our song

We had been at the beach almost all day together, with the mish-mash group of friends that had somehow brought us together. He was quiet, wearing a thrifted Sunkist t-shirt, & ear buds hadn't left his ears all day. Barely acquaintances, we had walked together for a few blocks as part of a small delegation that had been sent to buy smoothies, but we didn't talk. I had just broken up with a boyfriend not a month before "because college (COLLEGE!) was three months away", & I was surprised to find myself excited to walk just a couple of feet away from him as we wandered. A new boy was very much not part of the plan for what I was hoping to be my final months in Hampton Roads. I was even more surprised when I found myself wandering over to where he was standing alone in the middle of the beach. He was singing, & how does a girl like me not walk over to a boy like him singing on the beach?

"The Music Man?"
"What?"
"Till There Was You. The Music Man, right?"

No, it wasn't The Music Man. It was, in fact, the Beatles crooning in his ear about birds & hills & bells & sweet, fragrant meadows of dawn & dew. He smiled, pulling the other ear bud out from behind his shaggy dark hair (speaking of the Beatles...), intrigued that I was standing in front of him, asking about a movie from the 1960s. He couldn't help but quiz me about the movie, & I couldn't help but show off the moves I remembered from "Shipoopi." I like to think that it was those moves that really sealed our fate, & that's what the grandchildren will be told, by gum, but he says it was something about my eyes & some other smooshy stuff.

I had never heard the Beatles' version of this song, & even worse (according to Jared), I had never really listened to the Beatles'. Not on purpose, anyway. So, two months (& 5 whole weeks of dating) later, I received my first Jared Bethune playlist, teeming with Beatles' glory. I was partial to "When I'm Sixty-Four," but Till There Was You was already our song. I had never had an "our song" before, but as far as meet cutes go, it was the perfect soundtrack.

It was also the perfect soundtrack when we walked back down the aisle as husband & wife & when our sweet friend Kelli sang it for our first dance. It's even earned a spot on the wall of our family room. & I can bet you our future babes will hear it more than a few times. If you had told Summer 2006 Kelsey any of those things, she would probably tell you, "Well, thank GOD he wasn't listening to Outkast."

& she'd have an excellent point. Thank-you, Meredith Willson & Paul McCartney.

seven years

Seven years ago today,  Jared & I took a bike ride to this little garden in my parents' neighborhood, & he asked me to be his girlfriend. Dating anniversaries are maybe supposed to fall by the wayside as years go by & wedding rings are acquired, but every year, May 27th has remained special for us. Somehow, we already knew that getting into a relationship that day wasn't going to just be another girlfriend or boyfriend. I was sure 48 hours into knowing him that I would be his wife. & just like that (with a couple hundred years in between), we are at seven whole years. 2,555 days of hand-holding, forehead-kissing, flower-giving, fist-bumping, share-dessert love.

I pulled together a few (hilarious) photos to commemorate the last seven years of Jared + Kelsey. I can't apologize enough for the puka necklaces & buzz cuts. It's been a lot of fun to pull all these photos out today. (& if you just can't get enough of us, I wrote about how we met here.)

Click the read more below to see all seven years of Jared & Kelsey glory!

the day we met

this is a photo from the day I met jared. 

you're not crazy, it's definitely prom. if you think that's weird, just wait till you hear the rest. jared & I were both homeschooled, & since there are so many homeschoolers in this area, there is actually a homeschool prom. (you can read that sentence again if you need to.)

the year was 2006. I was a senior. my best friend was in the purple dress. we were both on the "prom committee," planning decorations & playlists & BONUS! the senior gifts. every time the name "jared bethune" popped up on the list of senions, she went out of her way to make sure I knew that she knew him. from way back when. hadn't heard from him in forever. "AWESOME." was usually my response. I didn't really care, & other than the used-to-know-that-guy factor, the conversation didn't go much further than that.

skip forward to prom night, april 21st. gretchen came running up to me with her purple dress hiked up to her knees, yelling over the music that she "FOUND HIM!!!" I screamed "WHAT?? WHO??" back in her face, but she just grabbed my wrist and pulled me across the dance floor. we were standing at a table. a boy was sitting in a chair. another boy was standing behind him, trying to talk to him over the bad techno song. gretchen didn't really care.

