STEPHEN RICHARDS met Lexi Stewart at his niece’s first birthday party in December 2019. Since Stephen was wearing a signet ring on his right hand — which Lexi mistakenly thought was a wedding ring on his left hand — she never spoke to him at the party. Soon after, Stephen asked the party’s hostess, his sister-in-law, who Lexi was, and they met for a date on New Year’s Eve. 

Stephen proposed in July 2022 at his family’s lake house at Center Hill with all their friends and family to celebrate the occasion afterward. They married in January 2024 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center with the Rev. Jay Hardwick officiating.

The ceremony took place in the main lobby, which was decorated with white candles and white bouquets. A string quartet played “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for the bride’s entrance and “Everlasting Love” as the couple recessed. 

Lexi wore a Zavana Couture satin gown with pearl buttons from top to bottom along the train, paired with a Toni Federici veil trimmed with pearls. For the reception, she changed into a Made With Love Bridal crepe gown with a ruched bodice and fitted skirt. She carried a white bouquet by T Villager Designs. 

Stephen, whose custom clothing company Richards Bespoke has outfitted thousands of grooms over the years, was finally able to design wedding attire for himself. For the ceremony, he wore a double-breasted black velvet tuxedo jacket. For the reception, he changed into a white silk jacket with a houndstooth shadow pattern. Stephen also outfitted his 11 groomsmen in emerald-green velvet tuxedo jackets.

The reception was in the Laura Turner Concert Hall, where guests dined on dual entrées of braised short rib and sage-crusted chicken by Chef’s Market Cafe & Takeaway. Baked in Nashville designed the five-tier cake adorned with the couple’s beloved Frenchie, Frankie, in fondant. The Celebrity All-Star Band performed, and guests enjoyed espresso martinis chilled through an ice sculpture luge carved with the couple’s initials.

Following the reception, there was an afterparty in the main lobby, where local DJ Cisco Carter performed. Laurie Hardman of Laurie D’Anne Events organized the evening.

Following a wedding trip to The Starlight Villa in the British Virgin Islands, the couple returned to their home in Nashville. Lexi, a graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s College of Nursing, is a pediatric emergency room registered nurse and clinical nurse coordinator at TriStar Centennial Children’s Hospital. Stephen, a graduate of the University of Mississippi, is the owner and founder of Richards Bespoke. Parents are Jeffrey Charles Stewart and Catherine Creagh Stewart of Hartsville, Tennessee, and R. Stephen Richards Sr. and Jane Bowman Richards of Brentwood.