Welcome to our love story!

Kindergarten Let’s take it way back to 2001. 5-year-old us began our elementary school journey together in Mrs. Fideldi’s afternoon kindergarten class at Lincoln Elementary school. Who would have ever imagined that 23 years later we’d look back at our class photo and see little us sitting next to each other? Junior Year We had just finished our junior year finals at Ramapo High School and were waiting in the library to go home. I was never a morning person and I used every minute I could to catch a wink of sleep in high school. Exhausted from studying for my exams, I curled up on a chair, with my eyes closed and waited for the bell to ring. But Ryan refused to let me be. He talked my ear off until I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to get any sleep. Ryan asked me for my Snapchat username and we haven’t stopped our streak since. The First Date After spending the summer in Florida, Ryan came back and kept true to his promise of taking me on a date. He gave me no details and wanted to keep the entire thing a surprise. He surprised me with my favorite restaurant and the rest is history.

Everything about the day of our proposal was magical, even before I knew we were getting engaged that night. Aside from it being one of the hottest days of the year, it was pretty perfect. Ryan said he wanted to take me out for a nice early birthday dinner in Hoboken. He critiqued a few of my outfit choices until I was wearing something in which he felt I’d want to say yes to marrying him in. On our way to dinner, Ryan told me he had forgotten cash and needed to stop home to grab some. Little did I know we were on our way to get engaged in the back yard of his house that overlooks a lake, surrounded by loved ones. Ryan took me by the hand and led us to a gorgeous trellis decorated with breathtaking flowers. Then, he got down on one knee and said those five magical words: “Alyssa, will you marry me? It was the easiest yes of my life!