Devin Matthews knew her beau of nearly a decade was planning to propose. She just didn’t know when. Monte Nickles decided their new kitchen was the best place to spring a ring on her.

“I tricked her into being on a ladder doing something. When she got off the ladder and turned around, I was on my knee with the ring in our new kitchen,” Nickles said shortly after the two tied the knot, explaining that the couple have always been “big food people.”

“I was still able to surprise her by getting her in that moment, which was really fun,” said the Powell High School and Northwest College graduate.

They were building a new house at the time. It was a “huge” step for the two, he said, who met in 2014 while attending Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. They were both studying music and come from musical families. Nickles plays the trumpet and Matthews plays and teaches classical guitar.

They decided to wed in an intimate ceremony at Wayfarer’s Chapel near the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park, but wanted a large reception with live music. They had a couple bands in mind, including the popular band Josey and the Whalers, which is led by Nickles’ sister, Josey, and J5 and the Montes, which includes Powell native and family friend Erik Olson (one of Monte’s best friends, though the band name is coincidental) on the keyboard.

The problem was deciding when they could actually bring everyone together for the party. Both bands were booked solid on weekends, so they opted for a Monday wedding and booked Plaza Diane for the concert, inviting the entire City of Powell to join the fun for a street dance. What they weren’t counting on at the time was a seemingly never-ending wet season in the high desert.

The union must have been sanctioned in the heavens above because the rain held off during the ceremony in the mountains until just after their dog, Ollie, brought the rings forward — performing the move “flawlessly,” Monte said — and the first matrimonial kiss sealed the union.

“As we were just leaving, it started to rain a little bit. So we had perfect timing,” Matthews said.

And, while the bands had to do their sound checks under the threat of a thunderstorm, by the time the concert began around 5 p.m. the clouds parted and gave way to blue skies for the entirety of the event.

Josey and the Whalers opened the concert with a mix of covers and original music. Josey’s powerful voice lifted downtown Powell into a frenzy for about two hours before giving way to five-piece band featuring lead singer Jessica Fiveland.

Three songs into the J5 concert, Monte headed for the stage accompanied by Josey. Monte, a Grammy-nominated managing audio engineer at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana, is no stranger to performing, but is usually behind the scenes. They called for the crowd to join Matthews near the stage, then performed “Something Tells Me (I could fall in love with you)” by Bailen.

During an instrumental part of the song Monte jumped off the stage and quickly danced with his bride. He admits he’s not much of a dancer, but the two were graceful for those few moments. Then he quickly kissed Devin before running back to the stage to sing the rest of the song with both bands joining in.

It may have taken a little while to get to this moment, but the couple joined in their first dance amidst an outpouring of love shared on main street with the entire city.