Oregon Couple's Disney Wedding Wish Goes Viral

Larry Ragsdale and Kelcie Yeomans have been best friends since grade school

ByABC News
August 26, 2014, 7:16 AM
Kelcie Yeomans and Larry Ragsdale will be married at Disneyland thanks to the generosity of friends, family and strangers.
Kelcie Yeomans and Larry Ragsdale will be married at Disneyland thanks to the generosity of friends, family and strangers.
Courtesy Kelcie Yeomans

— -- Best friends since grade school, Larry Ragsdale and Kelcie Yeoman knew they would spend their lives together.

While high school sweethearts in Grants Pass, Oregon, Yeoman was student-body vice president and Ragsdale was a football and track phenom who was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces In the Crowd.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to spend forever,” Yeoman told ABC News' Amy Robach she recalled thinking at the time. “He’s perfect and he treats me like a princess.”

Police Chopper Captures Romantic Proposal: 'Will You Marry Me?'

See Groom's Priceless Reaction to Bride

Couple's Dying Wish for Dream Wedding, Disney Honeymoon Comes True Thanks to Kindness of Strangers

The couple’s fairytale romance was sidelined by tragedy in 2007 when Yeoman’s mother, Anita Yeoman, was killed in a car crash.

“Larry was just kind of holding me and crying,” Yeoman said. “He told my mommy, he said, ‘I promised her that day that I would take care of you forever.’”

In 2010 Ragsdale took the first step to propose to Yeoman by asking her dad, Bill Yeoman, for her hand in marriage.

“He said, ‘You know Bill, I love you and I want your permission to marry Kelsey,’” Bill Yeoman told ABC News.

Just three days later, Ragsdale’s plans to propose to Yeoman were derailed when the car he was driving was hit head-on by a drunk driver.

Yeoman was riding in a car just behind Ragsdale and was the first to come to his aid.

“He was unresponsive and I was also, of course, the first responder,” Yeoman said. “I just made sure that his airway was open and I was just screaming at him like, ‘Come on.’”

Ragsdale survived the crash but was left with significant head trauma and brain damage so severe he was in a coma for months.

Yeoman found a job at the facility where Ragsdale was recuperating, helping him with his therapy and staying by his side as he relearned to walk.

“He’s still the same guy in there and he still loves me more than anything,” Yeoman said. “I know that if I had been in the accident and had survived, I know Larry would have stayed with because that was the kind of love that we had for each other.”

In 2012, nearly three years after the car crash, Ragsdale was able to finally propose to Yeoman. He used the same ring he had purchased when he originally asked her dad for permission.

“He’s like the most genuine and honest and perfect guy ever in the world,” Yeoman said of her fiancé.

Straddled financially and unable to afford the wedding of their dreams, Yeoman, 24, and Ragsdale, 25, were soon surprised by another family member, Yeoman’s sister, McKenzie, who created a fundraising page this month to make the couple's dream wedding at Disneyland a reality.

McKenzie Yeoman posted the couple’s proposal video on Indiegogo and donations quickly poured in, raising nearly $28,000 in all.

“I just can't ever tell anybody how thankful I am for that,” Kelcie Yeoman said. “Just the love and support we've seen from people that we have no clue who they are, where they live.”

“We’re so excited,” she said of their wedding, scheduled to take place next month at Disneyland.

With their dream wedding set, the surprises didn’t end there for Yeoman and Ragsdale.

During the interview with ABC News’ Amy Robach, the couple also received news that Disney Fairy Tales Wedding and Honeymoons would be giving the couple a five-night honeymoon at the Disneyland resort in California.

“I do,” said Ragsdale when he heard the news. “I’ll marry [you] right now.”

“I love you,” Yeoman replied.

Disneyland and ABC News are both owned by The Walt Disney Co.