Back in August, The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s daughter got engaged and had a mask free engagement party in Texas. At the time of the party, the amount of people and conditions were in defiance of the area’s lockdown restrictions. Since that highly Instagrammable event, apparently all wedding plans have gone forward, COVID be damned. Daughter Alex’s wedding to Mauricio Scott is set to take place on May 1 at the family compound in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
The Drummond household is in full wedding planning mode!
In a new blog post, Ree Drummond shared all the latest details about her daughter Alex’s upcoming wedding to fiancé Mauricio Scott — including that the event will be held on May 1 at the family’s ranch in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
The Pioneer Woman star, 52, said that while the couple — who got engaged in August 2020 — looked at several venues in Tulsa, “Alex and Mauricio ultimately decided that the ranch would be the best place for them to say ‘I do.’ ”
“It’s where Alex grew up, and it just feels like the right place,” said Ree, who is also mom to sons Bryce, 18, and Todd, 17, daughter Paige, 21, and foster son, Jamar, 18.
Ree said that her family members “are so excited” for Alex and Mauricio’s wedding and are prepared for whatever may happen, likely referencing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect weddings around the world.
“I sense from speaking to friends and family—and just hearing from people through my blog and social media—a collective exhaustion from all the pain, change, chaos, upheaval, and loss,” she said. “But I’m also starting to see a collective HOPE ❤️that things will get better sooner rather than later…and I’m embracing that feeling.”
In Ree’s blog post, she details all the plans, like the one above about how they decided on the ranch as a venue because it felt right. I can only imagine that when they “looked” at venues in Tulsa, it was from a moving vehicle as they drove to the nearest shoe store. Note to future Drummond fiancé(e)s, you are all going to “decide” the ranch just feels right. Ree also said Alex found her dress at the first shop they went to in Dallas and that everyone cried. They’ve found a band and compiled what sounds like an extensive guest list. And it sounds like all the invitations have gone out.
The excerpt said Ree is referring to COVID when she spoke of being “ready for whatever comes,” but she said outright she was referring to thunderstorms because they are having the wedding outside. To their credit, and probably because of the size of the guest list, they are having the wedding in open tents. But Ree is talking about the pandemic in the latter part of her comments, the part about “a collective exhaustion” and such. This wedding will happen regardless of any government orders. If Alex’s engagement party was more important than the health of the Dallas community, then her wedding will be more important than the entire state of Oklahoma. And I don’t doubt Ree sees this wedding as a part of the “collective HOPE” of this nation, like it’s something we need to get through this dark time. I don’t begrudge a bride who wants her dream wedding. But I do question a bride who puts the wedding before the health of her bridal party and guests. If a big wedding is so important, simply wait until you receive the all clear. If getting married is more important, do a virtual ceremony with just the two of you in a safe environment. Again, I’m not saying postponing all our celebrations or reinventing them doesn’t suck. But nothing is more important that the health of our population right now and if we all focused on that, we could get back to celebrating as planned.
Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images
I wondered who bought all of those flowy blouses at Kohl’s
I dont know where she gets them from originally, but she sells them, they’re all her own line, LOL. You too can dress like Ree!
I bought her magazine over Christmas just to see what was in it. It’s awful. Everything is so tacky, especially the stuff with her name on it. I do like her cookbooks, but they’re just rehashed church cookbooks. Nothing original.
Funny story, Years ago I used to have an infertility blog (fast forward, I have 3 kids) and she was a regular reader/commenter. She would email me recipes and stuff if I referenced something in a post and I would wonder who she was but didn’t think anything of it because that was years before you just met someone online and then became friends like you sometimes do now. Then one day I looked at her blog and she had like 2500 comments on a post and I was like “hmmm, I should have been friendlier. I could have been invited to the ranch!”
Haha!
My first thought was “This woman owns a LOT of ugly shirts.”
I don’t mind flowy shirts, but I don’t like any of the ones she is wearing.
I. Am. Crying. thanks for that big shot of ha ha ha ha (still laughing)
I know, me too. *wipes tears*
Her daughter is only 23. Why you can’t put off the wedding for an additional year so everyone can stay safe and not get sick makes no sense. I feel for those in their mid 30s who may want family soon and feel another year is a lot to wait for their “dream” wedding but…23? come on.
Or just have the ceremony now and the big celebration a year from now.
It’s almost as if the celebration were more important than the marriage.
I know a few people who got married during the pandemic, and that’s exactly what they did. Just a few witnesses, outside, and then plan for a big reception when it’s safe to do so.
I hope I made it safe to do an outdoor wedding, but it’s still risky, and the fact that they had an engagement party and didn’t give a crap about any of the Covid stuff says all I need to know.
One of my coworkers has a son who is engaged and he and the bride to be want it ALL and they want it NOW, pandemic be damned. Eye roll.
“It’s almost as if the celebration were more important than the marriage.”
You nailed it. I cannot tell you how many weddings I saw posted on FB this past year, along with bachelorette parties (one bride had two different ones with a big group, complete with themed, personalized merchandise for each one), engagement parties, showers. Masks are mostly novelty items. One MAGA bridezilla from my old gym keeps posting about all the big pre-wedding parties that are coming up between now and her wedding in August. I can’t.
If it was me I’d hold off until summer at least, that way more people will be vaccinated and because it’s summer it could be outside and much safer. I feel if one must marry now it must be very small. What is the hurry to wed for them? Summer would be so much better, or next winter if the are dreaming of a white Christmas wedding. I have being delaying things for a year, what is a few more months. They strike me as coming from the dark side but forgive me if they are not trump fans, I don’t know them.
