On the morning of Mellissa Channell’s June 22 wedding, she was rushing around the Marriott Summit Watch getting ready to take pictures with her husband-to-be, Colin Watkins. She asked one of her bridesmaids if they should bring the wedding rings for the pictures.
“And then chaos kind of happened,” Channell said, who now uses her husband’s last name.
At 2 p.m. the wedding party was on the Town Lift bridge taking bridal pictures — including the special first-look moment — and family photos.
“Nobody kind of brought the rings up, because we were just all taking pictures and not really thinking about it,” Mellissa said.
It was only when they arrived at Kimball Terrace for the 4 p.m. ceremony that the couple realized the rings were missing.
“I looked at my bridesmaids, and I was like, ‘Oh, did anyone happen to pick up the rings?’ And nobody remembers seeing the box,” Mellissa said.
Last seen in the bride’s hotel room, the rings could have been left behind, or lost en route to the bridge or the ceremony site. In hopes of finding them, everyone — groomsmen, bridesmaids and photo, video and wedding planners — scrambled around town to find the little red box containing the two wedding bands. They searched the bridge and called the hotel and their shuttle service, but the rings were never found.
“We actually had to use one of the groomsmen's rings for Colin, and then I wore my wedding planner’s wedding band for the ceremony,” Mellissa said. “The most important part was that him and I both walked down the aisle and both said yes.”
After the ceremony, the wedding party decided to enjoy the reception. Mellissa was hopeful someone would find the gold-rimmed ring box in their bag or stumble upon them while getting ready to check out of the hotel, but nobody did.
So, Mellissa posted on Nextdoor and on KPCW’s lost and found announcement service asking locals to help find the rings.
Mellissa’s ring is a customized, silver wedding band with a row of clustered diamonds from Baranof Jewelers on Main Street. Colin’s is a black, gunmetal ring. Unfortunately, neither ring was insured.
The couple is now enjoying a Dominican Republic honeymoon but still hopes someone in Park City will find the rings and return them.
“If we get them back, it would honestly mean the world to us,” Melissa said.
If anyone has information about the lost wedding rings, the couple can be reached through the KPCW lost and found service.
