Boyfriend orchestrates unique spin on proposal

EAST COUNTY — For Phill Phelan, dancing with a stranger for 10 seconds wasn’t just part of the White Buffalo Saloon’s line dancing class: It was how he met Kailee Burgess.

“Kailee spun twice during our dance, not once like the other girls,” Phelan said, laughing. “That caught my attention.”

The couple’s relationship started on a dance floor, so Phelan knew he wanted his proposal to Burgess to follow suit. He orchestrated a flash mob Nov. 7, at Music on Main, to ask Burgess to marry him.

The 45-member flash mob, including Phelan and Burgess, danced a choreographed line dance routine to Brad Paisley’s “Wrapped Around,” which ended with Phelan on one knee and a crying and surprised Burgess standing in front of him.

Phelan proposed to Burgess the way she always wanted.

When the couple first started dating about 11 months ago, she had told Phelan that she always wanted to participate and be proposed to in a crowd of people randomly performing a choreographed dance routine in a public venue — a flash mob.

“I just always thought that would be amazing and a really fun way to do a proposal,” Burgess said. “I had no idea when I told him that he would actually do it. He said that wasn’t romantic enough, and I believed him.”

Surrounded by the couple’s family and friends, some of whom danced alongside Burgess during the country song, Phelan nervously waited for the moment for which he had planned for months.

Phelan coordinated the event with his and Burgess’ line dance instructor, Tim Schalch.

After Phelan pitched the idea of a flash mob proposal to Schalch, Schalch posted a status on Facebook about two months ago asking for participants.

Within an hour, Burgess saw the post and convinced Phelan to participate. But, she was curious if a flash mob proposal was romantic enough for Phelan after all.

So, the night before the flash mob, she checked where Phelan kept the engagement ring they’d picked out together.

The ring wasn’t missing, but the following night confirmed Burgess’ earlier suspicions.

The couple will get married under an oak tree in December, but plan to have a larger church ceremony in December 2015.

“Phill is just the most amazing person I’ve ever met; he’s definitely my soulmate,” Burgess said. “It all came together perfectly, just like he planned.”

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].