My partner and I got married last year and that’s exactly what we did…outside, three friends social distanced, including the officiant. Took video for the parents and everyone else. It was honestly lovely. No reason her kid couldn’t do that, other than MAGA BS.
My cousin’s son, and his now wife, just cancelled for the second time what was originally their wedding, then became their post wedding celebration, scheduled for May in Cancun. His wife is from Mexico, and her extended family lives there, so for them it wasn’t really a “destination” wedding. They got married in a (US) registrar/county clerk’s office in July, because they had no idea how long the pandemic would last, there was paperwork to get started, and they just wanted to be married. That celebration was dinner with his parents, outside at a restaurant.
In the email about the cancellation, they said many of the hotels in the area, including the one where their event was to take place, are still going ahead with weddings that were scheduled, which probably includes lots of Americans. Sheesh.
Oh, no, not in Texas. We’re proceeding as normal, COVID be damned. *eyeroll* I’m not surprised in the least of this impending wedding.
My cousin is late 20s. Was supposed to get married last August but they postponed it until this coming April hoping everything would magically be back to normal. Since it’s not they have now moved the wedding down to Florida where everything is open and most of their family won’t be attending now. Of course they have already been down their for the bachelor/bachelorette parties, a couple have already gotten covid and they don’t really care about wearing masks so….I’m not surprised in the least.
Yes, my friend just got married via a Zoom ceremony! She is an American living abroad, so they had a marriage officiant from Provo, Utah hold them a Zoom marriage.
(Provo county in Utah does something special? Like they hold a legit Zoom wedding? My American friend abroad found out and was married the next day!!!)
My hubs and I did backyard with my parents and his family on Zoom. We are very lucky to be expecting a baby boy now. I am in my 30s and sure a big wedding seemed fun when I was 14, but I’m just happy to be with him and keep our lives moving forward while respecting all the guidelines of safety. I’m sure it’s a bigger deal for some, but I would just have a ceremony when it’s safe and do a small thing in the now if it’s that important to them.
I have a friend in her 50s who got married (for the first time) in the early days of the pandemic. They cancelled everyone but her elderly parents, who sat all the way on the other side of the hall from them and the officiant. I thought it was really sweet. A little sad they couldn’t have done a bigger thing, but so happy they found a way for her parents to come still.
Any reasonable person is making accommodations. I have sympathy for the people who had already planned their big parties and paid their deposits before this all hit. I’m sure that was a tough call. But anyone who got engaged post-pandemic should have foreseen this as a possibility.
Something I find difficult to understand about all the people who insist on continuing to live their lives like there is no pandemic (huge weddings, entire family traveling for Christmas, extended family thanksgiving, continuing to take the normal vacation to Disney world or whatever, is that making do and sacrificing during unprecedented times is kind of special and romantic. The story of how your grandparents got married at the court house right before grandpa went to war because it was all they could afford is romantic. The stories about how that one year there was such a blizzard at Thanksgiving that the extended family couldn’t get together and it was just mom and dad and little Jimmy eating a make-do Thanksgiving dinner of chicken casserole are sweet and memorable. The story of how your parents’ car broke down right before the big family vacation so you all spent the week camping out in the backyard and running through the sprinkler instead of making it to the hotel is a great story. None of these things are things people would likely choose for themselves if they had the option to pick the grand wedding, or the full family thanksgiving, or the resort holiday, but the making do results in really special, unique stories about how you did the best you could and actually ended up with a wedding/holiday/vacation that was unlike any other and what you realized was that what was really important was the marriage/being thankful/spending time having fun with your family.
While I was sad about not being able to gather with my extended family for thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I was actually kind of excited to do something different and more intimate because it would be a unique memory and a story we could all tell later about how we sacrificed during covid and ate cereal for Christmas lunch and then video chatted with the family and IT WAS GREAT.
When this couple’s children and grandchild ask them to tell them about what life was like during the pandemic, and what crazy and different things did they have to do, and what sacrifices did they make, they’re not going to have anything to tell them. “Oh we basically pretended it didn’t happen and had a wedding that was exactly like a normal wedding. You can just open up a bridal magazine from anywhere between 1999-2019 to any random page and that’s basically what our wedding was.” Oh. Okay.
This is such a great point, what kind of stories will we be telling decades down the road? Despite the pain and hardships, I’ll be able to tell a few quirky pandemic stories about how I spent Christmas alone and made do with the situation in creative ways. So many people are going to be like “what pandemic?“ This is basically our generations’ war time and not a lot of people will have much to say
about it down the road.
Because Drummond is a Trumper who doesnt think COVID is enough of a thing to impact her wealthy rancher’s wife’s life, complete with down home instgrammable wedding on the ranch situation.
My son went to a wedding back in February, right before Covid really exploded and everything started shutting down. He felt sick about two weeks later, for a day or so. In May, he got tested for antibodies and was positive. A couple of other people who had been at his table got it too.
Weddings right now are a bad idea.
Yeah it sucks, we are in a truly terrible situation that is causing pain and misery to millions. But I still wouldn’t want to put ‘take a good chance at making guests ill and potentially killing them or other people in the chain of infection’ on my wedding registry list.
I tend to have an overly active sense of guilt, so take this for what it’s worth… I don’t think I would ever be able to forgive myself if someone got very sick, or got very sick and died, because of me. I wonder how a bride would feel if her wedding was the reason that Grandpa died, or how a groom would feel if his mom died because of the party? Not that a wedding isn’t a wonderful event or anything… I just don’t think it’s worth killing someone over. And sure, there have been plenty of events where people DIDN’T die, but I wouldn’t want that anywhere near my conscience.
Exactly. It’s not (just) about you.
