Till Dirt Do Us Part – Love is in the Air for PBR’s Valentine’s Day Weddings

It's a difficult undertaking – an intimate yet turbulent dance where rhythm is more powerful than forcefulness.

Few are naturally born for it. Many get hurt. Success is mental. Resilience and try – the sheer will to make it through to the end – is the ultimate success factor.

We are talking about marriage, not bull riding.

By that measure, is there a venue better suited for the inception of holy matrimony than the dirt of bull riding…on Valentine’s Day to boot?

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PBR thought so. Last weekend in Pittsburgh, love was in the air to freshen other the organic smells wafting when the sport comes to town.

Brett Keisel giving spirited vows. — Brett Keisel | Bull Stock Media

On Saturday night, February 14, under the arena lights, Percy – the safety man’s steady horse – carried former Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel through the out gates adorned in fragrant wedding swag. Urns overflowed with colorful arrangements. A modular aisle runner stitched with textured greens stretched across the dirt usually reserved for eight seconds of mayhem.

The two-time Super Bowl champion did a quick lap around the arena but wasn’t there to rile up the crowd. He dismounted for more serious business at hand. He was there to preside over a Valentine’s Day ceremony unlike any other: two couples tying the knot and another celebrating 50 years of marriage.

The ring bearers were bullfighters. The unofficial nearby groomsmen? A pen of bone-crunching bulls.

Romance, PBR-style.

For one night, the dirt inside the arena was transformed into something almost cathedral-like – softened with flowers, framed in black-and-gold pride, humming with anticipation that had nothing to do with whether the world’s top two riders, John Crimber and Dalton Kasel, would snap out of an uncharacteristic slump in a quest to win their first world title.

“PBR made the bull riding ring beautiful, which is not an easy job,” Keisel later said, looking out over a congregation of fans in boots and flannel. “Who has a setting like this at a wedding? Valentine’s Day, couples in love, Pittsburgh’s incredible fans, PBR bull riding! It doesn’t get better.”

Tori Franchi thought it was a scam.

She heard something about a Valentine’s Day arena wedding at PBR.

Awesome sport. Always wanted to go. Never the time, raising two kids. Funny idea, though. No way it could be real.

Then she saw “Till Dirt Do Us Part” covered on the local CBS station. Tori and her long-time fiancé Devin Brandon had been engaged for more than three years. (Talk about love at first sight; they moved in two weeks after meeting.) But they were wholly focused on raising two children, 7 and 3. Putting time and money into planning a wedding was out of the question.

“It just wasn’t on our priority list,” Devin said. “I just assumed we’d always be together trying to be the best parents.”

“We always wanted to go to PBR,” Tori said. “Why not do both?”

The dedicated parents accepting PBR’s offer to host their wedding had no idea what was in store. Neither did Teresa Buckingham and Anthony Chavez, die-hard Steelers fans who began working for the organization in club seating two years ago, just to see their team play.

They met on the job. Teresa said she was from California.

“I moved out of Arizona because of you people,” Anthony replied with warm eyes and an impish grin.

It wasn’t mean. He explained he came to Pittsburgh as a rabid Steelers fan who wanted to be around like-minded people.

Teresa understood and laughed. They clicked. Saturday, the self-billed “soulmates in the Steel City” were married by their football hero in front of a delighted sold-out crowd.

“We heard about the opportunity, and figured we’d send in the form. Life knows what it wants to do,” Teresa said.

The couple had tickets for both nights of the two-day PBR set. Anthony loves bull riding almost as much as the Steelers. Before protective vests were required, he competed in rodeos in Arizona – nearly sacrificing his liver to the sport.

After surviving that terrifying wreck, he would step back into the arena decades later, this time in front of 12,000 fans, giving his heart to Teresa.

The idea may have been hatched as a lighthearted PR stunt to build buzz around PBR’s second visit to Pittsburgh and help secure another two-day sellout after last year’s rollicking debut.

But the gravity of the endeavor quickly became clear. An ad hoc team from across departments came together to ensure the couples would have a magical wedding.

That was the hope. At the least, they didn’t want to screw up “The Big Day.”

Ariat, the event’s presenting partner, sent the couples and officiant Keisel new boots.

“You can’t get cold feet in Ariat boots,” PBR’s head of Comms urged the couples in one of only three requests for the day: Wear your new boots! (The other two: bring your wedding rings and get a marriage license).

Initially, the call was for eight couples – matching the number of seconds for a qualified bull ride.

It wasn’t exactly Sun Myung Moon mass-marrying 2,500 couples at RFK Stadium like in the late 90’s. But even for an organization that brings in 1.5 million pounds of dirt and tens of thousands of pounds of bull power to over 200 events a year, any wedding ceremony was daunting.

Wedding couples behind the chutes. | Andrew Giangola

Three couples applied. One had the inspired idea to renew their vows – an idea made even sweeter when a grandstand proposal caught on the scoreboard on Friday night ensured the entire spectrum of love would be celebrated over Valentine’s Day weekend.

A smaller ceremony was just fine, allowing for a high-touch experience including bridal suites in the arena, family photos, the new boots, personal wedding cakes, quality time with Keisel who brought along his pal fellow Super Bowl champion James Harrison, and a honeymoon of sorts a few feet above the bucking chutes.

There, they saw a thrilling championship round full of 90-point rides. 2024 World Champion Cassio Dias saved the best for last, putting up 91.70 points to take his first win of 2026.

The vows the couples recited two hours before the dramatic walk-off ride were vintage PBR: “I take you today, right here on the dirt, in the middle of this arena, in front of this crowd. Where grit matters and commitment gets tested every night. I promise to hold on. Even when life comes out of the chute bucking. I promise to stay locked in, to ride it out with you, and not look for an easy way off. I'll celebrate the wins, laugh through the wrecks, and stay all in no matter what shows up. When the ride gets tough, I won't let go. I choose you.”

Bull fighters wearing ring bear jersey. | Bull Stock Media

The bull-fighter protection team was even drafted into the ceremony as ring bearers. Their custom jerseys read “Ring Bear” on the back. In a sport ruled by the bulls, the jersey maker apparently decided to throw a bone to bears everywhere.

The couples putting on new rings (Teresa and Anthony’s were custom-made from Pennsylvania steel) have been together for a few years, which felt a lifetime removed from the half-century union celebrated by Dr. Dick Brennan and his wife Diane, a retired nurse.

In the 1970’s, Diane was taking college courses and teaching mentally handicapped children. She was dating Dick’s friend when the young doctor moved from a residency in radiology in southern California back east.

The way Dick tells it, “I was being a doctor and Diane was hitting on me. She’s strong willed and said, ‘You’re mine.’ I said, ‘Yes dear, I am.”

“Yes, dear” has kept the couple together 50 years, according to the mischievous retired physician who demonstrates even doctors can outkick their coverage.

“You have to be able to read between the lines,” he said. “And then have a beer.”

Above the bucking chutes, Dr. Brennan, wearing a black cowboy hat with a golden-yellow boutonniere pinned to his dark blazer, was mesmerized by the cowboys paired in turbulent dances, trying to stay in sync with their partner for 8 high-stakes seconds.

After one particularly rough ride, the rider bouncing on his bull like a toy bull rider you’d give to preoccupy a kid lacking focus, he glanced over at Diane who was also marveling at the chaotic action playing out below – a defiance of human odds and physical gravity to make it to the buzzer in a feat of stubborn resiliency. He silently nodded as his mouth formed the hint at a smile in subtle acknowledgment of a job successfully completed.

I could see the thought bubble over his head: “Yeah, honey. We’ve done that for 50 years.”