Kelsey and Bryson

Bryson and I met performing at a local theater fundraiser. He was in a barber shop quartet and I was doing mime hip hop dancing on the roof! We started talking that night and I remember that the conversation was so easy and fun. I moved to Branson for work after that but when I moved back a couple of years later, we were cast together in a show at Sight and Sound and we were dating a few months later!

Having Kelsey being completely surprised until I got down on one knee was really important to me. I decided to do the proposal in a park that we often go walking in. We have a lot of history in that park and so I knew that for one thing she would not be suspicious of us being there and two it would make the proposal all that more significant to us. Once I decided to do the proposal there I set up a meeting with Emily (our photographer). The night before I met Emily my dad and I went to the park to walk out my plan and to check things like sight lines and places to hide. When Emily and I met at the park we talked through a plan for her to be in the park close to the bridge where I was going to propose. Kelsey had never met Emily so I was pretty confident her being there would not be too suspicious. We talked through things like what time sunset was going to be on the day in question and even things like what position I should be in to give Emily the best angles to capture Kelsey’s reaction. My plan was to take Kelsey on a walk around the town surrounding the park and then end on the bridge where we kissed for the first time. I walked the route a couple of times before the day of and timed it out so that I knew when I needed to start in order to be able to get to the bridge when the sunset was just starting to turn everything gold. On the day of I had planned for both our families and some friends to be there (we even had people fly in from all over the country just for the day). I had asked them to be hiding in their cars in parking lots along the route where they could see us but visibility limited us from seeing them. As Kelsey and I reentered the park our family began to slowly drive behind us. Emily was near the bridge waiting and actually had to ask some people to get off the bridge before we got too close. She had met some people in the park and had asked them to help her out by pretending to be getting their pictures taken so she did not look too out of place standing by the bridge. Kelsey and I made it to the bridge and I proposed. She was so surprised and Emily caught that moment perfectly! After Kelsey and I had our moment I turned her around to see her family which was another huge surprise. It was great. I had spent a very long time putting together a very detailed plan with lots of moving parts but everything went off perfectly and Emily captured the photos that will help us to remember the whole day for a lifetime. It was such a special day.