I agree wholeheartedly. I can’t imagine taking a chance even if the numbers were a lot better than now. I have a niece who was supposed to get married last spring, and had to cancel. As the months went on they decided to have a tiny ceremony in her sister’s garden. It was the bride and groom, parents, and her sister and his brother as attendants. They hired a company to set up cameras and live streamed the wedding with a guy from that company handling the cameras from his business location. They took Covid tests and then temperatures on the day. It was beautiful! It was so intimate, and yet we all shared in it. Their plan now is to have a celebration in the fall, or maybe at Christmas. But they already had their wedding and it was unique and lovely!
I so agree with you Noodle. Why soil your happy memories with the after effects of people getting sick or even worse. How selfish and narrow minded.
I think that their entire family, especially Ree could care less about anyone but themselves! What a selfish and inconsiderate plan to hold a large wedding in the middle of a pandemic. It’s apparent that they feel that the rules don’t apply to them since the held an engagement party without following the rules.
My daughters best friend was engaged, in Austin, and they had a wedding in October with strict protocols and held the event via zoom. The wedding was outside with a maximum of 10 people. My daughter and her boyfriend attended and they immediately spent a week in the Smoky Mountains.
I don’t understand why people are so selfish to continue as life is perfectly fine when there are thousands of people dying everyday needlessly. I hope that the state/county fine they an enormous amount of money for conducting such a event.
I agree. That Maine wedding story always comes to mind. I think 8 people died as a result – and none of them attended the wedding, but got covid from those who did.
I can’t imagine being so selfish and careless.
My friends and I were going to do an outdoor, socially distanced get together back in November, and ultimately decided that even with the precautions, it was still too risky with the spiking numbers, and no one wanted to infect each other, our friends’ families, etc. Especially those with older parents. I miss them all terribly, but I’d rather us all still be alive to reunite when it’s safe.
And that’s a guarantee with this kind of wedding. So who wants to host a murder-wedding? Evidently these people, who I’m pretty sure would claim to be “pro-life.” Is it not murder if you don’t know the names of the people who died because of you?
You assume everyone has a conscience. The few bridezillas I know (all from my old gym), who are going full steam ahead with their wedding plans as if there is not a pandemic raging, would find someone/something else to blame if someone got sick or died as a result of their events. I’m sure of it. If they cared, they would be scaling back or postponing.
I”m really starting to dislike this woman and her family. It’s all for show to promote the life style brand.
Exactly. They don’t think they should be inconvenienced in the slightest in their pursuit of money and fame. Unfortunately, they won’t pay the price for this. It will be the families of cater waiters, photographers and florists who will suffer. And Ree and her family will take zero responsibility for their cruel selfishness that cost lives.
My friend & I moved to a small town this year where the only place to shop is Walmart & we LOVE her homegoods. Our place is boho/vintage & it “fits” in our kitchen where we have kids make cookies together, etc. Was kind of a shame buy…
Can we all agree the “big wedding” is a tacky American sickness? It’s like Christmas in July, no?
My maga MIL got me her holiday cookbook years ago for Christmas. Haven’t cracked it once and am about to toss it now, should I or does anyone know if it has any legit recipes?
I made a prawn stir fry of hers that was pretty yummy. Lots of people allege she steals recipes from cookbooks church members compile of their own recipes. I’m sure a lot is good!
Her Best Tomato Soup Ever is delicious and simple. I tried watching her show once but her voice was too annoying.
Her holiday cookbook is my favorite. I make her burgundy mushrooms every christmas. Her turkey recipe is really good too. I also love her everything bagel casserole. And her chicken nuggets recipe taste almost exactly like CFA. Her first cookbook is also really good, and her dinnertime cookbook. My mom likes come and get it. (my mom buys me every one, DONT JUDGE ME, they’re in my kitchen anyway so I use them!) Also her meatloaf and cinnamon rolls and penne a la betsy (from her first one) are awesome.
She is SUPER picture heavy though and very step by step, and she’s gotten worse with each cookbook.
Like, rather than saying you need one onion, chopped, she’ll say you need one onion. Then there are 3 or 4 steps about chopping the onion and putting it into the pan.
Now all that said, I cant stand her show because her voice IS annoying. In her first cookbook, she gave a lot of credit to sources – “my mom used this recipe every year,” or “this is my friend’s recipe.” she doesnt really do that in her later cookbooks. And i’m sure that at this point, all of her recipes are from her recipe creators or whatever they’re called, and arent even from church cookbooks, so there’s nothing original about them, but very little credit is given.
Thanks for the tips everyone and @Becks especially for the specific recipes in this book. I will now put it back in the cabinet and hopefully be able to thumb through it soon. I did notice that it is very picture heavy and step by step about everything so we’ll see if I like this style.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the wedding turns into a special episode for her show, like the Kardashians.
So I follow similar people on Instagram and they are ALL #marriedtomybestfried or #obsessedwithjesus and their friends all work for MLMs and pyramid schemes and I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m from Europe, but it fascinates me that so many of these folks get married at 21 or 22, seem to identify as mega Christians, and yet are all about materialism or ignoring Covid??? So guessing that this group of people are also in this vibe (including the bridesmaids all belonging to a sorority whatever that is and weeping in front of the engraved invitations). What’s the rush to get married????
Chastity-before-marriage pressure. The signed paperwork means freedom to bone.
Oh, let’s not pretend there is any chastity. They’re boning, but with paperwork, they will not longer be judged for pre-wedding deeds by the rest of the mega-Christians. *eyeroll*
I’m from Southern Idaho and this was completely the case with Mormons when I was a kid. Get married young so you can have sex and then have a bunch of kids. I do think a fair amount were doing all sorts of things that they didn’t consider to be sex so they could still say they were virgins when they got married. I’m not conservative, so it seems silly.
