About Us

About us

Our story begins on the afternoon of May 23, 2009. Kelsi was working at Tallgrass County Club making sure that weddings went off without a problem! It was the afternoon at this quiet, member’s only country club…until…

THE LOUD SOUNDS OF “ICE, ICE, BABY” FILLED THE ENTIRE CLUBHOUSE.

You see, Ryan and his friend Clayton were there setting up sound to DJ their former roommate Daniel’s wedding that evening. In their traditional fashion, Ryan and Clayton HAD to make sure that the sound worked and you could rattle the water glasses on each of the tables in the room. No wedding (Ryan and Clayton DJ) is complete without this very important test.

So after all of the doors were closed, Ryan distinctly remembers this very attractive, yet upset woman walking up to the table and saying,

“Um, could you turn that down please?”
“Sure!” Ryan replied.

The attractive woman turns and walks away forever.
“Clayton, did you see that girl. She was so cute!!!” said Ryan.
“That’s great…Could you get back to work please. We’re very busy, got a lot going on.” Clayton quipped. And they all went about life as they know it, never to cross paths again.

Phone Rings:
“Hey Ryan, it’s Ash (great friend Ashley Moore), I’ve found somebody that I want to hook you up with.”
“Oh yeah, do I know her?”
“No, I don’t think so. I met her at a wedding we were working and she is just the sweetest thing.”
“Oh yeah, what does she look like?” (COME ON, Ryan’s a guy, always an important detail)
“Well, she’s hot and blond. Your type for sure. She’s also a believer and has a great heart, something I know you are looking for.”
“Cool, What does she do?”
“She works at Tallgrass Country Club Planning weddings.”
(LIGHT BLUB)
“REALLY!!!! I’m in. We kinda already met because she yelled at me to turn down the music at my friend Daniel’s wedding. She’s way cute. Hook it up!”
“Ok, dork. chill. I’ll see what I can do.”

So, after some Facebook research (stalking) Kelsi agreed to meet Ryan and learn more about him.

Their first date was a “blind-ish” date at Ya-Ya’s Bistro on June 25.

Fast-Forward through a ton of questions, an awesome trip to Florida over Christmas, some more questions and then:

The Proposal (as told by Ryan):

So after our fun Christmas in Florida, I was very sure of the feeling that I had in my heart for Kelsi. I came back wanting to move forward with engagement right then and there, but I wanted to make sure that I did it “right.” I, of course, am only doing this once. So I started asking questions to people that I had close relationships with.

You see, I thought that marrying Kelsi was a great idea, but being that this was a HUGE decision, I really wanted God to affirm it, so I started asking the guys that I live with to think and pray about it. I remember Travis asking me to meet him at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner one night to talk about what was on his heart about marrying Kelsi. When I got there, all the guys were there, they stood up and gave me a huge hug and said that they all agreed that marrying Kelsi was in fact something that was a good idea and something that God supported.

Instantly, I was overcome with fear. You see, I’m kind of a “fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants” type guy and so when I think something is a good idea, I just go with it. I knew that this was a big decision, so talking to others close to me was super important. When they affirmed that this decision that I was thinking, was in fact a good one, I knew it was serious and my life was about to change in an incredible way.

So after visiting with Athena Jewelry incognito for a few weeks, I really had an awesome ring that I knew she would love (I created their Facebook page and hid the concept in plain site. If you look on their home-page graphic, you can see a ring that is very similar to her’s on the left-hand side picture)

So I got together with Ashley Moore and we began to plan the event. We met with Amanda with Empire Restaurant Management and talked about holding a surprise engagement party at Egg Cetera. They were so gracious and really helped us out. Melad Stephan, the owner is an incredible guy!

I went through a ton of different scenarios in my head and really didn’t sleep much the days before. At that time there was a lot of stuff happening in Kelsi’s life that could mask the sneakiness that I was no doubt sweating through daily. It is VERY hard for me to keep my mouth shut, especially with something this cool, so keeping it from her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I even had to make up an entire schedule, complete with alibis for the day I went out to Western Kansas to talk to her dad and ask for her hand.

So on March 6th, Kelsi had her singing debut at church singing in the choir. It was also her parents anniversary on the 3rd, so we were all going to go out and celebrate with them. We were all headed to Sabor in Old Town for a delicious dinner. Kelsi, me, her parents and her sister and brother-in-law. So she thought anyway.

In the planning process, I somehow managed to get everybody that is close to us to a location without her finding out. Her birthday was a few weeks after and the week of the engagement she sent me a guest list of all of the people she would like to have at her gathering. YES! She sent me a guest list and a vast majority of the people that already knew about the engagement were on the list! Phew!

So after her amazing singing, I drove Kelsi to “Old Town.” I was trying everything that I could to distract and love on her during the drive. I was singing our songs to her, but doing it horribly, and when we got to the Old Town Exit on Kellogg, I said,

“We have some time to kill, I want to show you something.”

So I took her to the Keeper of the Plains and said “Come on.”

So the goal was to walk all the way to the center between the two bridges, but there were a TON of people around, so we stopped about half-way across the first bridge and I pulled out a card and read it to her. The last line was the most important. I put the card away, got on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked:
“Will you marry me?”

She was so excited, she grabbed me for a hug and I had to ask if that was a yes. I then put the ring on her finger and lead her back to the car.

When we got to the car, I told her,
“We aren’t going to Sabor. Sorry. I have another surprise for you.”

So I drove to Old Town, parked the car and walked her to Egg Cetera where most everybody that we knew were waiting. Walked in and,
“Surprise.”

Hehe. I’m very happy she said yes. That would have been bad:)