A Wedding in South Dakota - The Rest of the Story

Waiting patiently for the bride and groom

When I go to a wedding (or lecture or tour), I look for the unusual, the memorable, or just one good new idea. I dismiss or forget much of what I see and hear. Most of my life continues on with the same dull routines--the same eggs for breakfast, the same favorite coffee cups loaded in the dishwasher day after day, the same loads of underwear to wash week after week. Dusting. Mowing. Same same same. On cold, dark nights at home I turn to electronic media for inspiration. If there's nothing on TV, I scroll through my Facebook or Twitter accounts, or search out something on YouTube--anything to alleviate the monotony of my ordinary day. Maybe someone else is saying something funny or doing something fun. There is only one program on TV that makes me regularly laugh out loud (can you guess which one?)--a good escape from the boredom of life.


And I take photos. I am convinced my children would remember little of their childhoods if it were not for the many photos that I took of them. My photos, and these posts, are my attempt to hang on to some memories--even a few of the very ordinary ones.

 Travel has a way of shaking things up a bit, even if it's just a trip to South Dakota! Foreign travel can really mess up one's routines, and even sleep rhythms. Every day in another country is an adventure in which almost nothing is usual. I have been awed by those experiences, even plucky--but soon enough I am desperate to get back home, threatening to never leave my boring life again.

And every country I have visited has had unique modes of transportation. The Jeepneys in Manila are only found in that part of the world. (Google an image of jeepneys!) The most outstanding travel experience was a ride atop an elephant in Thailand, in a wooden box, with no seat belts--really not that safe, or comfortable, or fragrant--with all the elephants unloading their hay-lunch along the trail. I would not do it again. Just not that fun.

My recent and second trip to South Dakota in the month of September was a return to the familiar roads and cities of my youth, so it was more challenging to find the unusual. (I have already talked about the wind turbines, at length.) The focus of this trip was on the main event--getting to the church on time for my nephew's wedding in Sioux Falls. Would there be something I could note and photograph and blog?

The first unique thing I noticed about this wedding was the transportation awaiting the couple outside the church entry--a horse and carriage. My mother's only option as a youth was a horse and buggy, but I have never ridden in a carriage. Even the horse-drawn wagons used for transporting Christmas tree you-cutters are now John Deere tractor-drawn wagons...

 What a romantic way to start the married life-journey! The weather was perfect for the ride--a sunny, blue-sky, September afternoon. The horses were well behaved and I'm sure it was a safe and comfortable ride on seats of leather. I hope the horses didn't unload too much of their lunch on the way to the reception at the Old Courthouse Museum.(http://www.siouxlandmuseums.com/museums/index.asp)

Old Courthouse Museum

I was happy to catch a ride to the reception with my brother and his wife, in a car, but I am going to put a horse-drawn ride on my to-do list--they will be available this Christmas downtown Chicago (plan to go) and nearby at Meijer Gardens. Hmmm.

I don't know if the beautiful cakes below were the ones I sampled, but I had slices of several rich and delicious cheescakes. After the reception when most of the guests had left, my nephew (groom's brother) came walking down the front steps of the museum barely balancing a cheesecake. Not wanting the partially-eaten cheesecake to be tossed out, we took it back to the hotel, and well, with all the celebrating and dancing, we had room for another piece or two just before turning in for the night--dumb, memorable, and the best tasting wedding cake I've ever had!

Lovely centerpieces with battery-lit candles tossed in for sparkling effects adorned the tables. I will have to try this at home.

The cutest little junior best man ever was exhausted!

His counterpart arrived stylishly in a wagon, pulled down the center aisle, but the photo I took looked like a blurry dog going by and I couldn't edit it to look like anything more than that. I had never seen a flower girl transported in a wagon. What a lovely idea.

I am limited in the photographs I can include here because I DON'T INCLUDE FACES!! Most of my wedding pictures were of people and relatives. I am so sorry to not include any pictures of the bride and groom in this post about a wedding--but those are for them to share if they choose.

But just this one of me... I was bored stiff, sitting and watching every one else acting silly on the dance floor, so I got up and started moving various body parts. My nephew-in-law was kind enough to join me and I don't know who took this picture. If I remember correctly, I was thanking him for the time he replaced the windshield wipers on my jeep one summer and demonstrating how well they still work. My guess is that this is the last time ever for this unusual and embarrassing behavior, unless I consume large quantities of lubrication, and yes, in both senses of the word!

"Dancing" with Rose

An historic building like this one should naturally include an old-style toilet. Not having to bend to flush is great! (Have I mentioned my toilet documentary?) The underwear reference, the underwear exhibit at the museum (previous post), photo of toilet, horse poop, elephant dung--I have stepped right back into it with my four-year-old-boy's perspective of the world. You can take a girl out of farm country, but you can't take the farm out of the girl!

Which reminds me--I learned one more interesting tidbit about weddings in a city like Sioux Falls, with surrounding countryside and farms. The hotels were near capacity, with many weekend weddings. I asked the desk clerk, why? on this 24th of September? She said the wedding business is determined by the lulls between calving season, planting season, haying season, corn harvesting, etc. I had indeed stepped back into country-world.

And one more thing that was new to me. I know the United States is made up of many micro-cultures with differing regional speech, foods and customs, but I have never before seen a bride's garter auctioned off at the reception, which is usual in this community. The guests bring lots of cash to the wedding and the bride takes home a hat-full of bills! How great is that! Those of us from Chicago and Michigan did not anticipate this event and stood by with open mouths and empty hands.

This is the best I could do with the photos I could use here. It was a good weekend, which included a lunch with my two older brothers, a visit with my last remaining aunt who lives in Sioux Falls, and a brunch with the entire family group the morning after--including the new bride and groom.

In summary, no! to any more dancing, yes! to more cheesecake, and yes! to a horse-drawn carriage ride in my future.

Congratulations to the newlyweds! It was great fun!