Man oh man did you hit the nail on the head!
I think its also that, for people like Alex Drummond, she’s not going to do anything else. This is her life – I’m sure she’ll build a house on her parents land and work with her mom on her show and her businesses and her kids will grow up in Pawhuska and learn to work the ranch (the Drummonds actually do ranch, of course with help, but they are out there) – she’s not going to grad school, she’s not getting a job in corporate america, etc. Her life is set for the next 50 years so why not get married this young? That’s the mindset I think anyways.
I get that, so why not wait a year? Or have a small intimate ceremony and then a huge party a few years later.
I don’t know, I’m just so confused by all these blondes and their Essential Oil Jesus schtick.
Oh in this situation they should definitely wait, I just think that’s the overall mindset in getting married so young. I dont get the impression the Drummonds are super mega Christians in general though – they’re Presbyterian and although she homeschooled them when they were younger, that was mainly to cut down on the driving time to school.
My mom is a REALLY big Pioneer Woman fan. I know way too much about these people, LOL.
They’re not going to wait a year because the entire family will cash in on it. I’m sure And that’s the ultimate goa here. These people are rich, white and privilege. They don’t care about spreading COVID. They just care about the money.
I actually don’t know about that tbh. From what I can understand, these people aren’t really *that* sort of “down home country folk”, tbh. Alex went to Texas A&M. She had a job lined up in Dallas before the pandemic. Ree’s husband went to college somewhere fancy-ish (I can’t recall where exactly). Ree herself grew up on what she says was the third hole on a golf course in what seems to be a very cushy upper class suburb in Oklahoma, and her plan was to go to law school (or so she says). They take vacations to go skiing in Colorado. Her MIL was also the wife of a country rancher, who went on her honeymoon to Hawaii. These people seem like they’re about as cosmopolitan as they can get, in spite of their image as a bunch of rugged ranchers who work the land and the cattle for a living.
So I really don’t think Alex’s decision to get married has anything to do in particular with her being on the ranch or wanting to be a part of the family business or anything. I think it probably has more to do with who Alex is friends with, particularly her friends from growing up and through college. Her friends are ALL very much the super churchy, evangelical sorority types, and they all seem to have boyfriends, or got engaged/married while they were in college or just as soon as they graduated. The sort of women who get married, have kids, and start a lifestyle blog/”small business” doing art prints or handmade stuffed animals or something like that, while their husband goes to law school. I feel like that has more to do with it than anything else.
She is not the first person in her friend group to get married, and not even the youngest in her friend group to get married, and her friends are all seemingly college educated, suburban raised, normal people, who just happen to be very very Christian in the American sort of way. I think that has more to do with it than the fact that her family is one of the largest and wealthiest landowners in the state of Oklahoma, if not the entire United States of America.
Sara, I cackled at “all these blondes and their Essential Oil Jesus schtick.” Thank you for the laugh!
This is petty, but I think the girl on the right (Alex? Paige? Can’t tell) in the header photo is too blonde for the rest of her coloring.
Sara, lol.
A, I think this is exactly right. I see so many young women just following the exact same path in the exact same order. It’s like an assembly line and it makes me really happy that my own college age kids march to their own drummers and don’t care much for societal expectations. Some norms in this country could really use some shaking up.
Ree is from Bartlesville, which isnt really the swanky suburb she portrays it as. (its also not that far from Pawhuska so her whole shtick about how she had no idea who he was is just wrong, or else she is super naive and sheltered, lol) I dont know where Ladd went – his father went to Stanford for school – but they all come back to the ranch and that’s their world. Her MIL was married to her husband’s father, LOL, so she was a ranching wife for her whole life and then the ranch passed to the sons. I think Alex’s job in Dallas was going to disappear as soon as she got engaged anyway, it just happened that it worked out with the pandemic that she never really worked there and now she is fully immersed in her mom’s show and the businesses. I would be very surprised if 3/4 of the kids dont settle on the ranch/in the area.
At any rate, you’re also kind of making my point – this line – “The sort of women who get married, have kids, and start a lifestyle blog/”small business” doing art prints or handmade stuffed animals or something like that, while their husband goes to law school. I feel like that has more to do with it than anything else.” is pretty much my point. this was always going to be what Alex Drummond did – get married, have kids, and live that kind of SAHM life. I just think she was always going to come back to Pawhuska to do it.
That doesnt mean they dont have money and dont travel, but they are very attached to their land. For example, Ree and Ladd went to Australia for their honeymoon and Ladd was calling home almost every day, and they cut the HM short because he wanted to get back to the ranch.
They are one of the wealthiest ranching families in OK, Becks1, with a few hundred million in the bank and 400,000 acres. They may do some of the ranch work themselves but they have more than a little help. The downhome attitude is part of her routine. They spent something like 500,000 outfitting a ‘spare house’ on the ranch to turn it into her tv studio kitchen. She’s a wingnut Trumper who hides it to her audience better than some, mostly because it makes her money to hide her politics.
I agree. Big expensive weddings feel like an American sickness. Cringe like year-round Christmas stores?
As an American I totally agree.Don’t get me wrong I won’t judge big weddings (when we aren’t in a pandemic)but I personally think a small ceremony or even a very simple civil ceremony is very classy in a less is more way…But I’m probably in the minority idk.
Personally I think it’s a ridiculous thing to spend tons of money on, especially when the bride and groom are not well off to begin with. But too many have bought into the idea that they have to do it, they want their princess moment, etc.
It’s not actually about loving jesus or even living by the principles he laid out in the bible. It’s about using your religion as a big stick to bash everyone else over the head with how you think they should live and smugly turning up to church on Sunday satisfied that you’re better than everyone else.
