Kelsea Ballerini Is All of Us When a Fan Proposes Marriage
One Kelsea Ballerini fan in love learned that when Plans A and B fail, figure out Plan C. That's what it took for a Bozeman, Mont., man to propose marriage to his girlfriend as the "Dibs" singer looked on in shock.
Breana Sutherland tells Taste of Country that several months ago she casually mentioned to boyfriend Reid Norsworthy that he should propose on stage during Ballerini's concert, but figured he wasn't listening. The 28-year-old was listening, and thought he might be able to do just that when a man who seemingly had connections promised to hook him up. That didn't work, so this quasi-celeb promised meet and greet passes, which also fell through.
Finally, someone found a pair of passes for the couple. They were actually working at Headwaters Country Jam in Montana, where Ballerini was performing that night, but everyone got on board with a plan to cut loose for the meet and greet, knowing a marriage proposal was about to happen. Sutherland and Ballerini may have been the only two who didn't know.
"He just didn't say anything. He just got down on one knee," Ballerini told Taste of Country the next day at Country Jam in Colorado. "I was like, is this me? Is this her? Am I in the shot (the picture)? Am I supposed to be in the shot?"
"I had this whole speech made up," Norsworthy explains. "I was gonna make a couple of jokes and whatever ... but I was so nervous that I finally just ended up dropping to one knee and asking her to marry me and I couldn't tell who was more surprised, my girlfriend or Kelsea Ballerini."
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The broken plans and rush created a tremendous amount of anxiety for Norsworthy. Sutherland, a bartender at Headwaters, didn't think much of it, figuring he was just doing his job as an ice delivery guy at the festival.
"I wasn't supposed to know about the meet and greet passes," she says, "but a couple of co-workers ruined it so I tried to look surprised when he gave them to me."
"I thought he was actually tying his shoe, and I was gonna get really mad at him, and then I realized he was wearing shoes that he couldn't tie. That's when I realized. I was pretty shocked. I was still in shock for 15 or 20 minutes afterward," she says, laughing.
The couple have been dating for two-and-a-half years and had talked marriage, but Sutherland figured he would propose at a family camping trip in a few months, even though he wouldn't reveal the reason he suddenly kept his truck's glove box locked. The ring was in it!
"Dibs" is the couple's song, one sure to be heard at the wedding next June. "Our second date that we went on," Norsworthy says, "I was playing that song. I was in a good mood and I was singing along to the song and calling 'Dibs' on her and stuff like that."
"We just thought it was super cute for the relationship," he adds.
The "Miss Me More" singer agrees, and when she figured that out, she hopped back in the scene to snap a few photos with the pair. She can probably relate, having married Morgan Evans 18 months ago. Sutherland and Norsworthy say they'll probably invite her to the wedding and while they realize that's a long shot, crazier things have happened ... eventually.
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