Who knew? A couple of kids from Springfield, IL (who met behind a dugout after a Junior High Softball game) would fall in love some 13 years later in Salt Lake City on a cold winter's night. Going to different high schools, college in different states, and both moving away from home to begin our adult lives, we've always been friends. Even as time went and by the miles between us increased, there was always something bringing us back together. Trips back home. A party at a friend's house, where no alcohol was consumed by anyone under 21 and not one pool was dove into by any members of this wedding party. Weekend ski trips to Colorado. Work trips to Salt Lake City. I was living in Salt Lake when I received a text from Alyssa (known to most of us as Lou). She had just found out that her work was sending her to Salt Lake for training, and she wanted someone to show her around the city. As any friend would, I happily obliged. We still aren't sure if it was the first meal we shared together at Squatter's Brewery, the trip to Park City for pizza (both of our favorite foods) or the romantic serenade of Lou by myself and friends to the timeless karaoke classic "Bohemian Rhapsody." But sometime after a late night game of ping pong (I lost) and falling asleep to the movie Hitch, we knew something had changed between us, but couldn't quite figure out what it was. That all changed on the aforementioned cold winter's night in Downtown Salt Lake. I asked Lou to go to a Jazz basketball game. The night started with a beautiful stroll through a Christmas lights display and ended with finally gathering up enough courage to kiss a longtime friend on the train ride home from the game. After that night nothing would ever be quite the same. We've been inseparable. Two mountain ranges, a move to Phoenix, a new house and a puppy have brought us to our special day. We can't wait to see you all and celebrate our next chapter as husband and wife on June 2, 2018.