Ugh. So disappointing. I have friends who live in Pawhuska and I hope they stay safe from this uber privilege.
Hope does not protect from corona virus. If this was my daughter I would urge a delay but if not then a small ceremony now and a reception on their anniversary.
I’m not surprised. Despite all the legitimate criticism she has faced over the years, she has always just ignored it and plowed right ahead. She knows who her base is (white, Christian, Trump supporters), so she’s not going to let something like a pandemic stop her now. She’s got a brand to sell and she’s going to sell it.
But then when they (this privileged group of people) actually catch the virus, they shroud it in secrecy and the only thing they manage to quarantine is their collective pool of who they tell, because the virus is only a political tool meant to control us, right?
I know this because my kids go to and ultra exclusive private elementary and one of the kids was on face time with my kids and told them that their parents had covid and “thought they were going to die.” And that’s why the kid “missed school that day”. The next day at school the kid tells my kid that they can’t talk to them for the next couple weeks because they were punished for telling them they had covid.
Of course I called the school and told them.
Oh wow,I’ve kept from commenting on this but my daughter’s school is the same.Do our kids go to the same school?? lol-except I’m not really laughing.My daughter is a senior or else she would not be going to this school anymore they were always conservative but I told my daughter it’s alright to respectfully disagree ,and things were fine,but covid has brought out the worst in what was once a mostly nice school.Now mask wearing (which is mandatory,thankfully… )but was not enforced until parents began reporting them,ugh.
When covid cases happen it’s all hush hush.
We just get our child out with a doctors note when we hear of cases,thankfully the kids talk so they can’t hide this but I swear they try.
Stay safe !
I had Covid toward the end of last year and I was sick for six full weeks and I’m still suffering DAILY with symptoms. I’ve lost weight, I’m too weak to do many things, and I pulled a chest muscle coughing that still feels tight.
And you know the worst part, I BARELY LEFT THE HOUSE ALL YEAR. I was intensively adherent to the rules and regulations, wore my mask, distanced like crazy, and I still got it. And I know it’s because I came into contact with someone who went to something like this. The selfishness, the tone deaf nature of this whole affair, and every grandiose thing about this just infuriates me as I sit in the same spot on my couch that now has a year-long permanent a** mark.
Sorry to vent but OMG I would kill to go anywhere but the store, socially distanced children’s baseball games, and the occasional necessary errand.
Infuriating.
I’m so sorry you got sick and are still dealing with symptoms. I know it does not help you now, but when time I hear someone’s story like this it strengthens my resolve to be mindful of others and stay home. I hope your health improves soon.
Thank you so much! I wish more people understood how life-altering this virus is. People talk about covid like the flu. NO. It’s intense, the symptoms are debilitating, and a lot of them are less than visible so you’re easily gas-lighted. I’m not running a fever and my cough is gone but the exhaustion, the joint pain, the lack of appetite, and I’m dealing with a body that I don’t really recognize (my weight loss happened oddly 🤣 like, solely in my legs and butt, damnit) and don’t have the wherewithal to work on right now. ITS A BIG DEAL.
I’m sorry you are going through it despite being careful too. My sister’s boss is one of those churchy “if I get it, it’s God’s will” people. She compared the risk of getting Covid to the risk of getting hit by a bus, which unless you’re playing in traffic, is not comparable. She got Covid and was back to work like a week later with no apparent symptoms. She’s also the office’s HR manager, so you’d think she’d quarantine, but she’s just not taking it seriously. And this is in the Chicago suburbs, where generally I feel people are taking it fairly seriously (compared to other places in the US at least).
Why does it always seem to be the people who could learn a lesson by getting who get off with a light case? I know it’s not nice to wish that on people, but you were being careful and got a nasty case, and she wasn’t (going to parties, etc.) and got a mild case. I just wish she would have learned her lesson so people in her orbit would be safer.
Yeah this is why I’m doing all the things you describe to stay safe. I’m low risk overall but you just don’t know how it will hit you. I’m so sorry to hear about what you’ve been though and I hope your recovery continues.
I’m sure the plan was to have all sorts of bridal luncheons and celebrations on the TV show to make money off it. Poor thing, probably combed church cookbooks for plenty of recipes to highlight (without attribution).
I’ve never cared for her but this really seals the deal. Rich people just really do not care.
No joke – I got very tired of her aggressively nasal voice and bogus woman-of-the-land schtick very early on. This whole ridiculous event is a massive middle finger to everyone who is genuinely trying to protect themselves and the people around them. I guess money insulates you from the consequences (in this case, deadly) of your selfish actions.
Yeah, she is definitely not an accidental country girl or any of the other things she calls herself in the show’s opening credits. Well, she is a mom and a wife, I’ll give her that. 😀
Bride-to-be who had to postpone my wedding here. We were planning ours for Memorial Day weekend, and because my fiance and I have both studied and worked in almost a dozen different countries, many of our would-be guests were coming from not only all over the US, but all over the world, and who knows if they’ll be able to attend when we reschedule. We also lost a couple of very close family friends (one from COVID, one from cancer) who were childless themselves, and were almost as excited about the wedding as our parents were. It sucks that our big day won’t be quite as big as I’d always dreamed, but it’s a small price to pay for safety, I just can’t imagine the guilt I would’ve felt if any of my guests were to get sick or die after making a special trip just to be with me. That would spoil pretty much every happy memory we should have of our wedding day.
Good for you Miranda! Actions like yours give me hope that there are caring, decent people who are genuinely trying to do the right thing.
