A group of smiling couples gathered outside of the Loveland Visitors Center Monday afternoon, ready to profess their love in marriage or renew the vows they made to each other as part of an annual Sweetheart City tradition.
The 2022 Loveland Valentine’s Day Group Wedding and Vow Renewal ceremony welcomed 34 couples from across Northern Colorado and across the country to celebrate Valentine’s Day with each other alongside other loving couples.
Christine Forster, president of My Big Day — the marketing and events organization that runs the event — said the group wedding began several years ago. She said the idea came from hearing others during the Valentine’s season say that there should be some sort of group wedding event in Loveland, adding “who wouldn’t want to get married on Valentine’s Day in the Sweetheart City.”
She said after she approached the city of Loveland about kicking it off, it was decided that My Big Day would be in charge of running the event with the support and cheerleading of the city behind the company.
While the event has run smoothly over the last several years, the pandemic changed plans drastically as Forster and her team had to pivot to offer the wedding in 2021.
She said they planned to stage last year’s group wedding outside at the Chapungu Sculpture Park in east Loveland, but an overnight weather change pushed the event to its plan B, using an indoor location in the Promenade Shops at Centerra.
Despite a burst waterline, frigid temperatures and the overarching difficulties of the pandemic, Forster said the event ran smoothly and people were able to be part of the yearly tradition.
This year, the wedding was able to return to normal, taking place outside at the Loveland Love sign along U.S. 34.
Forster said the only significant change to the event this year was the day that it landed on; she said that while they have been able to have the event on a weekend for the last few years, this time it fell on a Monday.
But, she said, a weekday wedding did not change the importance of holding the wedding on Valentine’s Day itself.
“We feel strongly and couples say that (they) want to get married on Valentine’s Day,” she said. “If we did it on a Saturday around Valentine’s Day it would not be the same on the marriage certificate.”
The 34 couples that gathered ranged from those excited to start their journey in marriage to those who had been married for many years.
Mark and Shannon Huckaby, who will have been married 22 years in just a few weeks, came to renew their vows and celebrate the time they have been living in Loveland.
Mark Huckaby — whose name coupled with his wife’s name make them the Shark couple, a years-old joke that graced the shirts they wore and the rings they exchanged — said they moved to Loveland from Florida around a year ago to be with their son, who lives in town. While they may move back soon, they wanted to celebrate what Loveland had given to them.
“It’s to commemorate our time here in Loveland,” he said. “It’s great. What a great town.”
Tanner and Arianna Teaff of Greeley came to renew their vows after five years of marriage, along with their 20-month old daughter Noelani.
Tanner said that Arianna had come up with the idea, and the couple decided to go ahead and be part of the celebrations.
“It was a spur of the moment thing,” Arianna Teaff said.
“(We thought) let’s do it,” Tanner added.
Toni Marie Lujan and Eddie Herrera were among the couples saying “I do” for the first time. Lujan, now Herrera, said as a lifetime Loveland resident, she thought that it would be a great way to continue on the seven years she and Herrera have been together.
“Why not be part of this festivity for our Sweetheart City,” she said. “It was a lot of fun to be part of this.”
Forster said the event is an overall win, bringing people from across the country to Loveland and offering a truly unique show of love.
“It just adds to the overall importance and romanticism of the day and everything there is for folks to do on Valentine’s Day,” she said. “It is the perfect compliant to all the other offerings the city has.”
As the couples shared a kiss, laughs and smiles all around, Todd Harding, the wedding’s officiant left the couples with a positive send-off.
“Congratulations,” he said. “You’re married.”
