Wedding Ideas

Katie Gaudreau Weds One Year After Brothers Johnny and Matthew’s Tragic Deaths

Updated: August 26, 2025 | By Jacqueline Larcara

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Katie Gaudreau and Devin Joyce on their wedding day on July 11, 2025. Afrik Armando

Katie Gaudreau had a revelation on her wedding day.

She was driving with her parents to Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in South Jersey, where her ceremony would soon begin. As the trio neared their destination, Katie pictured all the joys of the day ahead for her wedding: walking down the aisle with her beloved father, marrying Devin Joyce, her high school sweetheart, and dancing at her reception surrounded by loved ones.

But there would be two massive holes where her late brothers, NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and high school hockey coach Matthew Gaudreau, should have been. A year prior, on the eve of what would have been Katie’s original wedding day, the Gaudreau brothers were tragically struck by a car and killed during a bike ride in their hometown of Pedricktown, in Salem County. They would have been groomsmen at the wedding. Johnny was 31 years old, and Matthew was 29.

Now, one year later, en route to her rescheduled wedding ceremony, Katie’s grief began to bubble up—the same way it had every day since her brothers’ deaths. But then, Katie says, somehow “a weight was lifted off my chest.” She suddenly knew: “I can feel both, and it’s okay. I can feel sad that they’re not here, but happy that I am marrying Devin. As you’re hurting, you can still feel joy.”

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
The Gaudreau family at John Gaudreau’s wedding in 2021. Courtesy of the Gaudreau family.

On August 29, 2024, Katie and her family went from being excited about her wedding to planning funerals for her older brothers.

“Our life was on pause,” says Katie. She saw friends getting engaged, married and starting families, “which is like where Devin and I thought we were going to be in September 2024…We were in this pause of just trauma and pain.”

As the months went on, the couple decided to plan a new wedding, with the help of Kyle Michelle Weddings, but knew it needed to feel completely different. Instead of their original venue, the Lucy in Philadelphia, Katie, 26, and Devin, 27, chose the Grand Belle at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia. “The Lucy was just not my dream anymore,” says Katie. “I just can’t imagine going back into there—I was feeling so happy.”

To ease Katie’s mind, she wanted a venue where her guests could all stay the night before, and the Bellevue delivered. “I just didn’t want anybody leaving. I had a lot of anxiety about like, something was [going] to happen.” The couple hosted a pajamas-and-pizza party in the hotel’s presidential suite for the wedding party; famed South Philly pizzeria Angelo’s donated the pies.

The week leading up to her new wedding on July 11, 2025, felt like Groundhog Day. “Our wedding brought so much trauma, memory wise. I had a really difficult time, especially the week of,” Katie says.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Their wedding party included all six of Katie’s nieces and nephews. Her maids of honor were her sister, Kristen, and sister-in-laws, Madeline and Meredith. Afrik Armando

As she picked up her wedding band from the jeweler, got her nails done with her mom, and rehearsed the ceremony, Katie kept thinking, “Is something going to happen?” But, she admits, “I brought more anxiety to myself [by] not letting myself feel the grief. Like as much as I want to be happy on my wedding day, it was filled with guilt and sadness and pain that they weren’t going to be there.”

Wedding planner Kristin took care of everything so that Katie could have space to heal during the planning process. “I didn’t have to think about anything regarding the wedding until I was ready, which wasn’t until April or May,” she says.

Many of Katie’s wedding vendors generously donated their services.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Walking down the aisle with her father, Guy Gaudreau, was a memorable moment for Katie. Afrik Armando

On the big day itself, it was a priority for Katie to incorporate her brothers. “I just didn’t want it to ever feel like they weren’t there,” she says.

During the ceremony, Johnny and Matthew’s best friends, Jamie and Charlie, stood in for them as groomsmen. Devin, meanwhile, walked Katie’s mom, Jane Gaudreau, down the aisle—a role originally set for Johnny and Matthew.

During the ceremony, Katie wore a custom hand-embroidered veil by Sara Gabriel that featured her brothers’ handwriting. She had the phrases “Love You, Matty” and “Love You, John” repurposed from cards they’d given to their mother on each of their wedding days.