What surprises me about this – and I had the same reaction to the engagement party – is that the PW has actually followed covid protocols. They stopped filming her show for a while, and now the kids film it on an iphone (so no outside crew like there used to be.) The restaurant closed down for a while and then only opened for outdoor dining (even though i think it could have stayed open the whole time). She’s not handling it as well as lots of other people, but considering her target audience and her overall “brand” as this “oh shucks” midwestern woman – she did more than I had expected.
so then to just be like “WHATEVER PARTY TIME” is kind of mind-blowing to me. They can 100% wait a year, but this is another way for the Drummonds to cash in (I’m sure the PW magazine after the wedding will be a super special double issue, lol) and I’m thinking they probably assume because its outdoors in tents it will be totes fine.
I could even forgive the initial planning – maybe they thought we would all be vaccinated by May, or the pandemic would be over – but that’s not whats happening and since its at your ranch, you can CHANGE THE DATE without really losing a lot of money. Maybe a few deposits but nothing significant for them. They dont have to find a date at the venue that works or whatever. Just push it back a year.
And don’t even dare to criticize her for ONE HOT MINUTE because her followers will have your ass on her page, they are rabid. I follow her on FB and she posted pics of her basset hounds and they are probably a bit overweight and someone stated that in the comments and people came after her like she had denounced Christ…it was crazy. Haha.
Her recipes are ok, but it’s generally recipes that she has copied out of church cookbooks over time, that’s how she got her start. There are so many better cooking blogs out there to follow….and don’t get me started on her voice! ugh.
I’m in Australia and have seen this woman on her cooking show a few times. What they are doing is irresponsible and selfish. We had very strict rules about all gatherings last year. People were find for breaching nu,bets or other rules, but thankfully, those breaches are quite rate now. Because of out strict lockdown, our rules have been relaxed somewhat, but we are still required to mask up, not dance sing or chant at ant event, and there are limits for all gatherings. And in the big scheme of things, we are, doing quite well re the pandemic. Yet we are still bound by Public Health Orders, which override other rules and what we want to do, like have big weddings. I just dot get how some people are ok about putting themselves and everyone else at risk, for whatever occasion. This literally, dicing with death.
Her eyes look demonic in that header pic
Yup, I only came to the comment section to say that too lol.
I think she stole Peter Gabriel’s mirrored contacts…
I’m assuming they chose the ranch because no other venues would allow such a large function at this time.
You know this is gonna be 100-300 person wedding.
As someone who has watched the show for several years, I just have 1 question…Who is Jamar..and why have we never seen him??? Her other kids are all on the show all the time, and have been since they were toddlers.
He’s been on her instagram for a while, but I dont follow her blog so I dont know if she talked about him on there. He’s been around for a few years, maybe?
Becks,you are cracking me up all over this post!You know everything about the pioneer woman,but you don’t seem like you are her target audience at all!🤣Love it!
LOL I know! I’m not at all. My mom used to follow her blog back when it was more of a blog and less of a website, so to speak, and she is a big fan, but she tries to pretend she’s not, lol. She sends me all her cookbooks and one day called me and was like “I found out some gossip about the Drummonds!” and I was like…..who? “Ladd and Ree!!! The Pioneer Woman!” Oh. Okay then. And a few years ago (when the Mercantile opened in Pawhuska) we went for a long weekend together because my dad refused, LOL. (surprisingly the store is a lot of fun and the restaurant was fantastic.)
So despite my extreme liberal leanings, and my east coast status, and everything else – random knowledge about the Pioneer Woman is kind of my party trick, lolol.
Also, you dont want to know how many of her Walmart products I have. My mom keeps sending them to me. “I dont need another salt and pepper shaker mom!” “but I thought these were cute!”
She’s starting to shift focus to some Michigan blogger, thank goodness, because I dont think that person has a product line. (and my mom is very educated, very liberal, all that stuff – she just gets sucked into these people for some reason lol.)
He has been with them about a year and a half. She only started talking about him before Christmas, due to fostering rules and also his own choice. She did an interview with People Mag, you can google it.
Thank you so much!
She used to be on a photo sharing website called Flickr which was sort of a pre-instagram for people into photography (it’s an app now). This was 2005 or so before her blog, and she was just learning how to take photos and only had a small batch of Flickr “friends”.
1) they were rich before she started making millions. She was just a mommarazzi taking photos of her kids and the cows, but had all the latest gear which was super expensive like thousands for the better cameras and each lens. Stuff only the best pros could afford. I remember she had this massive professional epson printer and wax like wtf, lady?
His family owns tons of land. They have at least 2 ranches. They used to have a contract vwith the government BLM (bureau of land management) mustangs worth millions.
2) she had cleaned up her schtick A LOT. She used to post about her brother and affectionately call him a r* (slur for cognitive disabled person), was kinda snobby about country life after living in LA
I didn’t know she had a successful blog after I kinda dropped off Flickr for a few years. She wasn’t a down home country lady but apparently she’s really controlled her image. I’m not surprised she has an extra foster kid, she’s hidden a lot of stuff from her following.
She’s pretty open about selling a brand, but it would annoy me because it seems like she’s always selling that brand, like there’s no off switch.
My mom looked it up and I think they’re something like the 15th or 20th largest private landowners in the US? Their ranch is HUGE (I may have visited it once. Like I said, my mom is a big fan, which is funny bc she’s very east coast, educated, huge democrat, etc.) I think they still have the mustang contract (at least they did in 2017) and they also lease land for windmills.
but anyway she does still have her website/blog but its so controlled now like you said – in her first cookbook, there are pictures from her real kitchen, etc – and now everything is shot in “the Lodge” kitchen (well it has two kitchens), and its not about “oh haha I whipped this up for dinner.”
I read her blog WAY BACK WHEN, and was always a little skeptical of her schtick, but it was harmless enough. Then she started adding in her High Heels and Wagon Wheels “ autobiography” posts, and I was like NOPE, the humble brag was just something I could not stomach. I left her behind a long time ago….
