Real Weddings
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Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

Posted on March 04, 2021 by Ariana Baio

How did you meet?
My best friend had a house in Seaside Heights and Rob’s best friend had the house next door. After Rob came back from deployment, he started to hang out at the house. Right away we clicked and became friends. We were both in different places in our lives and maintained our friendship for about three years. Two years ago, we both became single and decided to take our friendship to a relationship, and haven’t looked back since. So, yes, we fell in love at the Jersey Shore!

Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms


Rob and I had just welcomed another puppy, Cash, to our family. We already had two fur babies at home. We used the weekends to take them different places to go on walks and try to teach Cash how to be leash trained. We went on a hike to a local waterfall. When we got down to the bottom of the waterfall, there was a photographer that looked to be in the middle of a photoshoot. Rob asked the photographer to take a picture of us, which mortified me, thinking that she was working. Turns out it was set up and she was there for us. Rob proposed to me at the bottom of this beautiful waterfall with out three fur babies. It was perfect!Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

Our wedding was a micro wedding that we had put together about two months prior to the date. We had to move our original venue to next year, but we did not want to wait to get married so we chose the micro-wedding option with our bridal party and family. We went with a boho, rustic, fall vibe with a lot of neutrals and gold tones. My bridal bouquet was made of dried florals as was our triangle altar. For the centerpieces, we had white pumpkins filled with mums, roses and eucalyptus. For favors I put together little bags with hand sanitizers and masks.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

My cousin, who was our officiant, is a part owner of a horse farm in Flemington. They offered the venue to us, and after looking at how beautiful it was, we couldn’t say no.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

The menu was a buffet of Italian food: meatballs, sausage and peppers, penne vodka and chicken parmigiana. Our cake was a snickerdoodle flavor cake with cream-cheese frosting. To make things Covid-easy, we did cupcakes that were chocolate, salted caramel and vanilla.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

I wanted my gown to be different than the one I am wearing for the wedding next year. I always loved the Wilderly collection and I thought the style went perfect with the venue and theme. I went to a local bridal shop that sold their collection and bought the dress right off the rack.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

My favorite moment has to be a combination of doing the first look with my father and seeing Rob for the first time when I was walking down the aisle. However, dancing the night away with our closest friends was up there as well.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

One detail I couldn’t live without would be my headpiece. I fell in love with it from a photo I saw on Instagram and searched for the boutique—and had to get one no matter what! The other element of our wedding would be our photographer, who was amazing, I would recommend him to everyone.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

Almost everything went wrong the day before: Our tent vendor’s truck broke down delivering the tent the night before so we were setting up until 1 a.m.; the caterer lost my order but then found it; and my dress was altered too short and I had to get new shoes. The day of the wedding was so windy that everything was blowing off the tables—we needed to run out and go get sides for the tent about two hours before people showed up.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

No matter what goes wrong before or during your wedding, breathe. I was so stressed out and for no reason. I was so happy the day-of that I was marrying the love of my life and celebrating with my closest friends and family, that everything that happened the night before wasn’t even a thought. It really was truly the best day of my life, even though it was not this big wedding like we had planned. We will hopefully get that next year, but our micro wedding was so perfect I don’t even need it.Shannon and Robert at Deo Volente Farms

Salem, Massachusetts, and then Newport, Rhode Island.

the details

Hometowns

Catasauqua

Reception Location

Deo Volente Farms

Photographer

M & R Photo Factory

Officiant

Scott Fellin Jr.

Bride’s Gown

Wilderly Bride by Allure

+ more