The wedding Belle

By MARK MAYNARD - The Independent

ASHLAND July 20, 2008 12:27 am

— It was a wedding reception made especially for Griffin Mason and Danielle Curd.
And in the memorable department, this one’s off the charts.
Saturday’s wedding reception for Mason and Curd took place on the Cincinnati Belle riverboat. Friends and family boarded the boat at the Ashland boat ramp for a cruise down the Ohio River.
For the happy couple, the river reception was fitting.
“They met houseboating,” said the groom’s mother, Marilyn Mason. “We’re giving them this reception as a wedding gift. It’s been a real big deal to get it all together.”
The plans for the riverboat reception were hatched in January by the groom’s father, Bernie Mason. The groom’s parents inquired about renting the boat, but found transportation costs to be enormous.
After getting a few more bookings down the Ohio River from Cincinnati, the cost came down enough to be affordable for the Masons. The Cincinnati Belle also made stops in Huntington, Charleston and Ironton on the way here.
The groom’s mother said because of the couple’s love of all things water, the river cruise for a wedding reception seemed perfect.
“Everything else is boating during their courtship,” she said. “It’s a very personal event for them.”
Both sets of parents own houseboats.
The Belle can accommodate about 1,000, but there were about 400 on the dinner cruise, the groom’s mother said. The couple were married at Bridges Christian Church in Russell and then ushered to the boat dock for the reception and evening cruise.
“They do everything with boating,” the groom’s mother said. “He’s (Griffin) been the ‘dock baby’ at Grayson Lake. He’s been the youngest there for a long time. He has so many close friends who are our age and older. The water, it’s his love.”
The groom, who works in the marine division at Marathon, said the water has become an important part of his life.
“That’s what we do as a hobby,” he said. “That’s what makes this kind of a neat thing all the way around. I think it really suits our lifestyle.”
The 24-year-old groom spent most of his summers on the baseball field. He was a standout high school player at Boyd County, graduating in 2002. The bride graduated from Russell High School the same year.
The bride’s parents, Tom and Lisa Adams, introduced their daughter to her husband-to-be.
“I knew her parents three or four years before I knew her,” the groom said. “I knew of her, but didn’t really know her.”
The couple clicked right away. Their story now includes a unique wedding story.
“We’re really low-key people,” the groom said. “That’s why this is kind of unusual, too. They (parents) started out with the idea and it absolutely exploded. I never dreamed of anything like this.”
The groom said his wife’s love of water helped bond their relationship.
“She loved it as much as I did,” he said. “I’ve dated other girls through it all and some loved it and some hated it. But she really loved it. That carried a lot of weight with me.”
As nice as the wedding and reception were for the –––couple, it’s also been a lot of fun for those planning the events.
“Our parents are having as big a time as we are,” the groom said.
MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

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