Shannon K.: Dancing Queen

Mother Of: Kevin
Venue: Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Vibe: Garden cocktail
Dress: Rickie Freeman for Teri Jon (shop it in silvery lilac)

Shannon did not set out to go viral at her son Kevin wedding. But she did do the fitting room dance test.

“You’ve got to think not only about how the dress looks when you are standing still, but how it looks when you are dancing,” says Shannon, who started out trying on dresses at Neiman Marcus in Dallas and in Chicago before switching to online. “There were some beautiful off-the-shoulder-gowns, but as soon as I raised my arms up, the material on the collar of the dress would come up and it just looked weird.”

Shannon started dancing when she was 3, and Kevin was the same. “We have video of him in his sleep shirt, choreographing a dance to ‘Bye, Bye, Bye,’ when he was about 5 years old,” Shannon recalls. “He’s known for his dancing, and just about all of the speeches at the rehearsal dinner talked about it!”

When Kevin got engaged to Emily, whom he met through friends when they were both living in Dallas after graduating from the University of Arkansas, it was a given that there would be dancing. And Kevin wanted to plan a memorable mother-son dance that captured their infectious energy.

They worked with Ursula at Vow to Dance in Dallas. Their routine started with a slow dance; Shannon chose “I Hope You Dance” by Lee Ann Womack. For the first minute in a half, they danced the traditional mother-son slow dance. But then the music changed. Kevin’s choice, “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind, and Fire came on. Mother and son shrugged in mock surprise, Kevin flung his jacket to the side, and he and his mom boogied down in epic, choreographed fashion—Shannon with arms waving, legs electric sliding freely in her one shoulder, side ruffle trumpet gown by Rickie Freeman for Teri Jon. Thank goodness for the side slit.

Shannon and Kevin danced their routine to the first half of the song while their family and friends cheered. Then they invited everyone to join them on the dance floor.

A guest captured video of their memorable mother-son number, which Shannon posted to her instagram days after the October, 2023 wedding. Now, Shannon does have a decent following—15,000, thanks to her skin care business and encouraging entrepreneurial content—but the wedding dance went way beyond her online community. It’s approaching 300,000 likes.

“I never dreamed our dance would go viral,” Shannon says. “It’s mostly fun reading the comments—98% of them have been positive. So many boy moms commented how they hoped their boys would do this with them and how special a bond we must have. People said it brought a smile to their face.”

But like any viral video, it brought some haters. “Most of their complaints were that I was a narcissist and was trying to take the limelight from the bride. Ridiculous. Emily knew what we were doing. She wanted to be surprised at the wedding and see it for the first time there. She loved it.”

Most of all, there were a ton of requests for details on Shannon’s striking gold dress. Shannon’s daughter-in-law Emily, who works for Neiman Marcus, is the family fashionista. She directed Shannon to Teri Jon.

“My dress was so comfortable!” Shannon says. “The material was very giving. I also loved the ruching.”

She and Kevin both swapped their dress shoes for sneakers before the big dance. Converse for the groom; Golden Goose for this mother of. With sparkles, naturally.

| Photography by Heather Thompson