Katie surprised Devin and her dad, Guy Gaudreau, with custom suit jackets from J.F. Bedard. The lining featured photos of Johnny and Matthew throughout their lives. “My dad was like, ‘it’s my whole life in a jacket,’” says Katie.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Katie surprised her father and Devin with custom suit jackets featuring photos of her late brothers. Afrik Armando

To further honor her brothers, Katie’s bouquet had 21 standard roses and 13 spray rose blooms—Matthew wore the number 21 when he played at Boston College and in the minor hockey league and Johnny donned 13 as a forward on the Columbia Blue Jackets, the team he was playing for at the time of his death.

Katie’s older sister, Kristen, and her two sister-in-laws, Meredith (Johnny’s wife) and Madeline (Matthew’s wife) all served as maids of honor. All six of Katie’s nieces and nephews were flower girls and ring bearers. At the time of the accident, both Johnny and Matthew had babies on the way; Madeline gave birth to her and Matthew’s first child in December 2024 and Meredith welcomed her and Johnny’s third child in April 2025.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
A framed photo of Matthew Gaudreau, left, and Johnny Gaudreau, that was included in the seating chart at Katie’s wedding. Afrik Armando

Katie and Devin had a memory table to honor their late grandparents, but Katie felt strongly about not including her brothers in that piece of decor. “I just felt like it did them an injustice,” she explains. “There wasn’t going to be a single person at this wedding that was going to forget that they weren’t there.”

During the first dance, Katie and Devin were alone on the dance floor as the guests watched from a balcony. As Katie looked up, she was momentarily upset to not see her brothers physically present. “And I let it come,” she says. “I was upset about it, like it hurt. You see all of your loved ones except for two of your most important people and they’re not there. But I took it and then I remembered they would want me to enjoy this moment.”

Perhaps the most sentimental tribute to her brothers came early in the reception.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Katie created a video montage of her brothers that she played at her reception. Afrik Armando

The 2007 song “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers has always been a favorite for Katie’s family. On a visit to the Bellevue Hotel a few months before her wedding, Katie discovered that there was a projector and big screen in the reception hall. She had an idea. “I was like, ‘what if I make a video of just the boys being the boys, just dancing, having fun, laughing, all of like our favorite memories. And they could play the video?” And that’s just what she did.

Charlie, the friend who stood in for Matthew as a groomsman, held Katie on his shoulders while the video montage rolled and the band played the rock anthem. They were surrounded by Devin, Katie’s parents, her sister and many friends of Johnny and Matthew.

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Her wedding band played the song “Mr. Brightside” while the video rolled during an emotional moment. Afrik Armando

Katie and Devin met at Gloucester Catholic High School in Gloucester City, where Johnny and Matthew had also gone to school and played hockey.

Growing up, Katie’s dad coached hockey, and Devin was on his team. Katie says her dad was known as an intimidating coach, so Devin was hesitant to date the coach’s daughter. So, they waited until Devin, then 17, was captain of the team and Katie, then 16, was the manager to begin dating. But Katie recalls that her dad has always approved of Devin and said, “’I would never let any of my hockey players date Katie, except for you.’”

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Afrik Armando

Katie and Devin continued to date throughout college. Katie, now a first-grade teacher in Pedricktown and the co-owner of a dance school there with her mom, went to Rowan University in Glassboro. Devin, now a financial analyst, went to Neumann University in Philadelphia.

The weekend before Devin graduated from college, he asked Katie to marry him in their high school gym. “It was really special,” says Katie of the proposal. Her brother Matthew was the high school hockey coach, so he knew the principal and helped Devin arrange the proposal. Devin told Katie that she was invited to give an alumni talk at the school. Instead, when she arrived, “Devin was in the middle of the gym with rose petals and my mom and my sister were recording and taking pictures. So it was perfect.”

Katie Gaudreau married Devin Joyce a year after her brothers, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Gaudreau, were struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding their bikes.
Afrik Armando

Katie cherishes her brothers’ strong relationship with her future husband, Devin. The three of them bonded over hockey, golf and boating. “They loved Devin,” she says. “He looked up to them as hockey players, but more importantly like men…They were just so happy to welcome Devin into our family. He was the little brother that they never had.”