Cannery Ballroom Urban Summer Wedding |Shannon + Cody | Nashville Real Wedding

Blue hues, luscious blooms, and personalized touches made Shannon and Cody’s Nashville wedding at the Cannery Ballroom come to life! Every detail was carefully thought of and was a representation of the two as a couple. The groom even built the arch where they stood for their ceremony and it could not have been more beautiful! Erin Lee Allender is sharing these charming photos and more about Shannon and Cody’s day. Keep reading to see more from this Cannery Ballroom Summer Wedding!

Shannon + Cody

Cannery Ballroom

6.29.18

From the photographer, Erin: Two redheads get married and the rest is beautiful. Shannon and Cody are super fun and goofy. Their wedding location is an event venue that used to be an old cannery. You can still see some of the of the old gears in the ceiling. Things of note from the wedding: the arbor built by the groom himself, the 100 emoji cake topper, the flash mob of a Les Miserable song during the reception that was planned by Shannon’s grandfather for her wedding before he died.

How did you meet?

Shannon: At a wedding in October at The Hermitage, Cody and I met as we were both working. I was there coordinating and he was there working with the caterer. I didn’t know this at the time, but one of his coworkers asked him if he saw any girls there that he thought were cute. His answer was “Yeah, that redhead is kinda cute.” I didn’t see him again for a month.

During this time, I later found out, Cody was asking to work every event at The Hermitage and says he could not get me out of his head. Thankfully, at the beginning of November we ended up working another event together and he swore he was not going to miss his chance to ask me out. He waited till the very last minute of the evening and nervously, yet somewhat smoothly asked if he could take me out to dinner.

Of course, I said yes because little did he know, I noticed him that first night too.

What is your proposal story?

Shannon: The morning of July 10th Cody asked me if I wanted to go to Ruby Falls. I couldn’t have been more excited! As we drove down, Cody and I talked about the James Arthur concert we wanted to see next weekend. I began to look up details and realized, to our surprise, that the concert was that night! We decided we should be able to get back in time. We had a perfect day and were headed back to Nashville to get to the show.

On our drive back to Nashville, I kept pestering Cody as he had become quiet, but he just kept telling me he was fine and nothing was wrong. The truth of the matter was he was nervous because his plan to propose just got moved up 5 days and he was a little unprepared.

We got back to the house, freshened up, grabbed a bottle of wine, and headed out to the concert. Since we didn’t have tickets we thought we’d just listen from the pedestrian bridge, which happens to be where we had our first kiss. The concert started and we couldn’t hear a thing, so we walked down closer, which still didn’t help. Some persuasion and two scalped tickets later, we were standing at the very back of the lawn in the amphitheater able to hear and see perfectly.

We were loving the music and he started to play his last song, which happened to be our song, “Say You Won’t Let Go.” As the song finished, he told me that today had been the perfect day, and that the only way it could get any better was if I would marry him. He pulled a box out of my pocket and dropped down to one knee. I immediately said “No No No!” out of sheer shock, followed quickly by “Oh My God YES! A thousand times Yes!” I proceeded to collapse into his lap for a few minutes completely shocked until he was able to put the ring on my finger.

He somehow managed to surprise me. It was perfect.

Tell us a little a bit about your wedding (your vision, color, style, and location choices).

Shannon: Since I work in weddings and have seen so many different ones, I knew I wanted our wedding to be a representation of the two of us. We both loved neutral colors especially blues, grays, and greens so that’s what we started with. I wanted a metallic accent and thought copper would be perfect!

For the location, I knew I wanted somewhere unique: not too rustic, not too industrial, something with character that had some fun aspects to it. The Cannery Ballroom was my first and really only choice. It filled all of those criteria.

Tell us about your attire choices.

Shannon: I absolutely loved the dresses my bridesmaids wore! I knew I wanted to mix and match, but never thought I would have 5 completely different dresses that went together so perfectly. The girls at Bella Bridesmaids were so helpful in creating my vision.

For the guys, Cody wanted a blue suit that would complement our red hair and that’s just what we got. We accented their suits with an olive colored tie for a more natural look. Cody wore a fun Hawaiian print tie that was so him considering he wears Hawaiian shirts 90% of the time. It was a great personal touch.

What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?

Shannon: The most important thing to the two of us while planning was that our wedding be a representation of us and that we have fun with our family and friends. We splurged on getting both event spaces in the venue so that there was a smooth transition with no flipping rooms or too many movements for our guests.

We skipped a lot of the more traditional pieces of the wedding reception such as formal introductions and bouquet and garter toss so we could just enjoy our time on the dance floor with our people.