"KELSEY! THIS IS JARED!"
"WHAT???"
"THIS IS JARED! THAT GUY I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT!"
"UHH... OH! HI, JARED!"

& then he said something back, but he wasn't hyper & screaming like us, so I couldn't hear him. I didn't care that I couldn't hear him. I was bored, & from the length of his hair, I wasn't really sure that I had time to stop & talk to what I thought was some skater kid when there was dancing to be done. we waved, said something about how it was nice to meet them & I pulled gretchen back to the dance floor. frank sinatra's come fly with me had just started playing, & in that moment, there was nothing better to be doing than running around with arms our arms out, flying through our senior prom.

I didn't see him the rest of the night.

it was only after we found each other through gretchen on myspace (yup, myspace) that I started paying attention to the skater kid from prom that my best friend used to know. turns out he wasn't a skater kid at all. he was an actor. a singer. a dancer. an artist. he had the theme from eternal sunshine of the spotless mind playing on his myspace (yup, myspace again) profile & I remember thinking, "well, that's promising." turns out, he was interested in my best friend. turns out, she had a boyfriend.

he called her one night when she was spending the night at my house. he ended up on the phone with me when her boyfriend called her. we stayed on the phone for 6 hours. we talked about everything. I remember thinking how odd it was to talk to someone who knew nothing about me. no presuppositions. no impressions. & his voice. oh, his voice. his voice still makes me weak in the knees. just his talking voice... I could have listened to it for hours. & I did. & I have. & I will.

we were dating three weeks later. on may 27th, 2006, we took a walk through my parents neighborhood, where he sat me down in a garden on the golf course, kissed my hands & asked me to be his girlfriend. then we walked home. it wasn't a month into dating that I knew I loved him. at the ripe old age of 17.


& here we are! SIX whole years later, as of today. married & everything. dating anniversaries don't get much attention after marriage, but we're kinda corny & I just can't let it pass without giving him bambi eyes & asking for a dance while come fly with me plays in the background.


it's been an adventure,
jared stedman bethune.
my huckleberry friend.
& here's yet another
public proclamation of l-o-v-e.

first anniversary

A year ago today, 

I walked down the aisle to you,

the man who has given me joy, knowledge, happiness & adventures. 

you are my beloved, & I am so grateful for everything you are.

thank you for loving me so well.

thank you for holding me so hard.

thank you for completing me so unconditionally.

I can't wait to see your old man hands holding my old lady hands,

knowing that they've been through it all together.

you are my someone,

& I delight in every day that God gives us together.

I love you with my everything, JSB.

xo, your kelsey

wedding - engagement story

it's wedding week, guys!
this time next week, jared & I will be spending our 2nd October 24th together as married couple.
I'll be posting our invitation suite later tonight,
 but I figured it was only right to start off with how this whole wedding began...

the following is the "official engagement story" that I shared on facebook
once we got home from what we now lovingly call our engagement trip, Christmas 2009.

& now, a little story that begins in Fredericksburg, Va,
with a seemingly innocent visit to levi & heather's for a couple days of r&r...

"Where to begin? Jared & I have always known that we were dating with the intentions of marrying one another, knowing from the beginning that we had been deliberately brought together for a wonderful purpose that God had for us, even if that didn't end in marriage. (Although we hoped it did!) The plan had always been what I call "The Four Year Plan," which was centered around my parents' only stipulation: finish college.

Around September, I sat Jared down & explained to him that even though I COMPLETELY understood that we may not realistically be able to get married in 2010, my heart was maybe going to hurt a little still. He completely understood & I set to praying very hard for a peace about the timing of it all. Which, I am happy to report, God was really giving to me.

We had planned a trip to visit Jared's brother & sister-in-law in Fredericksburg back in November, hoping to get in some good family lovin' with some relaxation and general DC frivolity. Was I thinking that this would be a GREAT proposal opportunity? Sure, the thought crossed my mind! (Um. But that happened every day. So...) But like I said, I was positive that I was supposed to be patient & tried not to presuppose anything. And besides, I knew that we were picking up a golden doodle puppy for my mom's Christmas present. I kept telling Jared that it was going to be the best weekend ever, simply because of the puppy. He knew that there was at least one other reason why I might think so, too.

