, it was like us going into the corner talking. It was just love at first sight. And the very next day, I called her up and said, ‘Can I take you on an official date? I’d love to take you out to dinner.’

“I didn’t have any money at the time,” he adds. “I probably spent the last little bit of money I had on this really nice meal, and we’ve been together ever since.”

Kelley and his wife are also the proud parents to son, Ward, who just turned two. The couple will take their love on the road this summer, when Lady A co-headlines the Summer Plays On Tour with Darius Rucker. Dates can be found at LadyAntebellum.com.

Photo Credit: Instagram/CharlesKelley