Hi! Ryan here! First of all, if you’re reading this, I want to personally thank you for being such a special force in Stephanie and I’s lives. It’s our most cherished loved ones we wanted by our side in Paris, and we’re beyond excited for our special day in the City of Love! Some of you might know more about our journey together than others, so I just wanted to share a brief history of the winding road that lead us to becoming “The Bellseys” ;)

Although Steph and I have dated for 3 wonderful years, our paths had crossed many years and dozens of times before that, having no idea what wonderful future lie ahead of us. The first crossroad in our lives was the classic Las Vegas showgirl spectacular, “Jubilee!”. My parents danced in the show in the ‘80s, I performed there in 2003, and all of the Kelsey’s were elated when my sister Lora joined the show in 2011. Stephanie joined the show 6 months later, and this is where Lora and “Bell” became fast friends. So the tradition will be kept alive that every Kelsey will have performed in “Jubilee!”, and it’s so fun for us that this show is what unknowingly knocked over the first domino in me meeting my future bride.

We crossed paths many times at different events, gigs, promos, and parties over the years, briefly interacting but never getting the chance to fully get to know each other. Steph gets full credit for fully noticing me first, as she came to see a production show I was performing in called “Pin Up” in 2013, and, in her words, realized she had a “big fat crush” on the guy flipping around all over the stage. And while I didn’t have the same “ah-ha” moment with Steph, I definitely had become aware of who she was, how beautiful she was, and how fondly everyone seemed to talk about “Bell”. One of us just always seemed to be dating someone whenever the other one was single… Gah!! I do remember, however, there was one night in 2016, Stephanie attended a revue show I was performing in called 53X, and during a section of the show where the performers were in the crowd, myself being VERY aware that she was there and knowing exactly where she was, went right over to her and gyrated directly to her face hoping to make her blush.

It worked. ;)

However, It wasn’t until the fall of 2020 that we got reintroduced to each other through our mutual friend, Jojo. While everything in the world was up in the air in 2020, we started finding a little stability with each other, and we slowly started to see each other a little more and a little more during that winter and into 2021. After a few months of casual dating, it was Stephanie that made the first move (again), professing that she was getting some real feelings for me. In classic idiot-male-commitment-phobic fashion, I said I wasn’t sure I was ready for the responsibility of a relationship. However, after a couple weeks, I realized how much I was already missing her, finally manned up, gave her a call to see if we could work it out, and fortunately for me, the rest is history.

Fast forward to the fall of 2023, we were about to embark on a trip for Steph’s birthday, a trip that she had planned all herself. Unbeknownst to her, I had secretly and successfully been ring shopping and was looking for the perfect opportunity to propose—and propose in a way that would completely surprise her, which she had emphatically told me I was not going to be able to pull off. Well, the birthday trip became a Trojan horse for the proposal, and I successfully surprised her on the beach of Carmel-By-The-Sea. In fact, the plan almost worked too well, as I surprised her enough to turn her basically into a stone statue, to which at one point I had to actually ask her if she was ok…. She was! Thank god. So mission accomplished!!

The cherry on top, and a wonderful sign that this is perfect and completely meant to be, we found out later that Carmel-By-The-Sea is where my parents took their honeymoon after getting married themselves almost 40 years ago. So amazing, right?

In France, there’s a popular saying “La Vie en Rose”, which translates to “Life in Pink”. That is our version of “look at life through rose colored glasses”. And that is exactly how both Stephanie and this wedding make me feel! I know this day is going to be perfect! And I know it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime. We are beyond excited for it and beyond excited for such a special time in a city that’s so near and dear to our hearts; and we look forward to having each you out there with us to celebrate our love! So throw on your best beret, pop a bottle of Champagne, and get ready for some of the best cuisine you’ve ever had. Because when you’re in a city that’s pure magic, and celebrating 2 peoples’ love that’s pure magic, well… it’ll seem like everything is coming up roses.

To which I say…

La Vie en Rose