Rep. Katie Edwards of Plantation, serving her third term and one of the highest-profile Democrats in the state House, married South Florida agribusiness man Brad Walpole on Saturday, Dec. 9, at Grande Oaks Golf Club in Davie.
"I married my best friend today," Edwards said in a glowing announcement in Facebook.
Some 120 family members and close friends attended.
The couple both come from Okeechobee cattle ranching families, which is how they met three decades ago.
"My late grandfather Bob 'Dead Bug' Edwards and his father Jay Walpole were the best of friends until Dead Bug's death in 2010," Edwards said. Edwards' family moved from Plantation to Okeechobee in 1969, and the Walpoles moved to Okeechobee from Lake Worth just a few years later.
Katie is special counsel at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP in their Fort Lauderdale office. Brad is the owner of Walpole Land Services and East End Farms. The Walpole family is actively involved in trucking and livestock feed manufacturing businesses.
Edwards said she will go by her married name, Katie Edwards-Walpole, so when she returns to Tallahassee in January, the voting board and signage for her office will read "Edwards-Walpole."
The couple will honeymoon after session ends, says the bride, "probably skiing in Colorado."
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