Monday, the 21st of December, we set off for DC from Levi & Heather's home in Fredericksburg, only to be met with hours of holiday/snow induced traffic on what was supposed to be a 45 minute drive - Max. We left at 1p.m. and arrived in Georgetown around 5, both of us tired, hungry & mildly testy. Determined to make the most of our day in the 'city,' we walked around Georgetown for a while, then settled in a little Italian restaurant for dinner. I'd say we sufficiently calmed our stomachs and minds while we were there. Looking back, I was getting love-eyes from Jared all night, & he was saying sweet lovey-dovey things that made me forget all the traffic-y frustrations of the day. Gee, I love him :)

what I thought was going to be my most overwhelming moment of the evening - my first Anthropologie STORE visit

our Italian dinner

After dinner, we went to a little shopping center ice-skating rink & got our skate on. Again, was I thinking that this would be a perfect proposal opportunity? Maaaaybe. But we turned our attentions to not falling and soaking up the end of 'our day.' DC traffic scared us off from going into the city to skate, so we settled for this cozy little rink outside of the City.

The rest of the story requires me going back a bit. Sophomore year, Jared was bringing me home for Christmas break from GMU. The entire drive back, we were driving under a meteor shower on 295, & had our foreheads glued to the windows to watch all the shooting stars. Jared declared that "there was something wrong with the tire" & that we needed to pull over. I was clueless. We ended up in a parking lot, where he put on Norah Jones' "Peace" & we danced under the meteor shower. (Oh, there was nothing wrong with the tire.) It was a moment :)

So, we leave the rink to head back to Levi & Heather's. End of the day, right? Yeah, I thought so too. We're driiiivin', listening to Christmas music, taaaalkin'. Suddenly, we need gas. According to Jared. From the way he's acting about this gas crisis, I'm thinking we're going to end up on the side of the rooooad, stranded for hours in the snow... We pull off at an exit & desperately seek out a gas station. The only one we found, of course, was only the convenience store part of a 7-11. I'm saying things like, "Well, now what do we do!!" & Jared merely pulls into a parking lot with snow everywhere, under a street light.

I'm a smart girl. I know what's going on. He wants to dance with me, just like two years ago.
"Iiiiiii'm onto your game. But it's like 18 degrees outside. & SNOWING!"
"Just dance with me."

& I did.

Norah Jones is playing, a song that we both love, & I'm shivering. I say something about how wonderful the day was, no matter how wonderful it wasn't. He's pretty quiet. Then he stops. & looks down. & I'm sticking my face in his saying, "Are you okay?"

He looks up at me & struggles for words & all he spits out, I kid you not, is:
"In life..."

I looked at him, mildly confused, & then he starts saying all these wonderful things about love, & us side by side, & God blessing us &... Well, that's about all I remember before I start putting it all together. I think it mostly started coming together when his hand reached into his pocket. Neither of us can tell you what he said - It was such a blur. My hand goes over my mouth & a thousand things are going through my mind. But then he goes down to one knee, & there's something REALLY sparkly in his hand (Thank-you, streetlights!) & says those blessed words: Will you marry me?

He's sitting right next to me & he says all I said was "Yes! Yes yes yes! Yes!" & I believe him.

We just stood in the parking lot, smiling & hugging. & no, I didn't cry. Crazy, right?? I was in utter disbelief & just couldn't stop staring at him. He finally said, "Kelsey! You're getting married! To me!" We just started laughing & I somewhat realized we were actually engaged. We got back in the car & I started the "WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY?" questioning before I realized that we hadn't taken any pictures of the 'where.' So, we turned around & took pictures.

I finally cried once I started talking to my mom & spoke the words, "Jared proposed!" I called him my fiancé for the first time during that conversation. I had prepared myself to wait for a lot longer to actually hear a proposal, so I was completely shocked. My cheeks hurt so badly from smiling. He picked out the most PERFECT ring & isn't just me, or my style. It's us. I have to stop & smile at him every once in awhile while I write this. It's too surreal. Jared Bethune is my one & only! & I'm marrying him!

