We got over to the rehearsal dinner at the country club, which was right across the street from the church, to find that many more family members had made it into town.
Oh, I forgot to mention; Ty's buddy Alan came to town for the golf and the rehearsal dinner but had to leave the next day to make it to his sister's wedding in Duluth on Saturday.
That's a buddy.
Woody, Kathy, Mike, Katelyn, Tom, Kelly, Mary. Andy, Lizzie,Kyle,Carolyn,JennaPattyMattJanelleGraydonMarcusBoband Maureen to name a few.
We had helped a teensy bit with the prep before the rehearsal but 99% of it was done by Peg and the sisters, all five of whom had arrived with their families. I met Suzy's daughters and they were as lovely as their mom and I probably met many others and I'm sure they were all delightful, as everyone I met in South Dakota was.
The dinner was burgers, brats and dogs with all the trimmings and fresh veggies from the farm. In other words: DELICIOUS. Dessert was home made brownies with hot fudge and ice cream. Someone asked me what the menu for the reception was and added "Wouldn't it be awesome if it was this again?"
The party was fun, loud and happy. The Minnesotans were all delighted to be invited back inside when they went out back for a cigar. We had forgotten what real civilization looks like.
Saturday morning dawned clear, bright and hot. Predictions had the high temps in the mid 90's. No worries; I had already decided that my dress was for this occasion and if it became a sweaty, ruined mess I didn't care; it would have served it's purpose. Ty came and got Zack to take him to the lodge where the wedding party was staying so they could all get ready together. They were at the
Pheasant Crest Lodge . Not too shabby.
We got dressed and over to the church early. I wore my new dark blue tea length swirly dress and Jay wore a brown suit. Josie and Katie wore new dresses, too. Josie's was melon orange with ruffles in front and Katie's was a very pretty vee necked mini dress sort of tie-dyed in blues, cream and brown. They both did readings and they looked as good as they sounded.
Matthew played the sax for the prelude.
The wedding party looked great. Megans dress was sleeveless, vee-necked, fitted past the waist and flared out at the bottom with sparkles down the seams and in the vee. it had a train, as well. Ty wore a dark brown tux with a pink vest and tie. His groomsmen were not in tuxes; they word dark brown pants and short sleeved button down silk shirts. Ty didn't want them horribly uncomfortable in the 100 degree heat but he said if Megan was wearing a long, hot dress, he'd wear a tux in solidarity.
The bridesmaids wore dark brown, tea length dresses with spaghetti straps and handkerchief hems. Every one looked beautiful. Even Lennis, the father of the bride, wore a pink tie for the occasion. He took off the tie the moment the pictures were done, but he wore it and he looked good in it. Peg, the mother of the bride wore a knee length dark brown silk ensemble that looked smashing on her.
I really thought I'd cry and I did choke up during each of the musical numbers. Not only did Matt play the opener beautifully but Katelyn sang the Beatles In My LIfe; which is not only a GREAT song, but was played at Jay's and my wedding a hundred years ago. Katelyn sang it beautifully. Then Tyler F., the bride's brother accompanied himself on the guitar for the second number which was also great and finally, Phanie sang the Lord's Prayer. I wanted to jump to my feet and applaud after each of them.
Ty F. had run through his song at the rehearsal the night before. When he finished, Josie asked "What is he to me, now?"
"He's your brother's brother in law," I told her. "The same as Margy is to Pam." What I was thinking was
WAY TOO OLD FOR YOU.
Tyler clowned very slightly during his vows; he paused a beat between saying "Will talk......and listen" and the pastor called him a comedian. Naturally, when it was time for Zack to produce the rings, he made a big show of searching all his pockets.
"Another comedian." the pastor said. I don't know if the pastor was at the reception and saw Zack's best man speech, later. He would've enjoyed it.
Best of all, when it was done TYLER AND MEGAN WERE MARRIED.
Some members of both the Pivec clan and the Hubbell clan tried to round up everyone for family photos but that was like herding cats so the plan was abandoned. The Pivecs mostly hightailed it out of the church to the American Legion club (there was a slight lag between ceremony and reception so the wedding party could finish with pictures) and the Hubbell clan congregated at our lodge so the guys could change out of their suits and the girls could start drinking wine. We hit both parties, Jay changed out of his suit into his dancing clothes and we all headed out to the ranch of the party.
