How IT Happened:
Written by Chad
Kelsey and I first met in college at the University of Tennessee. According to Kelsey, I hit on her a couple of times (which I beg to differ) but she "wasn't interested."
Our paths crossed again a few years later after college. My roommate’s girlfriend, Chandin, invited Kelsey to join us on the lake at Center Hill. It was a cloudy and cold day, but we still a ton of fun. I even talked Kelsey into cliff jumping – she refused to jump until we held hands... After our adventure on the lake, I decided three things: 1. Kelsey was very attractive 2. She was nicer than I remember and 3. Kelsey was pretty amazing to be around (all still true).
Once we got home from the lake, Jason, Chandin, Kelsey and myself decided that we were going to hang out later that night. We went to a few places around Nashville including one of my favorites, Honky Tonk Central, where I showed off some of my dance moves – which she REALLY enjoyed.
That night it became pretty obvious that Kelsey had a crush on me.
A few days later, I asked Kelsey out on a date. She (obviously was thrilled) said YES. It didn't take too many dates for me to know that Kelsey was the one even though I kept it a secret for a awhile.
I consider myself the luckiest man in the world and I cannot wait to call Kelsey "my wife."
The Proposal:
Written by Kelsey
For Memorial Day Weekend, we were planning on going to the lake to celebrate together with my family. On our way there, Chad made a detour to stop for gas, where he in turn surprised me with tickets to fly to Rosemary beach and we promptly headed towards the airport. Upon arriving, Chad surprised me yet again by having packing my suitcase for a weekend at the beach. Although I was starting to get suspicious, Chad played it off like any other trip to the beach.
The next day we spent most of our time relaxing and laying by the ocean, Chad continued to play dumb to my suspicions about getting engaged.
That night, we went to The Pearl, one of our favorite spots, to watch the sunset from their rooftop patio. Chad proceeded to disappear to the bathroom, and a few minutes later a waiter presented me with an iPad that said "Press Play". It was a sweet message and pictures documenting our whole relationship.
From there, I was led to a limo waiting outside of the restaurant that finally took me to down to a pier by the beach, after the limo driver got lost quite a few times. Once I got down the boardwalk, I saw Chad waiting on the beach for me where he then got down on one knee. When I realized what was happening, I burst into tears and also began laughing uncontrollably. This all was happening while Chad proceeded to tell me the sweetest and nicest things and then asked me to marry him. Of course I said YES!! A woman, pretending to be taking her daughter's graduation pictures, came over and asked if she could take some photos of us after witnessing what had just happened (this wasn't a well timed coincidence, but rather great planning on Chad's part).
We spent the rest of the night celebrating by calling our friends and family and going to dinner, and finally ending up where it had all started, The Pearl.
It truly was amazing to be part of this wonderful and thoughtful plan that Chad had created in order to propose to me. I am so excited to get to marry him and celebrate with our friends and family in a few months!
