Brian was working at Illinois Bone & Joint in Buffalo Grove. Little did she know, Alyssa took her first job out of grad school at the same location. The funny thing is, Alyssa and Brian both don’t remember meeting each other the first day they worked together. As time went on though, they got to know each other day after day. They had so much in common it was getting a little weird! Brian went to Michigan State, which was Alyssa’s first choice of school, although she went elsewhere. They went to Australia only a few months apart on a very similar sports-focused study abroad trip. They soon realized how similar their personalities were too. Every day at work they made each other laugh, they were always the ones helping their coworkers out and they became their patients’ favorite people to work with. After months of working together, Alyssa came to the realization she had feelings for Brian. Those feelings felt too strong to ignore, so one day after work, Alyssa and Brian went and got drinks together, and Alyssa told Brian how she felt. Apparently Brian was completely unaware of this and needed time to process what he was just told, although this is still a topic up for debate. A week or so later, he took a chance on Alyssa, and the rest was history!

Leave it to Brian to not tell anyone, except for the father of the bride, about the proposal. Brian and Alyssa went up to Marquette, MI for a mountain bike race him and his brother were racing in. What a great distraction! For reference, Alyssa and Brian had their first post-pandemic weekend getaway camping in Marquette . It was the first time life felt normal again, and was also the first time Brian knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Alyssa. Ever since that trip, Marquette became their special place. The day before the race, Brian, Alyssa and their puppy Benny spent the afternoon at the beach on Lake Superior. As they were getting ready to leave, Brian asked Alyssa to feed Benny treats to distract him while he got his things together. Alyssa did as she was told, and then as she turned around to pick her things up, Brian got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. After Alyssa was done screaming " SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" she said "of course!"