The backdrop for the wedding — a green knoll crowned by a black wrought iron archway over a white runner rolled out for the bride and her maids — remained in place Sunday next to the charred ruins of Callahan's Siskiyou Lodge near Mount Ashland.

While the 59-year-old landmark off Interstate 5 was destroyed in a fire Saturday, the synergism of the Ashland community allowed the displaced wedding for Amber Hall, 25, and Ed Blews, 24, of Redding, to go forward in Lithia Park, just three hours after the blaze at the lodge ignited.

No one was injured in the fire, which burned the lodge to the ground Saturday.

Jackson County Fire District 5 continued to investigate the source of the fire, which is suspected to have started in the kitchen.

On Sunday, only two chimneys, a waterfall that used to stand next to the deck and the garden, where the wedding was to take place, remained of the lodge.

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Owners Ron and Donna Bergquist have not yet decided whether they will rebuild the lodge, said Anna Braje, Donna Bergquist's daughter. Braje said the couple, who live in a house next to the lodge site, did not wish to be interviewed.

A constant stream of stunned visitors came to the site Sunday to comfort the Bergquists and survey the damage, most with their own memories of spending time with loved ones at Callahan's.

"It's a shock," said David Boyd, of Ashland. "Even though I only came here once a year with family, it was such a great, old, log building. It's unbelievable that it's gone."

Bob and Joyce Robertson, of Medford, had been visiting Callahan's for 40 years.

The lodge had been the scene of their daughter's wedding reception five years ago.

"Ron and Donna put their lives into this place," Bob Robertson said, as he wiped away tears from his face. "This is a tremendous loss for the (Rogue) Valley."

Hall and Blews chose Callahan's for their wedding to add to fond memories Hall and her family had shared at the lodge over the years.

"It was a really special place to my family, and it's close to the grandparents," Hall said, "It was an alpine location, and a beautiful place. The owners are so nice, we thought it would help create a warm, hometown wedding."

After the initial panic over the blaze and concern over the well-being of its occupants, "we felt defeated," Hall recounted. "What should we do? All of these people were here, and people were on their way."

The couple's quick-thinking friends intervened, and as news spread of the couple's dilemma, help came from every corner of town in a matter of two hours, said Lynn Hall, mother of the bride.

"We really felt God intervened for us because a wedding had just finished in Lithia Park, and chairs were all set up," Lynn Hall said.

The Ashland Police Department streamlined permits for the relocated wedding for Hall and Blews in the park.

Meanwhile, at Callahan's, state troopers redirected the some 85 wedding guests to Ashland as the lodge crumbled behind them.

Hall's friends rounded up help for the wedding around town. They found local musician Matt Gwinup in Cripple Creek Music Company in Ashland who volunteered his talents for the wedding.

Shop 'N' Kart provided on-the-fly catering services and a wedding cake.

Windmill Inn and Suites of Ashland put on a reception for the couple free-of-charge and put up the members of their wedding party.

The couple was married shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday, two hours after the originally scheduled time for the ceremony.

"I was feeling like we had the best group of family and friends around us we could have ever hoped for," Hall said.

Hall and Blews met in 2002 on a plane between London and Dublin where they both were participating in a study abroad program through Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

The wedding party of 18 was staying in the lodge but were at Lithia Park for wedding photographs when the blaze ignited.

After the ceremony in the park, the couple returned the site of the fire."I felt this sense of loss," Hall said.

"At Callahan's I had this ideal image of how the wedding would be. It was all stripped away, and it became what weddings are supposed to be about: family and friends."

The couple will set off for a honeymoon in Italy Tuesday before returning to their studies in California.

Reach reporter Paris Achen by calling 541-776-4459 or pachen@mailtribune.com.