Abby Sherbine & Justin Currie
Abby, who graduated from Wood River High School in 2000, met Justin four years ago in North Dakota where she attended college. At a rummage sale that Justin’s family was hosting, Justin surprised the bride by slipping the ring box into a grab bag that Abby was helping to sort through, and getting down on one knee for the proposal. They were married on July 23, 2005, at Abby’s family ranch south of Bellevue. It was a magical night with many special touches, including her dad’s vintage car parading them through town from the church, a team of horses harnessed to pull the wedding party in a carriage, fireworks, and a mini-tent lovingly set up in an open field of grass as a honeymoon getaway for the couple. “Look to see what people are wearing,” Abby says, reflecting advice that was passed on to her from another bride. “Take it all in. It goes by so fast, but the memories you capture will last forever.”
Photography by Hillary Maybery
Jennifer Hoey & Cory Smith
Jennifer and Cory met in Breckenridge, Colorado, while she was on a snowboard vacation and he was on a business trip for Ketchum-based Smith Optics. Jennifer soon moved from Florida to the Rocky Mountains, then to Sun Valley. Cory proposed two years later on the top of Proctor Mountain and the couple began to plan their dream wedding. The first task was to find that “perfect” location. After endless days of searching, the couple finally found it in a private residence—a beautiful Tuscan-style villa—off Townsend Gulch Road in Bellevue. They were married on July 16, 2005, in a setting that allowed Jennifer, an interior designer who runs her business from Ketchum, to be creative in planning a wedding she describes as “romantic and fresh.”
Her advice for keeping it creative and fun? “It’s important to remember that there aren’t any rules,” advises Jennifer. “It’s a special day that should be a reflection of you as a couple. Find something to make it personal and then have fun with it.”
Photography by Kirsten Shultz
Lea Wedge & William Morrison
On a gorgeous August day, Bill proposed to Lea along the shores of Kane Lake, a sparkling glacier lake at the base of Devil’s Bedstead. “It had been a long hike in with a lot of bouldering,” recalls Lea, “I couldn’t believe he actually brought flowers.” The couple, who met in San Francisco on match.com, began planning the location on the hike back down. He grew up in Chicago and she was from the East Coast, but Sun Valley won as the locale for a destination wedding. The nuptials were held at the Valley Club on July 30, 2005, and included an entire week of planned events—everything from hiking and golfing to fly-fishing and an afternoon rendezvous at Grumpy’s in Ketchum. “Make an effort to really be together after the ceremony,” advises Lea. “We stuck together the entire night and every single moment was an experience we shared together, which made it really special. The wedding day is meant to be a celebration of the couple. It’s your night. Share it together.”
Photography by Thia Konig
Carrie Bauwens & Matt Mahoney
Four months after she moved to the Valley to be closer to her family in Boise, Carrie met Matt on a night out with her girlfriends. One year later, on a quiet and crisp fall night, Matt proposed, and the couple was married on September 17, 2005, at Carol Thielen’s Rocking T Ranch in Greenhorn Gulch.
The wedding theme was casual, with picnic tables, red and white checked tablecloths, sunflowers, and a Belgian draft horse named Ruby (owned by Carrie’s sister) carrying the bride and her father by carriage to the ceremony and whisking the bride and groom away at the end of the night. The entire wedding party, which included Tom the dog, was outfitted in J. Crew, and the Cosmic Beans, a local band, kept the party going. “Keep it simple,” the couple counsels. “Let the surroundings speak for themselves. Living here is what is irreplaceable. Our scenery is so spectacular, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your wedding special.”
Photography by Kirsten Shultz
Cara Larocca & Weylin Barrett
Cara and Weylin met at the base of River Run on opening day of the 2002 ski season, where they were both working as ski instructors teaching four-and five-year-olds. Mountain politics aside, the two clicked and were engaged two years later, then married September 11, 2005 at River Run Lodge. The couple says they added lots of little touches to make the day carry significance for their relationship—everything from the choice of location (the scene of their first meeting) and invitations hand-folded by Cara’s sister-in-law to candles handmade by a friend and a canopy of ski poles in the tradition of a military salute (as a tribute to their shared passion). “Put your creative energy into all the little touches that are of special significance to you as a couple,” they counsel. “It doesn’t have to be over the top and it is these unique details that help put it all in perspective and make it your day.”
Photography by Craig Wolfrom
Tina Kohli & Mike McGrew
Tina and Mike both grew up in the Wood River Valley. They knew each other in high school, but didn’t connect until a New Year’s party in 2000. The sparks flew and the couple began a long-distance relationship for six months until Tina graduated from Washington State University and moved to Seattle to be near Mike. The long distance theme continued through the proposal (he was in Georgia and she was in Seattle finishing graduate studies) and into the planning of the final wedding details (he was in Phoenix and she was in New Orleans)—a fact which led to lots of help from both families (and also some friends at World Cup Travel) for every aspect of wedding planning. Mike and Tina were married on July 16, 2005, together again beside the Big Wood River at the home of a family friend north of Ketchum. “Try to use local resources whenever you can,” Tina advises. “If you have any local contacts, pull them out. We couldn’t have planned our wedding without the help and connections of family and friends.”
Photography by Dev Khalsa