Tri-State Tour

My good friend, Nicole Gilbert, got married this weekend in Aberdeen, SD - aka 'the hub city'. The wedding was on Friday and since I was reading in the wedding, I headed West on Thursday so I could make it to the rehearsal/grooms dinner.

I have been to Aberdeen a few times, but have never driven from Minneapolis to Aberdeen. Wow, what a drive. There is really no good way to get to Aberdeen. I'm pretty sure I didn't take the most efficient route, either. I took Highway 12 the entire way. I wish I would have counted the number of one-horse towns I saw. Most of them were pretty dull, but some offered some excitement...

Unfortunately since I was doing this drive solo, I was not able to stop & take a photo (I found this picture on 'roadsideamerica.com' - it's popular enough to warrant a story).

The rehearsal on Thursday night was great - the Groom's parents hosted us at their house for a low key evening. I think that Abby's Groom's dinner next August will have a similar vibe. Nicole & Steve even had a signature drink for the evening which was kind of a mudslide-flavored blended icecream drink, which was crafted by the best man, Joey (pictured below with Nicole).

The wedding started at 6 pm on Friday - it was a wonderful ceremony. Nicole looked absolutely gorgeous.

We then headed to the Ramada for the reception. The reception was beautiful! Her colors were a sort of spice orange which looked almost peachish - gorgeous color for an August wedding. The men wore chocolate brown tuxes, so these 2 colors were the focus of the reception. Check out the decor of the head table -- It was in the center of the room, which I really like. Not a huge fan of the long, head table in the front of the reception room. I think it's a bit awkward to be sort of 'on display' while you are eating, so would prefer a set up like this where you are in the center of the reception.

Many of my close college friends were at the wedding so it was a nice little Delta Gamma reunion for us! We even sang a little Delta Gamma song for Nicole while the band was dealing with technical issues!

The nice thing about a Friday wedding is that you still have the rest of the weekend to enjoy. I headed north out of Aberdeen to a town I spent a LOT of time in when I was in High School - Oakes, ND. I stopped by the parents of my HS boyfriend, Brian Wolff, and had lunch with them. Probably sounds odd, but they were like a 2nd set of parents when Brian & I dated, and I have kept in touch with Brian & his family.

Then I headed West to Wyndmere to spend the night with my parents. I stopped by my grandparents house - my grandma is such an awesome host. She had a plate of different cookies & lemonade for us. Was great to have a chance to visit with grandma & grandpa!

In total, I put about 650 miles on my car this weekend... so really did get quite the tour of Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota... All I can say is Thank God for my iPod, Pete. Without him, all that driving would have been much, much less enjoyable!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends!