On September 16, 2017, Ken and his friend Scott decided to go see one of their favorite hipster-folk artists at the Tralf Music Hall in Buffalo, New York and Ken invited his friend Katie from law school to join them. However, Katie already had plans to hang out with Alyssa that night and, upon listening to the majestic sounds of Joe Purdy, Alyssa decided that their night would be better spent elsewhere. Following the concert, Katie informed Ken that she and Alyssa were watching their friend Brad perform at the Tudor Lounge, just down the street. As Ken and Scott rarely turned down an invitation to socialize, they wandered down the mean streets of Buffalo, like the intrepid souls that they were. Upon arrival, Katie introduced Ken and Scott to Alyssa for the first time, none of them appreciating the life-altering nature of the evening. Several libations later, Alyssa, Ken, and Katie wandered over to a venue called Founding Fathers, which adorns its walls with historical presidential paraphernalia. Ken decided that this was a good time to share his irrational obsession with Andrew Jackson with Alyssa. To his surprise, Alyssa did not seem completely repelled by his late night rant about presidents. Although that was the end of that particular evening, Ken and Alyssa continued to see each other at various events hosted by Katie. Eventually, Ken worked up the courage to ask Alyssa on a date. It turned out that they both loved asian food, so they agreed to meet at Sato, a local purveyor of delicious ramen noodles and sushi. Alyssa was still a bit leery of the strange man that had asked her out, so she declined a ride to the restaurant. However, through their collective nervousness, the date went very well, despite Alyssa spilling ramen on her sweater, which, as Ken would later learn, came with the territory. Deciding that Ken wasn't so bad, Alyssa allowed him to give her a ride home. Even though Alyssa was busy studying for finals, they've been together ever since.

About a year after their first date, Ken invited Alyssa to spend Thanksgiving with his family in Bainbridge, Washington, and to generally travel the Pacific Northwest and meet Ken's people. Little did she know that prior to embarking on their journey, Ken had stolen one of her rings in order to figure out her size. While staying at Ken's parents' house in Vancouver, Washington, they took a drive into the Columbia River gorge for site-seeing and beer tasting. After eating a late lunch in Hood River, Oregon, they headed back toward Vancouver on the Oregon side of the gorge. Despite the day's fading light, Ken insisted that they stop by Multnomah Falls. Alyssa was confused, as it was becoming difficult to see, but Ken was adamant. Alyssa assented and they hiked toward a bridge at the base of the falls, Alyssa's mind ping-ponging between the possibilty of an impending proposal and the dozens of true-crime podcasts that she'd listened to which had started just like that. Upon reaching the bridge, Ken told Alyssa how much she meant to him and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. As you can tell from he invitation that you received, despite her better judgment, she said yes.