Our Engagement

I will just start out by sharing to everyone how we first met. Some of you may already know this story but I will give you all a few more details that most of you probably aren’t aware of. So here goes….Kelsey’s brother and my brother have went to the same school and have grown up playing sports together. When I was going to see my brother play ball I would always notice this beautiful girl there too. At the time we were both dating someone else so it was a simple look back and forth at each other and we went on our way. I don’t think we ever spoke but she always gave me that extra encouragement to get to my brother’s ball games. With us both living in the same town I would see her on occasion and I’ll never forget the first time I saw her. Kelsey was working at Subway and I walked in to grab a sandwich and I couldn’t believe somebody so beautiful lived in a town the size of Rogersville. We never spoke but to this day I still remember walking in and seeing her for the first time. So after that bit of background, a few years passed and we were in college and were both out of long-term relationships. A guy I worked with had worked with Kelsey and he was asking if I knew her and I said no because I didn’t know her name. Well later on he showed me a picture and I was like yea that’s the girl I always see at the ball games. So a few days later I thought to myself what the heck I will ask her to be my friend on Facebook. Luckily she accepted and I messaged her to just sort of let her know who I was so she didn’t think I was some stranger trying to stalk her on Facebook. We had a casual conversation and nothing came of it. A few weeks later there was a big street party at Outback for Handy Fest. After we had been there for a little while I started to notice someone with a fixed gaze on me. I was thinking to myself who is this person staring at me. I finally looked in their direction and it was Kelsey. A few songs later I finally worked up the courage to introduce myself and I decided to go talk to her. We had a nice talk and immediately I could tell she was someone I would really like to get to know. I got her number a few days later and asked her on date. We had our first date on August 6, 2008 at Red Lobster and the rest is history.

Now on to the proposal….I decided around March of 2012 that I was ready to start the process of picking out the perfect ring for Kelsey. I knew some of the things she liked but she was more interested in me making the decision to pick out the ring I wanted for her. So I decided to start looking and I knew I would first start at Jamie Hood Jewelers. Jamie is a family friend and I think my mother and my grandmother are the ones who have kept him in business. My mom and dad went with me on a Friday to look around and I explained to Jamie some of the things I was looking for in a ring. He had a very nice presentation and I was concerned that I would never be able to find the right one. But then he put a specific setting with a stone and I knew that was the one. It only took me around 15 minutes to decide that I had found the ONE. It was such a relief because I wanted to make sure it was the perfect one for Kelsey. I bought the ring on the next Friday and my plan was to ask her in May when we went on a family vacation to beach. When I finally had the ring in hand, I felt like a little boy waiting for Christmas to come around. It was burning a hole in my pocket and I knew there was no way I could wait over a month to ask her. So Kelsey was going out of town that weekend and I decided that Saturday I had to ask her when she came back home on Sunday. So I began thinking of ways to ask her and my goodness was it stressful. It is such a special day and you want to make it special for her. I decided I would make a poster board that sort of outlined things we had done throughout our relationship. I started by going all the way back to our first date and incorporating some of our first memories together. It came together and sort of represented a timeline of our relationship. It consisted of pictures, concert tickets, cards, and a little of everything else that reminded me of our time together. In the middle of the poster board I wrote in big letters “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” in red ink. So Sunday finally rolls around and I am a nervous wreck trying to figure out every last detail. I asked Kelsey’s dad to come down to the house that morning to ask for permission to marry his daughter. Our talk together went great and he said he would love for me to join the family. So I finally got everything set up with the poster board taped to the wall right when you walk into our house and a table that my mom and dad helped with decorated with flowers, a lace tablecloth, and the ring in the center of the table. I had picked out a Chris Young song that was special to us and decided I was going to play it when she opened the door to come into the house. So while Kelsey is driving home I kept calling and asking her where she was because I wanted to make sure everything was set up just the right way before she got home. I could tell I was getting on her nerves. Finally I hear her car pull up and my stomach drops. It was a sense of excitement yet nervousness that overcame me. She walked in through the door as I was standing off to the side in the kitchen and I will never forget the look on her face. It is a pretty neat experience seeing someone genuinely surprised. She kept asking me “Is this a joke?”, “Are you serious?” and I think I answered all of her questions when I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said “YES” and a huge wave of relief hit me. It was one of those moments you will never forget and I felt so lucky to be able to spend it with the person I will be with forever. We just wanted to share our story with our closest friends and family and we cannot wait for you to join us on August 3, 2013 as we make more special memories.