About the land ownership – it’s Osage nation land. Martin Scorsese is about to film a movie about how the good old country boys swindled and killed Osage people with impunity to get their land and oil money for years before the FBI finally stepped in, twenty years into it.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a great book about it. Anyway. There’s almost no way her husband’s family got all that land above board.
I think she’s ok in small doses, and the town has revitalized (went in 2019 for research), hard to hate that. There’s little towns that are almost identical, within 20 miles that are just abandoned, literally drunk people walking in the middle of main Street on a Sunday morning.
@Lucy – Killers of the Flower Moon was REALLY good. I read that right after we visited Pawhuska and it was kind of weird (to be reading about what happened there right after visiting.) And no, their land is definitely not from legitimate sources, but unfortunately I guess that’s par for the course in some parts of the country? It will be interesting to see if Scorsese touches on the Drummonds at all.
@Becks1, she wasn’t always open though. That was the issue a lot of people had back then with her whole shtick. She was not forthcoming about the fact that she was selling a brand, although she didn’t exactly *lie* about it either. It was a very murky, sort of grey area type thing to do, particularly back in the day, when lifestyle blogging wasn’t the sort of thing it is today. Not that anything has gotten clearer in the years since, but more people do tend to be aware now than they used to be.
And yeah, she has really cleaned up her blog a lot in the recent years. Especially around the time her first cookbook went on sale, which was when she really started to take off. A lot of her early blog posts now have a bunch of dead links that don’t go anywhere, because she deleted those posts. And she hardly posts about her developmentally disabled brother anymore, to the point where a newcomer to her blog or her show really wouldn’t know if he existed, which is wild, considering just how many posts she used to make about him all those years before.
At the end of the day, she’s such a weirdly fascinating person, with a weirdly fascinating brand. She really was one of the first people to consciously create an internet presence that was a brand, and it’s grown into something that’s hugely lucrative. I don’t think anyone really started following her for her recipes, it was the fact that she wrote about her life on a ranch in a very compelling way that drew people in tbh. They came for that image in particular, which has been hugely profitable for her.
@A well definitely in the beginning she wasnt open about it, because that would kind of defeat the purpose lol. But in a way she definitely laid out a plan for other lifestyle bloggers to follow, like Cupcakes and Cashmere, etc. (although they are selling a very different brand.) But at this point I think anyone who watches her show and thinks “wow! she is making dinner for the whole town!” is just deluding themselves. I also think in the beginning she probably didnt think of it as a “brand” just as sort of picking and choosing aspects of her life to share. I dont think her end game was this sort of Walmart/Food Network empire.
@Melissa – I used to read her blog back in 2007, I think. Yeah, she’s different now.
She discussed giving cattle medication and antibiotics on her cooking show once since her husband’s a rancher. She made it sound like it was necessary and completely safe (may be, maybe not, but she’s not a scientist). I thought it was completely irresponsible and selfish to try and sell beef on TV like that without any consideration for potentials other than she’d make money off everyone.
Were they treating sick cattle? Or, do they give antibiotics as part of a regular regimen regardless of whether the animal is actually ill or not?
And her cookbook is absolute garbage. Her food sucks. Trash family.
The daughter and her intended look like they’re about to take a bite out of each other in that pic.
She and her husband are the official welfare recipients and it is amazing that none of her ‘fans’ call them on it.
If they all get sick, oh well.
Yeah, something tells me they are going to get a cut of that wedding money by having it on their property like the snake oil salesman they are.
We don’t wear masks in Texas. 😐
I will say I’m a bit proud of my son and his wife. They’re having a baby shower at the end of the month. Apparently I’m doing everything lol. The entire shower, except for her mom, sister, a local best friend and myself, the whole thing will be virtual lol. So I’m decorating the room, of course, but I’m focusing on a particular area for virtual party guests lol. If I were any kind of brilliant planner, I’d make party care packages to send to everyone attending online. But I’m a rather lazy procrastinator.
Rich selfish white women being rich, selfish and white.
The Drummonds are unbearable and for some reason everyone in OK seems to love them. It’s bizarre.
She is unbearably smug. I followed her blog years ago-and her writing style is so annoying. And the whole “down home” thing is a total crock-she went to USC, her husband’s family is loaded. She was so fake-from her homeschooling (they had full time tutors) to the recipes (which she cribbed from other people)-blech. I saw her once on FN-and she was awful. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that she’s still hosting a big wedding in the middle of covid.
I didn’t mind Ree too much, but then she started showing the at home shows during quarantine with her kids. I grew to dislike all of them, particularly Alex. For a girl who is not much to look at, Ree certainly blows a lot of smoke up Alex’s butt. And her fiance, Mauricio, something seems off about him, perhaps he’s gay or in the relationship for the family’s vast fortune. I also suspect this family waves Trump flags proudly.
I have never heard of this woman before today, and I believe my life has been better for it.
You believe right she’s stupid.
I’ve always found this woman so annoying. She tries to come off as being humble and down home but in reality her and her husband came form $$$ and always seemed like Trumpers to me. Not surprised at all they are being selfish twats because “freedom” And if they do get Covid they have access to great healthcare I’m sure so they’ll be fine.
My in-laws live in Oklahoma, and I am unsurprised to hear the Drummonds are going ahead with this wedding. Most of our younger relatives are behaving normally — sports, in-person school, going out like normal. (At least half of them have had COVID, as well.) From what I understand, there are few restrictions and almost zero enforcement. I’m not there, so I could be wrong, but it seems like life hasn’t changed for them as dramatically as it has for my family on the west coast.
