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Mountain Mayhem: Happy Anniversary!

Aspen Times Weekly Aspen-times-weekly |

May Selby
Mountain Mayhem

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Celebrating a wedding anniversary offers a chance to reminisce and an excuse to do something fun together. Despite the pandemic, this year is no exception. Several couples who tied the knot in a previous August share their story below from their wedding day and what they’re up to today.

R.J. Gallagher, Jr. and Nancy Kaye Dwight were married on Aug. 23, 1980, in Boulder at Sacred Heart of Mary with a reception at the University Club at the University of Colorado. They moved to Aspen in November of that year where they started their family, raising daughter Reilly and son Bo. They now live in a “very cool, Harry Teague-designed house in Aspen Glen.” For their “pandemic style anniversary,” their exciting plans were postponed and instead they played a round of golf at Aspen Glen, had dinner at the Brass Anvil in Carbondale and enjoyed a “quiet Sunday together at home, talking to family members, reminiscing about how grateful and happy our life has been, then were asleep by 9:30 p.m. (an old age thing).” Dava Riivald and Jason Thomas tied the knot 12 years ago in Aspen Glen on Aug. 23, 2008 (which was also covered in this column). The happy couple married on the banks of the Roaring Fork River at the home of Jason’s mother, Sandy Burden. They lived in Aspen from 2002-10 and now reside in Denver with their daughters Madison and Olivia. To celebrate their anniversary, they went to dinner at a restaurant for the first time since March, booking a table for two at Bilboquet in Cherry Creek.

Kimberly Kuliga and Christopher Munday marked their 10th anniversary this month. The pair married on Aug. 21, 2010, at Circle R Ranch in Woody Creek which, at the time, “was owned by the Wyly family. Kelly Wyly O’Donovan is a good friend and offered us this beautiful setting and her husband Denis O’Donovan married us.” They live in Willits in Basalt with their sons Cullen and Finn. For their anniversary, they had planned to go to Spain, then moved that to Mexico, “then with homeschooling beginning and some other factors we chose to postpone travels. We had a quiet weekend at home but will celebrate in a few months.”

Dirk Schultz and Dave Lusk tied the knot on Aug. 22, 2015, in the courtyard at the Hotel Jerome. They lived in Aspen full time from 2008-17 then left for the warmer climes of Palm Springs, California. They now enjoy the best of both worlds, dividing their time between the desert and the mountains — Palm Springs in the winter and Aspen in the summer. For their fifth anniversary, they spent time with family in northern Colorado and had a private dinner by a fire pit at The Ritz-Carlton, Aspen Highlands.

Natalie Golden and Mike Shelton celebrated their first anniversary last week. The pair married on Aug. 22, 2019, at The Grand Lake Lodge in Grand Lake, Colorado, with “a short ceremony followed by a blast of a reception, with beats by the one and only DJ Dylan!”


Instead of a cake they had s’mores around a fire and after the reception, the party continued at a ranch outside of town. Natalie lived in Aspen from 2002-15, while Mike lived here from 1995-15. They now live on The Big Island, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. For their first anniversary, they had a great morning together, making breakfast, walking their dogs then going stand-up paddleboarding.

Congratulations to all of the happy couples, each of whom is making the most of this time together — in a pandemic now and ideally through it by next year’s anniversary.

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