Christopher and Elizabeth Goree

Married Winners

Although my wife, Elizabeth, and I grew up only miles apart, it took a mutual friend to introduce us while we attended school 150 miles away from each other. After a few years of friendship, our relationship grew and we began to date. At the time, I was employed as a tour manager for a band based out of Nashville and Elizabeth worked in management for a clothing company. Because of my job, we definitely didn’t get to spend as much time together as one would have liked, but it did have some pretty nice perks. One of the perks was access to almost any concert we were interested in going to; whether tickets or backstage passes, we were fortunate enough to attend musical events across Oklahoma and surrounding states, often with our friends in tow. In the summer of 2008 we were scheduled to play Country Fever in Pryor, Oklahoma the weekend of Elizabeth’s birthday along with her favorite artist, Dierks Bentley. Luckily, several months prior we had done some work with Dierks and his crew and we devised a plan. In the weeks leading up to Country Fever I designed a custom ring, checked and double checked the envisioned plan and invited all of our close friends to join us for the weekend under the notion we were celebrating Elizabeth’s birthday. Everything seemed to be coming together and I loaded my gear and personal effects on the bus in Nashville feeling as prepared as I ever could be.

As we travelled from Nashville to Oklahoma, the troubles began. Just outside of Fort Smith the bus began to overheat and we were forced to pull over at a truck stop to address the problems. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a significant problem, however my custom designed ring was still in Oklahoma City and my personal vehicle was sitting at the airport in Tulsa. After an hour or so of deliberation, and realizing the Wal- Mart annual stockholders convention was utilizing all the rental cars in the area, I was down to a few limited options. Left wondering if this was a sign to postpone the proposal, I threw second-thoughts into the wind and called a local limousine company. From the back of the limo I worked on arranging transportation for the rest of the band to Tulsa and arranged for a friend to meet me at the hotel to take me to my car.

Hurrying down the Turnpike I frantically called the jeweler in Oklahoma City, explained my situation and pleaded for him to meet up with me after- hours to exchange the ring. The jeweler was scheduled to fly out that evening on vacation, however arranged for a friend of his to meet me for the exchange. After hours of uncertainty I had the ring in hand and headed back to Tulsa.

The morning had finally arrived. With ring in pocket I went out looking for Dierks to go over final logistics for the evening. Dierks was nowhere to be found, his tour manager informed me that a photo-shoot in Los Angeles had run long and he would be flying in later that afternoon. Without Dierks on-site, we weren’t able to finalize any of the plans and the anxiety was hardly tolerable. Elizabeth showed up shortly after this time along with one of her friends and I brushed off my obviously concerned demeanor as being “production issues” for the evenings show. As the day continued on, I went back and forth between getting our friends and family into the venue and awaiting Dierks arrival.

As it neared four PM, there was no sign of Dierks, and my nerves were getting the best of me. Elizabeth didn’t understand why I was avoiding her and had begun to get upset; I explained that “although you and your friends are here for a good time, I still have to work.” Upsetting her was not in the plans, but as she hurried off I saw Dierks emerge in the background.

I approached Dierks, asked how he was doing and began in on the plan in my head. His immediate response “I have some concerns....” blew the air out of my chest until he continued “...your plan sounds good, but asking her on stage limits your time and takes away from the moment. Let’s work out another plan.”

Elizabeth and I entered Dierks “meet and greet” line towards the back of the crowd. As the number of fan-club members and radio-winners began to dwindle, it was finally our turn. Dierks introduced himself to my wife saying “you must be the one this guys always going on about”. Just as we were posing for a photo, the artist I worked for came and asked Dierks to sign a guitar. Without missing a beat Dierks said “I don’t sign a guitar before playing it” and began in on the song “My Last Name” as he sang off the line “So darling if you’re wondering why I’ve got you here tonight, I want to be your husband, I want you to be my wife” I dropped down on a knee popped the question. After a few moments of a long embrace, Dierks asked “so is that a yes?” and Elizabeth’s reply was received by cheers from our family and friends who had been just out of sight.