Let me just say right now, those South Dakota Cowboys know how to throw a party.
Is there anything better than live music outside?
No, there is not.
Throw in pork tenderloin sandwiches, all the trimmings and strawberry shortcake while the sun sets and you swear you've died and gone to heaven.
Even though it was hotter than hell.
Okay, not hotter, but as hot. 100 degrees under the tent.
But the sun went down, the temps became reasonable and it was time for Zack's speech.
He stood up in the spotlight, put his arm around his older brother, put on his shades and began with "Because the sun never sets on cool." His speech was very funny. He described visiting Tyler last spring and Megan made them a big bacon and egg breakfast.
"That's when I knew that Tyler should marry her; he had always been a cereal guy."
Afterward, more than one person told me that Zack might be the funniest person they know. I don't write it nearly as funny as Zack delivered it; his comic timing is impeccable.
After the speeches and the dinner the band set up and the Budweiser truck opened the taps. The music was Lennis and the band he's been playing with since high school. Megan had told me that her dad and his band played classic country, which I love, but they started the night with a Keith Urban cover, so it wasn't all Johnny Cash and George Jones. In fact Lennis and the boys ROCKED THE PRAIRIE ALL NIGHT LONG.
Before they started, the band said "We know the South Dakotans can dance and we know the Texans here can dance, but we're not so sure about the Minnesotans."
I marched over to Molly and Phanie and said "I believe he just threw down."
"Bring it on." Molly said.
She and Phanie, Mary, Lizzie, Carolyn and Katelyn are all professional dancers. Not that there was any Tap or Jazz numbers on the playlist, but not one of Twinkle Toes Pivec's descendants are capable of sitting still when there's music playing.
So we danced.
We danced like our lives depended on it.
And those cowboys can dance, baby!!
I told a bunch of my nieces and nephews that I was not drunk (I wasn't) and I was not going to get drunk (I didn't) but I was going to dance as though I were. So I did.
We all did.
The kids had a blast.
Lennis and his band played a long set and while they took a break, Zack had put together a dance playlist on his computer so the music never stopped. When the live band was on break, we had Roger Clyne, Jimmy Buffet, Mike Doughty, Beyonce and Sir Mixalot, to name just a few.
Megan had asked Margy's son, Logan to play a number with the band. She had heard Logan play last Thanksgiving when she and Ty visited Denver. I don't think Logan thought she was serious.
I said "Logan, you should get up there with them and do Johnny B. Good."
"Do you think they know Johnny B. Good?" He asked me.
"I'm pretty sure they do." I told him. So he went and asked and they said at the start of the second set, they'd bring him up. I don't know what Lennis and his band expected, but Logan plugged in and....well if there had been a roof on the place, he'd have blown it off. I could tell by the looks on the old guys' faces that they were impressed and in the morning Lennis told Ty "Well, your cousin sure stole the show."
Logan played two numbers and I think it's safe to say, he's addicted to performing in front of an audience. When he was done, Vince asked him to sign his stomach.
The drinking, dancing, singing, laughing and cigar smoking went on into the wee small hours of the night. Part of the beauty of a party at the ranch is no neighbors to complain about the noise.
When it got hot, or we got tired of dancing, all we had to do was step off a few feet from the twinkly lights and look up at the sky.
You can't see the stars when you live in town. Holy Heaven's Batman. We saw two shooting stars in a ten minute period.
I danced with all the groomsmen. We had so much fun. Phil, Brian and Shep each said to me at different times of the night "Who knew South Dakota was the place to party?!" I also noticed later in the night that Phil and Shep were both quite taken with Jenna. Well, Jenna is gorgeous so why not?
Logan and Cary were both a bit miffed with Josie. They couldn't believe that they had never met Carolyn before. All these years, Josie had been holding out on them, but now they had met and boy, did they have fun.
Margy, Jay and I were exhausted by about 1:30 a.m. but we didn't want to drag the kids away while they were having so much fun so we sat and waited till they collapsed. We finally made it back to the lodge right around 2:00 and Lennis was still on stage rocking when we left.
Never get involved in a land war in Asia, never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line and never try to out party a South Dakota cowboy.
