For Richard & Shannen, their wedding was a whirlwind of stress and emotions. With the majority of 2020 being filled with fear of COVID-19, they wanted nothing more but to celebrate with their closest family and friends on their wedding day. Despite setbacks, Richard & Shannen provided a safe environment outdoors at a private estate to host their ceremony and reception.
How It All Began for Richard & Shannen
Richard & Shannen started dating when Shannen was 18 years old. Richard’s family had never grown close with the family of anyone he had previously dated. So on their one year dating anniversary trip to southern California, Shannen received a text with a picture of both of their parents by a lake, BBQ’ing, and spending time together. According to Shannen, she believes that this was the moment Richard thought that this relationship was special and the real deal.
Balancing Each Other
During my first phone call with Shannen, Shannen described Richard and her as one person. In other words, they balance each other out. With Shannen having a strong personality, Type A, while Richard having a go with the flow mentality. Richard has always been the anchor for Shannen and calmed her down during this crazy time while Shannen has helped Richard take a stand for things more often when needed.
Throughout the wedding, I could see that this could not have been more true. In the beginning of the day, Richard was nervous but excited to see Shannen. He opened the gift that she sent him and started getting emotional with how thoughtful her gift to him was. It was when the two of them actually met at the altar that Richard could not stop smiling and looking into the eyes of his beautiful bride.
Watch Richard & Shannen’s Wedding Teaser Video
Family (+Kittens) Are Everything
Richard & Shannen live together and have two kittens. They are both sports lovers, nature is their happy place and lives healthy lifestyles. Once a month they spend time with their families together having game night and often Facetime family who live out of town. On Thursdays, Richard & Shannen’s dad play disk golf and love having a beer together. Often Shannen’s family would say that Richard was the third son their father never had.
Besides Richard, Shannen’s dad is Shannen’s best friend. So it was fitting for them to have a first look in private minutes before walking down the aisle. Shannen and her dad restored a classic car together and decided to arrive to the ceremony in style with it.
Shannen having two older brothers and Richard having three siblings, the family was both very important to them. Richard proposed to Shannen in September of 2019 and had originally planned on marrying in Merced. But with COVID, things had to change.
Winery to Private Estate Wedding
The wedding took place at a private ranch estate. The style is very rustic and wooden. Their wedding colors were white, light blue, and sage green. Decor and flowers were creatively done by Shannon- DIY style! One hundred percent honesty, if Shannen hadn’t told me she DIY’ed the majority of her wedding, I would not have noticed. Combined with a few rental from AZCO Rustic Designs & Rentals, Shannen did an incredible job putting together a beautiful ceremony and reception area.
COVID-19 Wedding Wristbands
Shannen was inspired by another bride on Pinterest to provide wristbands for her guests to indicate their comfortability with social distance preferences.
- Red = No contact or talking with others
- Yellow – Okay with talking but no contact
- Green = Okay with anything.
The Wedding Dress
Besides marrying Richard of course, Shannen was most excited about her wedding dress. It had a champagne color in it and fitted her like a glove! Expecting to pay a certain amount on her wedding dress, Shannen fell in love with a dress designed by Essense of Australia from Mira’s Bridal Couture dress shop in Modesto and ended up spending a little bit more. Seeing her for the first time, it was easy to understand why!
Richard & Shannen Reception Details
Catering was done by Paul’s Rustic Oven. OMG- the delicious and fresh pizza that was made minutes before reception began was SO GOOD! My favorite pizza definitely had to be the BBQ pizza (*heart eyes*).
Probably the two highlights of the day was the “cake cutting” and garter removal reception events. Due to careful wedding timeline planning, the newlyweds were able to take their time and enjoy their wedding reception.
Instead of a “cake cutting” event, the couple had two containers at the sweetheart table for guests to put in money (one for Richard and one for Shannen). Whoever had the most money in their container got to smash the cake into the other person’s face!
Probably one of the best garter removals I’ve ever got to witness- claps to Richard! Minutes before the event, Richard takes Taylor and I aside to tell us he had something special plan.
I’m not going to tell you who won the cake smashing or what Richard did for the garter removal- but you can watch the full highlight film to find out! haha!
Watch the Full Wedding Highlight Film
Richard & Shannen, thank you so much for entrusting me to be a part of your wedding day. You both are beautiful people inside and out. Cannot wait to see how God will bless your marriage as you put each other first to glorify Him. Rooting for you two!
Richard & Shannen Wedding Vendors
Video: Karissa Wright Productions
Photo: Taylor Fotos
Wedding Dress: Mira Bridal Couture by Essense of Australia
Rentals: Azco Rustic Designs & Rentals
Caterer: Paul’s Rustic Oven
