10.11.25

We met at the end of February or beginning of March in 2018. We don't remember the exact date, but you can probably guess why as you read our story. It was a cold winter night, perfect for going bar hopping in downtown Stevens Point. Jarrad was heading down with his friends and Krista with hers. Krista & her friends decided to go to her favorite bar, Buffy’s Lampoon. Once inside, they quickly bought some drinks & took the best pool table in the bar. Since there weren’t many people yet, Krista set her drink on a nearby table & watched her friends play billiards. By her friends’ second game of pool, a group of young men walked into the bar. Among this group was Jarrad. He & his friends bought a drink & then grabbed a table nearby. After a minute, Krista realized that this group of men surrounded the table where she set her drink. She quickly went to snatch it up & went back to her friends. Jarrad’s friend Andy (groomsmen) nudged him & said “Hey, she was looking at you, go talk to her!” A few gulps later & some more razzing from his friends, he made his way over. She actually had no idea that he was there. Some guy went to pick something up off the floor & approached Krista. He held out his hand & said “Hey I think you dropped something.” While Krista had imbibed in a few beverages that night, she knew for a fact that she did NOT drop anything & just stared at him confused. A few seconds go by & he continued to hold his hand out before he said “Really I think you dropped something.” She continued to stare at him, saying nothing. He stayed strong & said “No really, you dropped something.” Still, Krista said nothing & just stared at him saying with her eyes, “I didn’t drop anything. You’re being suspicious.” We can all guess at this point that the strange man is Jarrad. Knowing Jarrad, he had committed to this & was not backing down. At least two minutes had gone by & he still had his hand outstretched when he finally said “Just hold out your hand. No really, just hold out your hand, trust me. Hold out your hand.” Krista hesitantly held out her hand. Jarrad slid his hand into hers & as he held it he said “Do you feel that? There’s something there.” She burst out laughing. From that point on Krista could not stop laughing. Jarrad continued the conversation while Krista was laughing at everything. He became mesmerized by her bright smile & purple lipstick. As Jarrad talked, Krista waited for him to bring up the fact that she was wearing a boot. This was the time when Krista had a broken foot & she became used to guys using it as an excuse to come hit on her. But Jarrad never even mentioned it. She was impressed! But in reality, Jarrad never even noticed that she was wearing a giant foot brace! After some time passed by, Andy came to let Jarrad know that his group was leaving & invited Krista to tag along. She declined as she was already out with her friends. Jarrad was shocked, he thought she was alone & wouldn’t have talked to her if he had known. Andy, being the wingman that he is, suggested they exchange numbers, so they did! They each went their own way. Krista was very flattered that someone had gone to such lengths & a well thought out plan to gain her attention & win her affection! She was smitten! Turns out Andy was just being a “wing-it” man & they did not concoct any sort of plan lol. Just to be clear, Jarrad wants it on record that he did not need a “wingman” he in fact had things well under control. As the night went on, Krista was confused as to why Jarrad had not texted her yet. She was used to all the guys texting her right away. So, in the wee hours of the morning after bar close, she texted him. The next day, Jarrad woke up extremely hung over but ecstatic to see a text from Krista! He shouted it to all his friends! Now here we are, seven + years later…

After some failed attempts, most noteworthy being a balloon ride that never happened (thanks a lot, wind!). Jarrad reached out to some friends (Kelly and Nick Mammen, both within the wedding party!) To start this story off, we should mention first that Krista was getting very suspicious of any plans that Jarrad would make. As a general rule of thumb, Jarrad just doesn't make plans, so if he was to schedule anything, Krista would automatically think "it was going to happen". With that being said, Jarrad had to get some help from fellow friends Nick and Kelly, whom were also the proud new owners of a puppy at the time. Jarrad asked Kelly and Nick to reach out to Krista and ask if they would like to walk their dogs down at the park. Now Krista loves taking Milo for walks so she had to say yes! At this point, Krista had no idea that Jarrad had already picked out the exact location and route of the walk and even the exact time that we would be walking. Timing in this case was key because Jarrad had hired a photographer to "capture the moment!" So, on December 2nd, 2023 - Jarrad, Krista, Nick and Kelly began their walk at Bukolt park in Stevens Point. Jarrad had already worked with the photographer on where he would propose, however, on the morning off the photographer changed the spot (only by 20 feet or so, due to lighting). Not a big deal except for the fact that the photographer was going to place a special painted rock on the ground to signify "the spot". Jarrad had actually painted the rock (Point Rocks Rock for those that know the trend) and it said "KN - WYMM" which stood for "Krista Nelsen - Will You Marry Me?" Now, before Jarrad could even propose, he ran into one MAJOR snafu! He couldn't find the rock on the ground! So what did he do? He stalled! Just randomly started looking around, stalling the walk while he scanned the ground for this painted rock! Krista definitely noticed Jarrads weird behavior but wasn't too alarmed as Jarrad said he was "just taking in the view of the river". It reached a point where Jarrad just couldn't stall anymore and they had to continue walking, but as luck would have it, they walked a few more feet and then they saw the rock on the ground! So as they walked up to it Jarrad mentioned to Krista to pick it up and see what was written on it. When Krista picked it up she saw the WYMM (will you marry me) and she actually said "this must be meant for someone else, we should put this back!" At this point, she turned to Jarrad and saw him on one knee! At this point it sunk in for her! At this point, Jarrad popped the question and she said yes! A few moments later the photographer walked up for some more pictures and brought us champagne and glasses and we celebrated! A huge thank you goes out to Nick and Kelly Mammen for helping with this big surprise! Also Milo and Mable did a great job as well keeping Krista occupied the whole time!