Shannon was born in Knoxville and grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Her path to Durango was anything but predictable! She arrived in Colorado (sight unseen) in 2014, planning to stay three months. After time in working in Denver, teaching in France, and getting a grad degree in Boulder, she hit the Western Slope for the first time and arrived in Durango in 2019. Now, she is the Colorado River reporter for The Colorado Sun. That takes up most of her time, but the rest is spent with friends, sleeping, teaching at Fort Lewis College, sometimes baking, working on a creative writing project or getting outside. Charlie grew up near Denver in Littleton, Colorado. He arrived in Durango as a freshman at Fort Lewis College. He's played music at nearly every venue in town, and over the course of his decade-plus in Durango, he's worked at most every place in town too. (Charlie at the chocolate factory? Fighting fires on the railroad?). Now, Charlie splits his time between owning his own graphic design company, El Matador Design, playing solo shows as Chuck Hank, and touring with High Country Hustle. When he's not doing that, you might find him talking about delicious dishes, spending time with his fam or finding ways to travel and spend time outdoors.

Shannon and Charlie met at a Halloween party in Durango in 2019. Shannon, who just got off work and was wearing a mustache sweater, was having a giant mustache painted on her face when Charlie, dressed as a knight, sat down and started chatting with her. She thought he was the cutest ever and told her roommate (Ian) that, if she dated anyone in Durango, she'd date Charlie. Charlie, who had a very fresh break in his arm and was on pain meds, didn't quite remember all the details. That was that for November, December and most of January. At one point, Shannon walked into Charlie's job as a bartender at 11th Street and asked to interview his boss about Snowdown for a Durango Herald story. (Charlie thought she was "super cute.") Another day, Shannon got lunch at 11th Street — but left right after and Charlie didn't get a chance to say hi. Bummer! Then in early February, the Lil Smokies came to the Animas City Theater. Charlie saw her, she saw him, and he asked her to dance! They danced until the show wound down, and he ended the night by giving her his business card and asking her to text him. Which she did! And the rest is history. The two had their first date at Eno, a now-closed wine bar, and Homeslice in late February, just before COVID really shut things down in early March. What a time.

In January 2025, Shannon started to feel like something was going on. Why was her sister asking about her Brazil trip so much? What was Charlie's mom texting her mom about anyways? She was sure the big question was coming! (Charlie gave a pretty damn strong hint at the ACT one night, so she was on the right track.) Meanwhile, Charlie was bummed. He wanted to ask Shannon in Brazil, but huge expenses kept coming up and getting the right ring in time just seemed so impossible. Luckily, his parents had some type of mind-reading skills and decided to show him a family ring or two ... just in case. Shannon thought the big day might be in Ubatuba, maybe that hike Charlie mentioned? But it wasn't there. Or Sao Paulo. Or in their first days in Rio de Janeiro. One their very last day in Brazil, Charlie and Shannon hiked to the top of Pedra da Gávea, the highest seaside mountain in the world. They had a picnic, and Shannon kept wanting to linger even though Charlie kept saying, want to pack up and go? ("I guess it's happening in the US," she thought. "I need to figure out how to take a photo," Charlie was thinking.) Their mountain guide, Luis, suggested taking their picture on a rock with a lovely view (next to a cliff). Charlie asked Shannon if she had good balance, and she did until he dropped down to one knee. He showed her his grandmother's wedding band and asked her to marry him. She said "yes!" and started crying and saying, "Wait, for real?" like 20 times. Charlie says he wasn't nervous and his hands weren't shaking, but they were. Then they went and swam in the ocean and went to see a show in Bottles Alley, the birthplace of bossa nova, floating on cloud nine the whole time.

Dear family and friends, We really thought of every way to get married. Most of Shannon's friends were predicting an elopement, and the idea sounded pretty dang tempting for a few weeks there. Charlie was almost swayed by the idea of a mini-wedding abroad. But we had two hopes for this big day: 1. Quality time: We don't get to see so many of our family and friends, and we wanted to create an event where we could actually spend time with you. And we want you all to meet each other and enjoy some down time together. Think: Family (re)union. 2. As little stress as possible. (Haha.) So we decided to have a backyard wedding, and since we don't have our own yard, we rented one. It'll be a family-style event without all the bells and whistles of today's wedding industry. (We kept a few.) Because, mainly, we love you and it's important to us that you all — the people we go to when we need support or to celebrate happy moments — are there to witness us make this big step in our lives. And that's what this is about. So thank you so much for taking the time to decide if you can make the logistics happen. For spending money on tickets and using your vacation days. We are so grateful, and we're so excited to celebrate with you all!

You can find updates, announcements and details on this website, occasional emails and our wedding event social media accounts. Follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram @Chuck.Shank.Henry (or Charlie Shannon Henry).