Editor’s note: This story was reported and written as part of the Flint Hills Media Project, an 11-year experience-based learning project through the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University.
Mitch Jones wore a blue-gray suit to his wedding, matching the cloudy Kansas sky on a day in mid-June. During his vows, he held a bible written in Welsh that had been passed down in his family for four generations. He read, in English, from the book of Corinthians.
Kasey Jones (formerly Kasey Waite) wore a cream-colored dress that complemented her skin tone and magnified the tattoos on her arms. You could see her smile from the nearest peak in the land.
What made a seemingly normal wedding extraordinary was the venue. The Joneses joined hands on Saturday in the heart of Chase County shortly after the gates opened at the Symphony in the Flint Hills.
They didn’t coordinate with event organizers, but simply gathered a few close friends and family members to attend the event, brought their officiant and photographer and showed up dressed for their wedding, Kasey carrying a prairie-inspired bouquet.
They immediately started looking for the ideal spot, choosing one just past the symphony shell in front of a picturesque pond with cattle roaming in the background. Eventually, nearly 8,000 people joined them for a reception party on the prairie.
“I was like, ‘What a more perfect event and place to get married,’” Kasey said. “We’re both Kansas kids. So, I just felt like prairie, symphony (and) driving cattle felt very Kansas.”
They were pronounced husband and wife at approximately 2:30 p.m., and the reception took place around 100 yards from the symphony’s bandshell in the event’s patron tent.
The newlyweds dated for four years, got engaged in early May this year and recently bought a house together in Lawrence, where they both live. Kasey said holding their wedding during the Symphony in the Flint Hills event made logistical sense for them because of that.
“I mean, it’s already set up for us, basically,” Kasey said. “It’s low maintenance, low stress.”
They both attended the event in 2024 and during a break in the symphony’s performance, Mitch remembered that his sister asked him, “So are you going to propose, or what?” He didn’t propose that day and said he felt no rush to do so then, but looked around the remote, off-the-beaten-path land and thought, “This would have been a great place to do it.”
“I mean, when you’re out here and looking around at all the natural beauty surrounding you, it’s hard not to start getting romantic,” Mitch said.
When he eventually proposed last May, Kasey suggested having their wedding at the event without knowing about the conversation Mitch and his sister had almost a year before.
“I was like, ‘Well that’s kind of full circle on that idea. Why not? Let’s go for it,’” Mitch said.
They kept the ceremony small, only inviting 10 of their closest loved ones. Kasey said that having them there was “beyond important.”
“My sister is my best friend,” she said. “I’m really close with his (Mitch’s) family. And his sister, I absolutely adore.”
Even though they’d invited a small crowd, attendees at the event stopped to talk and congratulate them, take photos and even offer them free food.
“We kind of feel like celebrities walking around,” Mitch said.
During the ceremony, Kasey said, she felt a wide range of emotions.
“I mean, we’ve been talking about it for a month basically,” she said. “And it kind of felt like a fever dream. But once it happened, I was like, ‘Oh, we’re doing this.’”
When it was over, she used one word: elated. After their vows, they walked back to where the popup tents and bales of straw sat, spent time with their families and later enjoyed a performance by the Kansas City Symphony that ended with a sunset sing-along to “Home on the Range.”
“It’s like you kind of feel like you’re floating around,” she said.
Mitch agreed.
“The stress part is over,” he said. “We’re just happy now.”
The symphony on Saturday marked the 20th year for the event, as well as its finale.
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