For the soon-to-be married couple, it was not love at first sight — as they say. In fact, Will’s first thought was that Kelsey was bad at volleyball. In case anyone cares, she still is. Kelsey, on the other hand, didn’t even notice Will. Ouch. She claims she was too focused on volleyball. Kelsey and Will first crossed paths in June 2020. At the time, two of their friends were dating. While their friend’s relationship didn’t last, a weeknight volleyball game organized by the two friends provided the first opportunity for Kelsey and Will to meet. Thank you for your service, nameless friends.
 After volleyball, a group of 10 or so were seated in a circle to play a game. The concept: someone starts by saying a name, likely of a famous person. The next person seated to their left comes up with another name that starts with the last letter of the last name just said. Let us illustrate: Brad Pitt could be followed by Taylor Swift, who could be followed by Tiger Woods and then Sandra Bullock. Get the picture? If you don’t, don’t worry because it’s probably a needless detail.

 After playing for a while, Kelsey said: “Sam Seaborn.” Many may not recognize that name — but Will did. She caught the attention of the guy seated across the circle. For those that don’t know, Sam Seaborn is Rob Lowe’s character in the West Wing, the TV show created by Aaron Sorkin that stars Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlett. The show ran in the early 2000s on NBC. It’s one the couple’s favorite shows. We’d recommend it if you’re in need of a new watch. “Sam Seaborn? Did you just say Sam Seaborn?” Will asked. “You watch the West Wing?” “Yeah, I watch the West Wing,” Kelsey replied. The two ended up talking just a little bit that night. Kelsey quickly called dibs in her friend group and followed Will on Instagram the next morning. They’d go on their first date — getting ice cream at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s dairy store — a couple weeks later. — Kelsey and Will dated for a couple of months before going medium distance when Kelsey moved to Sioux City, Iowa, and Will stayed in Lincoln, Nebraska, for roughly the next 1.5 years. It was then when the two fell in love. Kelsey eventually moved to St. Louis in August 2022 to start law school at St. Louis University. Will followed in November. After the couple went ring shopping in October 2023, Will held onto the ring for roughly six months — to the slight dismay of Kelsey. There was good reason, however. A spring break trip to ski in Colorado had been on the books with some of the couple’s best friends for a few months, and Will planned to do it there. He made her wait, and he mostly kept it a secret. Lucky for him, Kelsey only figured out roughly when it was happening, but she was still in the dark on the details. She was so in the dark on the details that it took an army of her friends to convince her to go on a group hike around sunset in the beautiful mountains near Winter Park, Colorado. To be fair, she’d just been skiing all day and she was tired. After some friendly bullying — and a couple of lies — she obliged. Slowly, the friends started peeling off one-by-one on this hike. After a while, Kelsey and Will were alone. 
 He finally asked the question, and she finally got to say yes. Signed, A man only whipped three times with a towel for not proposing sooner & Kelsey