WEDDING IDEAS

Gina carried a bouquet of white calla lilies tied with white ribbon.

The afternoon ceremony took place in the Music Hall at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. Gina and David designed every element of the ceremony themselves. The couple’s guests surrounded them in a circular seating pattern, with the central ceremony space set off by a floral garland. A family friend performed the ceremony, which began with the bride’s and groom’s mothers lighting tapers for the unity candle while all of the wedding guests read a group reading in unison. The ring bearer and flower girl came down the aisle just before the rings were to be exchanged: "We wanted some excitement further into the ceremony," the bride explains. The couple‘s immediate family stood surrounding them in a circle and passed the rings from one to another, blessing them while the guests recited a second reading.

"Being at the middle of a circle of loved ones who were gathered to watch us declare our love for each other was amazing," Gina remembers. The couple exchanged vows they’d written themselves, and then -- just as the two were announced as husband and wife -- all of the children in attendance threw flower petals into the air.

"David and I decided early on not to have a formal wedding party and just to include our immediate family in the ceremony," Gina explains. "I have three sisters, and picking out one dress to suit them all was simply not going to happen." Instead, the bride decided to let each of her sisters’ individual personalities shine through. They each chose their own dress in brown and carried white tulips surrounded by a collar of branches.

Everyone -- bride and groom included -- took time to enjoy the dinner, which highlighted local and organic foods and was finished off with warm chocolate chip cookies and shots of milk. A salad of mixed organic greens topped with dried fruit and nuts was followed by a mixed-grill plate of trout and buffalo with organic asparagus and potatoes.

The reception unfolded at the Taharaa Mountain Lodge. "David and I stayed at Taharaa about a year earlier while snowshoeing through Rocky Mountain National Park, and we couldn‘t think of a better place to get married," Gina says. The room was aglow in candlelight, with elaborate centerpieces of candles surrounded by baby’s breath, branches, and tulips sitting atop green damask linens.

Gina and David‘s guests enjoyed a three-tier square cake decorated with light blue icing and topped with sugar pinecones and chocolate pine needles. Inside, the bottom tier was chocolate raspberry, the middle was banana split (David‘s favorite), and the top was German chocolate.

The bride’s cello teacher from her childhood, Nancy Kaphem, played a solo during the ceremony.

Gina’s three sisters gave a toast to the newlyweds using an unusual prop -- a timeline of Gina’s life that the bride herself had created in the fourth grade. "Oddly enough, I had predicted I would get married in 2005," Gina says. "I was only seven days off!"

Gina wore a strapless, white, unembellished gown with a long, green silk sash at the waist by Monique Lhuillier.

Gina & David in Estes Park, CO

Photos By: Travis Broxton, Denver

Location: A Beautiful Memory

The first time David Shurna asked Gina Curler on a date, she turned him down…. But, then again, she was seeing someone else at the time. However, when David called her a year later, Gina took him up on his offer. The two stuck together from then on, including a move from Colorado to Door County, Wisconsin, so Gina could pursue her degree. A few years later, David planned a surprise birthday weekend for Gina in the dairy state.

The Bride Gina Curler, 27, radio producer and PhD candidate
The Groom David Shurna, 32, executive director of a non-profit
The Date January 7

Gina and David decided to plan a destination-wedding weekend in Colorado. "Since many of our guests were from out of state (some were coming to Colorado for the first time!) and because we love the beauty of the mountains, we thought Estes Park was perfect," Gina says. They chose a winter date to avoid peak wedding season and keep things intimate for their 140 guests. The beautiful surroundings of the state and the season were the theme for the celebration, though it was the bride and groom's personal touches woven throughout the day that truly made it memorable.

-- Kate Wood