A & R

We first met at our church youth group in 2009. Ryan had just joined the youth group band, God Given Gifts, and Allison longingly admired him as he played the guitar. One day, while driving home from church, Allison announced to her family, “Give it two weeks and he’ll be mine.” It took a little longer than two weeks, but in 2011 Ryan asked Allison on our first date, to his winter formal (picture below). A couple of weeks later, we made the relationship Facebook official. We spent high school spending summers in South Haven and attending more dances together, including both junior and senior prom. In college, we became frequent riders of the Michigan Flyer, wearing a rut in I‑96 as we traveled back and forth between Michigan and Michigan State. We went to football games and tailgates, and took our first big road trips to Florida and the U.P. In 2018, after graduating college, we decided it was time for a new adventure. We packed our cars and took a one‑way trip to Colorado. Since then, we started new traditions like pasta night every Monday, learned to ski (one of us), sat on brewery patios enjoying craft beers, and enjoyed living in a city with major league sports. We’ve taken full advantage of $8 Colorado Rockies tickets thanks to their consistently abysmal seasons. In September of 2024, we got engaged on a weekend trip to Aspen. As we join together in marriage, we’ve agreed to adopt each other’s love for certain sports teams: Ryan for Allison’s devotion to the USWNT and the Detroit Tigers, and Allison for Ryan’s love of the Philadelphia Eagles. We have mutually agreed that we cannot love each other’s colleges.