The year was 2018, and Ben and Kenz were sophomores at Creighton University in Omaha. One night, Kenz was with her friend Liz waiting in line for Billy Frogg’s Bar & Grill when Liz mentioned that one of her friends was meeting them out. Along came Ben.

While waiting in line, Kenz pointed out that Ben’s chain necklace was backwards, with the clasp in the front. He explained that he did it on purpose so no one could see the clasp from the back. Kenz thought this was ridiculous, but she was intrigued by him.

They talked all night. Liz even captured a video of the two of them sitting across from each other in a booth, leaning so far forward to talk that neither of their butts were actually on the seat.

They dated throughout college and became best friends along the way. After graduation, Kenz moved to Salt Lake City while Ben stayed in Omaha for another year to get his master’s at Creighton before moving to Nashville. After two years of long distance, Kenz joined him in Nashville, and they’ve now called it home for three years. They have adopted the “y’all”, but not SEC football. #GBR

In March, Mackenzie’s brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law came to Nashville for a suspiciously well-timed work trip. Ben told Kenz they were going to “brunch,” that she should dress cute, and that they’d be going on a chill hike beforehand — but she should still wear the cute clothes. The jig was up.

On the drive there, Kenz expected Ben to be nervous and awkward, but he was completely calm. They sang along to country songs and joked around like normal.

They arrived at Percy Warner Park and started up what felt like a million stairs. When Ben stopped for a second, Kenz jokingly asked, “What, do you need a break?” He laughed, said no, and got down on one knee.

Neither of them really remembers what Ben said after that, but it must have been good enough because Kenz said yes.

Kenz knew her family would be waiting to celebrate and, knowing the Murrays, had a pretty good feeling Ben’s family would be there too. What she didn’t expect was even more friends hiding upstairs to celebrate. The night continued with live music, dinner and drinks, and dancing on Broadway.