We’ve been very blessed in our nearly three years of marriage, have spent our last two anniversary’s at Dierks Bentley shows and will celebrate our third anniversary at Dierks CD release party in Nashville. I get told all the time by friends that they’ll never be able to top our story, but I leave you with the same thing I tell them. “It’s not about getting a celebrity to help you; it’s about finding the one thing you both are passionate about and incorporating that into your proposal. It helps if there is something, or in my case someone, that makes it more special for your loved one.”

Chelsey Johnston and Daniel Mcknight

Engaged Winners

Daniel and I met in our junior year of high school, fall 2005. We began dating when we went to college in August 2007.

Since Daniel and I both planned to attend graduate school, we wanted to be sensible and wait to get married until at least one of us had graduated and was employed. During Daniel’s internship in the spring of 2011, he was offered a job with an accounting firm in Oklahoma City with a start date in August 2012. When this happened, I had an idea we would be getting engaged within the year.

When we graduated with our undergraduate degrees this past May, my parents surprised me with a trip to visit one of my close friends in New York City. Aubrey was my Big Sister in my sorority, and she had moved to New York the year before to attend graduate school at NYU. I hadn’t had a chance to visit her since she moved, so this would be a perfect girl’s week to celebrate! Due to graduate classes and work, the only time that I was able to visit was during Daniel and I’s four year anniversary, August 19.

Daniel had been trying to think of a way to surprise me since he knew that I had an idea he would be proposing. Daniel called Aubrey and asked if she would help him surprise me in New York City. They arranged for Daniel to fly up to New York City and propose while I was visiting. He decided to wait and propose the last night of my trip so there would be no way I would suspect a thing. The day of the proposal, August 20, Aubrey told me we needed to go out for a fancy evening on the town since it was my last night in New York. So that day, we relaxed and laid out on the rooftop of her apartment. I talked to Daniel that day, and he explained all the things he was doing in Oklahoma and how much he missed me. Little did I know, he was already in New York and would be seeing me later that night.

Aubrey made “reservations” at a fancy restaurant and told me we would go to dinner with one of her good friends. After we got all dressed up for the evening, we caught a cab to pick up her friend for dinner. We arrived at his apartment, located in downtown Manhattan, and caught the elevator to go up to his apartment. On the way up, Aubrey began describing how wonderful his apartment was; it was a private penthouse! We stepped out of the elevator, and Aubrey asked to see my camera so she could show her friend all the adventures of our week together. Of course, I had not figured anything out; I was in New York City, and it was the last night of my trip! I did not suspect a thing.

When we walked into the apartment, Aubrey started yelling her friend’s name through the apartment. When he didn’t answer, she decided he must be out on the terrace, so she headed outside. I stepped out onto the private penthouse terrace that overlooked midtown Manhattan. I looked to my right, and Daniel was sitting there in his suit. There was a patio table with red roses and a bottle of champagne.

My heart sank to my stomach, and I could barely speak. I got out the words “what are you doing here” when he stood up and walked over to me. He said a few sweet words to me, then dropped to one knee and proposed. I immediately said yes! Aubrey was standing to the side taking pictures on my camera the entire time. Once he had proposed, she gave us a minute to ourselves, because I was in complete shock. I sat in a chair and began crying as he explained all his devious plans he had kept secret the past few months. He had even booked a seat beside me on the plane ride home the next day!

We took a few more pictures then headed to catch a cab. Daniel had made reservations at a beautiful restaurant, One If By Land. We called our families and close friends in the cab on the way to dinner, and then we celebrated our engagement together over a beautiful candlelit dinner.

Before my trip, Daniel had told me he would plan our four year anniversary date for the weekend after my trip. After he proposed, he told me that our anniversary date was really our proposal, and the weekend after he had arranged my best friends and their husbands to drive in to Oklahoma City and celebrate with us! Since they couldn’t be there to celebrate that night, though, my family and best friends had sent cards and a few presents with Daniel for us to open after we got engaged.