Same in Texas. Everyone carries on as normal. It’s hard for me to read news articles about teachers fighting against going back to work. Ours have been back to work since August. It’s ridiculous….meanwhile our hospitals are struggling because of the dramatic increase in numbers. But be damned the dying, as long as the economy isn’t suffering (which it still is anyway). It really sucks here.
Mmmm, no, this is not really an expression of hope. It’s selfish and stupid.
This is so foolish and selfish. I’ve stayed home for nearly a year because I don’t want to spread anything, and these people just up and hold a massive event? This is nearing Kardashian-level entitlement. They’re risking their own lives as well as others’, how do they not realize it?
So Covid fatigue has affected Ree and her circle so extensively, that having a big wedding is essentially good for everyone’s mental health and giving them some much needed hope? I just can’t with this nonsense. In my opinion, this is selfishness being rationalized with and cloaked by, ‘my mental health is important’. Glad I never bought her ugly products. ‘Country’ can still be stylish.
I remember years ago there was a parody website of the Pioneer Woman (using Barbies) and it made fun of the Drummond clan and their ridiculous fakery “country life”. Reading this story made me wish it was still running.
There was another blog called Marlboro Woman that isn’t up anymore, except on the Wayback Machine. It was snarky/angry about the fact that the Pioneer Woman was a brand that people didn’t realize was a brand, but the person running it also had some really interesting insights about ranching and equestrianism that I really liked reading about. I wish that blog were still up too.
Oh I remember that. She was great. Clearly the Drummonds were pretty litigious because they shut it down.
Oh my gosh, I’d forgotten about Marlboro Woman!
Yes, I think it was written by a woman who had been part of the early farm life/homeschooling blog community, and was also one of the early invitees to the ranch for some sort of blogging weekend? I always enjoyed reading the behind-the-scenes posts by woman who interacted with Ree before she had perfected her public persona & promotion business.
This is a whole new level of bridezilla – you must come to my super spreader wedding so my mom can blog and instagram. I would send a gift nothing more.
Oklahoma Trumpers. Not surprised. And she’s a big fake.
Not so low key Covid denial behavior. Gross.
Screw you peasants! It’s all about me me me … oh and my kid… but mostly me!
They are some of the richest people in the state of Oklahoma and I’m certain they will all be vaccinated by May 1, if they aren’t already. As for the guests, who knows. The Drummonds have so much pull in that state that I wouldn’t be surprised if they coordinated to get their guest list vaccinated, too.
This hits home for me. My dad’s youngest sister felt equally exhausted with COVID restrictions and attended a wedding in November. Fast forward 3 weeks and her eldest sister and BIL both die of COVID within days of each other. COVID they contracted from her, as she was in their bubble. My dad and his brother both contract COVID, because aunt’s daughter calls them for help when my late aunt first collapsed. Uncle ends up on ventilator. Makes it through, has ongoing issues. Basically everyone in the immediate family ends up with COVID. And all because of my one dumba$$ aunt that was tired of being cooped up in her effing mansion with mountain views and had to go to a wedding organized by her equally dumb friends. I’m so sick and tired of these selfish people. Ugh. And this lady needs to learn to dress better. Yikes. Rant over 🙂
I’m so sorry. Ughhhhh.
Oh wow, I’m so sorry. Does your aunt feel any remorse?
I hope all of the invitees write in “Absolutely not, it’s a pandemic, you fools” as their plus one and send it back.
Unfortunate-looking okie women.
All the wrong people are dying. It’s hickups like this that procreate too much that should be dead from COVID (if not for $ and the modern world, evolution abandoned them long ago)
Maybe the world will get lucky & a chunk of this flyover state family will get put 6 feet under after their big festivities 👏 👏
Those are her daughters in that first pic? Not to be rude (though this is Celebitchy after all) but if that’s 18…I don’t even know what to say. They look decades older and not in a good way. (I say this as a 48 year old who thinks women really come into their own during this decade and subsequent so it’s not a dig on aging!)
My brain has a real problem understanding the need for a wedding at the best of times. Heck, I don’t even get marriage. I have 2 kids with my life partner (whom I call my husband, just for simplicity) but no ceremony or signed paper would make any difference.
Weddings seem expensive and stressful, and full of a lot of useless outdated customs and unrealistic expectations, so I really *really* don’t understand these people who need to have weddings during a pandemic!
That’s one hard 52!
I hope Food Network cancels her employment….does that make me a bad person. Lol
We already postponed our Mexican destination wedding (we invited 30 – which was always our dream pre-covid) once already. Now we’re shooting for late May. Our vulnerable parents will be vaccinated!!! They make up a quarter of the people attending, and they’re most at risk, so we’re really hopeful. Our resort has been AMAZING. And our guests have been too, which is the beauty of only inviting the people you’re truly closest to. In non-pandemic times, we wouldn’t be able to just move the wedding back four months and have all the vendors, resort, guests work out! We’re really hoping we can do it this year, just because places are already booked and will be PACKED next year. That’s just not the most appealing for your relaxing vacation and wedding.
Everything is flexible, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. But we’ve made it clear that we’re waiting until it’s safe “enough”, which is all relative. We’re basing it off our vulnerable parents – if they’re comfortable and feel safe enough, we’ll do it. If they don’t, we’ll keep waiting. It’s that simple. But we at least gotta try, before it’s too hot and we lose our chance til 2022.
I’m just so tired of being a covid bride. I know everybody’s like “get married now, do a ceremony later!” But that just wouldn’t feel real to us, to be married for a year and then exchange vows. It all sucks.
ahhh to be a bride now and have an excuse to wear an obnoxiously expensive and pretty gown and have a nice little celebration WITH ZERO GUESTS