Macon couple's engagement steals the show at Nutcracker

Just before the curtains closed on the first act of The Nutcracker of Middle Georgia's production Friday night, a gentleman holding a large bouquet of flowers appeared on stage before a silently captive audience.

"She couldn't hear me the first time I told her I loved her," the man said to the crowd. "But I hope she can hear me now."

Then, unexpectedly, the show's Snow King escorted a woman to the stage.

She smiled as the man presented her with the flowers and then dropped to one knee. With the fallen snow of the previous scene scattered around him, the man presented a ring.

The woman said yes.

The crowd cheered as the two kissed and exited the stage.

While his bride-to-be seemed surprised, 33-year-old Jeremy Stinson had been planning his proposal to 21-year-old Janie-Elyse Hanson for months. Peppered in the crowd, and out of sight from Hanson, were friends, family and co-workers of the soon-to-be nuptials.

Stinson, a manager of Chick-fil-A on Tom Hill Sr. Boulevard, and Hanson, a nursing student set to graduate from Valdosta State University in May, sat in the same seats Friday night as they did on their first date in 2012.

"I was extremely nervous," Stinson recalled of the night three years ago. "I dropped her off at her house and I think there was an awkward hug. I just said good night and hoped like hell that I would see her again."

The couple met at a family function about a month prior to their first date. Stinson said he knew her father and had attended Miller Middle School with Hanson's sister, Melissa Bozarth.

"We just kind of spent the whole night talking and really hit it off," Stinson said of meeting his bride-to-be. "Then, she went back to school and I just kind of kept thinking about her."

The idea for the public proposal came a few months ago when Stinson was talking about how he'd pop the question with his co-worker Marianna Gebara, who's also the managing director for the show.

"'I said, 'Jeremy, when are you going to ask Janie-Elyse (to marry you)?'" Gebara said. "He said, 'Well, I thought about maybe asking her the day after graduation.' I didn't say anything, but I didn't like that idea."

Later in the conversation, when Stinson told Gebara about the couple's first date "a lightbulb went off," Gebara said. "I said, 'Jeremy, why don't you do it at "The Nutcracker!" I can set this up, we can do it on stage.' I've got them the seats they were in on their first date. He'd saved the tickets."

When Stinson told Bozarth of his secret plans, Bozarth said she was "surprised, but I kind of expected it at the same time."

"They are perfect together," Bozarth said of her sister and her fiance. "They have their own little world and they get together and they sit there and they giggle and they really enjoy each other's company."

To contact writer Laura Corley, call 744-4334 or find her on Twitter@Lauraecor.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Macon couple's engagement steals the show at Nutcracker ."