What were your favorite parts of the day?

Shannon: There were so many moments that made our day memorable. A few that stand out are:

– The pre-first look dance party I had with my bridesmaids to “The Middle” – My nerves started really kicking in moments before Cody and I had our first look, so I told my bridesmaids we needed to stress relieve. Immediately, they put on “The Middle” and we danced around the room, screaming every word, and just being in the moment. I felt so much better afterwards and am so thankful to have had that silly moment with my best friends before getting the rest of the day going.

-The whole ceremony – We personalized every word of the ceremony with our officiant, Chance, and it was absolutely perfect. There was humor, depth, meaning, and it just meant more than I could have ever imagined.

-My family’s “One Day More” from Les Miserables flash mob at the beginning of the reception – This was my grandfather’s brain child. We had put a line on our invitation that said “Cocktails, Dinner, and Shenanigans to follow” and he truly took that to heart. Since Les Miserables in one of my favorite musicals, he thought it would be great to create his own shenanigans to surprise me with. He got my whole family involved, assigned parts, and had them rehearsing months before the wedding. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away about a month before our wedding. My family kept up this plan and executed it completely to my surprise. It was an amazing moment that once I knew the whole story behind it had me in tears.

-Our first dance to our song – This was a favorite of both mine and Cody’s because it truly was the culmination of everything we’ve been planning for months and was the moment we got to just forget about everyone else and relish in the fact we were finally married. It was everything I dreamed a first dance would be.

Tell us about your wedding flowers.

Shannon: Lauren from LMA Designs absolutely blew me away with my florals. She is one of my very favorite florists in Nashville and was the only one I went to when it was time for us to get our wedding flowers. Lauren took my vision and was able to create perfectly, simple arrangements that complemented our overall look so well with the white lush florals, greenery, pops of colored blooms to match our copper accents.

Tell us about your wedding cake.

Shannon: Cody and I did not opt for a traditional wedding cake as neither of us are big cake lovers. Instead, we chose to go with miniature apple, peach, and chocolate fudge pie and mini cheesecakes. When I shared the news of my engagement with Juanita of Dulce Desserts, she told me I absolutely needed a cake and so we ended up with a small topper cake just for cutting. It was the perfect mix for us!

What did you do for favors?

Shannon: We did a fun maraca send off at the end of our wedding so everyone left with a white maraca to keep the party going on Broadway.

Please describe any DIY, handmade, or personal details.

Shannon: Both of our families contributed to add personal details to our big day! Cody and his dad built the arch we stood under for our ceremony. It still sits in our backyard to this day and is a wonderful reminder of our special day.

We had one of Cody’s old guitars painted to act as our guest book for our guests to sign. It was a unique option that we will be able to display in our home for years to come.

For our seating chart, we decided to incorporate our love of vinyl records and music. My dad, Cody, and I spent a weekend putting the statement piece together. Each record was a different table and we even created a shelf to hold an actual record player on it!

I fell in love with a quote that ended up on our welcome sign that Cody built and I hand painted. It now hangs above our bed!

Did you include any family heirlooms or special traditions?

Shannon: Since my grandfather passed away shortly before our wedding, I knew I wanted to incorporate pieces of him into our big day. I wore his initial ring that he wore every day around my neck on a necklace to hold him close to my heart. The morning of the wedding my grandmother also gave me a small framed photo of him to tie around my bouquet. It was the perfect addition and made me feel like he was with us the whole day.

For every wedding I can remember, my family has done a full blown sing-a-long to Meatloaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” and our wedding would be no different. It was quite the sight to see and a full 8 minutes later I was so happy we carried on the tradition.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?

Shannon: Enjoy the process. It feels like so much planning and anxiety and worry, but it is gone in the blink of an eye.

Make your day your own. Don’t just replicate what you saw on Pinterest or Instagram. This is your day with your person. You want your guests leaving feeling like they left a wedding that was so unmistakably you.

Don’t stress out if things aren’t perfect. Most likely, something will not be perfect and you probably won’t even notice. At the end of the day, you are marrying your best friend and that’s what matters.

Special thanks to Nashville photographer, Erin Lee Allender and the beautiful bride, Shannon for sharing this fun Cannery Ballroom Summer Wedding in Nashville with us! We love these photos so much!

Sources

Erin Lee Allender/The Cannery Ballroom/LMA Designs/SheHeWe Photography/Bella Bridesmaids/Dulce Desserts/Music City Tents and Events/MHD Beauty/Nashville Audio Visual/Chance Dillion/Momma Niks Cheesecake/Papa C Pies/Mindub/Posh Bridal Couture Nashville/Men’s Wearhouse