We're getting married! & I could not be happier!! God has used every last minute of the last 3 1/2 years to build up to this 'engaged' period of our lives. Yeah, I'm excited about the wedding, but I am even more excited to know that instead of counting up to when we finally get to be engaged, we're counting down to the day that we actually get to be husband & wife. & that date will be revealed in a bit, I promise :)"

-  -  -  -  -  -  

some extra photos from our return home, when we surprised my sister + grandparents with an engagement announcement,

then the whole family (minus dad) with the puppy we had stashed at the neighbors' house while we shared our news.

looking back, I'm a little amazed at how big of a night it was at the Essmann house!

I bet you didn't realize that our engagement story is also our Ellie story, huh?

 it was really wonderful reading back through all this & reliving the pictures from that fantastic week.

if you know me, you'll know that I adore sparkly things, puppies, Christmas & weddings...

so you can imagine the cloud 9 that I was floating on, both of us using the word fiance/fiancee every chance we got.

although we both agree that "husband" & "wife" are much more fun to say ;)

xo, kelsey

engagement - save the date session

Photos by Levi Bethune Photography

Aren't these beautiful?

Levi captured the day's completely pristine sky so well.

That sky seriously made up for the um, frigid weather we were dealing with.

Can you even tell we were freezing?

Nope, because I got my love to keep me warm ;)

Looking at these pictures all over again, I think three things:

1. Jared looks so cuddly in his Mr. Roger's sweater & I'm excited for fall all over again.

2. My brother-in-law is, quite clearly, the best.

3. The shoes I'm wearing were perhaps my favorite flats in all the history of flats...

& my parents' (then) puppy chewed them to BITS like, 3 days later. & I'M STILL SO SAD.

I'm working backwards through our engagement photos, 

in case the hair color didn't give that away...

But bear with me! 

I'm gearing up to chat through our wedding paper suite this week,

which starts with a photo from this very photo shoot.

Seriously, I can't thank Levi enough for sticking with me through the 57 save-the-date ideas I had,

taking pictures from every angle that we could possibly need,

& then a lovely post-production process to get the photo to work.

I'm excited!

But even more so, I'm excited to be HOME from my trip.

So excuse me, while I go hang out with my darling husby.

xo, kelsey

engagement - film, pt. II

oh, heeey there, freckles.

& it's a ferris wheel, since you're about to ask.

[pt. I]

engagement shoot with Levi Bethune Photography
at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront

xo, kelsey

engagement - film

shot with a Nikon F4; Lens - Nikkor 50mm 1.4 (Made in 1960s)

We have the some of the most talented family members,

& today's photos showcase the fantastic work of Levi Bethune Photography.

These pictures are all straight from the camera,

& we could not be more thrilled with them.

Words cannot describe the HEAT that fell upon the earth the day of this shoot in mid-June.

Which makes sense, because our "save the date" photoshoot was, um, FREEZING (in late March).

But Levi worked his magic, Jared told some cheesy jokes, & we managed to smile, laugh & melt our way through the afternoon,

& things cooled off once we moved into the evening.

When I look at these photos, they look like how Norah Jones sounds.
How she sounded as she crooned in the background when Jared proposed to me in the falling snow.

Glowing faces, beaming smiles.
I just want to hold his hand.

Right now!

& for forever.

(Good thing we're already married, huh?)

Ooo ... Hope I didn't spoil the surprise ending for you just now ;)

xo, kelsey

with that ring

I did totally wed.

Just a little taste of what I was working on today,

& the first taste of what should be a fantastically wedding-y next couple of months for this little blog.

Now that we've been married for, you know, nearly a year,

I'm finally ready to take you through our wedding, piece by intricate, tiny piece.

Starting with our (two) engagement shoots with Levi,

which include some never-before-seen film photos (like that one, up there!).

Jared planned a surprise visit with Andrew & Amelia for me,

so we have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves with them + Allison, 

mostly eating, but also a symphony concert under the stars.

I have pictures of all that, too. Duh.

So, see ya, Labor Day! 

With you being over, my birthday (week) is that much closer.

It's been fun!

xo, kelsey