Alyssa and Chris’s story begins long ago in a faraway land – a Brickell New Year’s Eve party in the winter of 2015. A close friend of Alyssa’s had just started dating a close friend of Chris’s, and the new couple invited their two respective friends out to celebrate the new year. Upon meeting, both Chris and Alyssa were immediately smitten – Chris by Alyssa’s relentlessly joyful smile, and Alyssa by Chris’s Bieberesque hair swoop. (It was a different time. Don’t judge.) That bright night segued into a few months of casual dating. While the two both greatly enjoyed each other’s company, the timing just wasn’t right and the dates simmered into a yearslong friendship. Accounts vary regarding the exact reasons for this detente – in retrospect, Alyssa claims Chris was not forward enough, and Chris that Alyssa guarded her emotions like KFC guards its list of eleven special herbs and spices. While the true reason is likely lost to time, we do know that both still harbored a crush that would reignite whenever they happened to be in the same room. Flash forward to another trendy New Year’s Eve party, this time ushering in 2020. Chris and Alyssa once again found themselves in the same room on an auspicious evening of new beginnings, this time completely coincidentally and, at first, unwittingly. Chris spied Alyssa from across the bar, struck up a conversation, and strategically positioned himself near her as the clock ticked toward midnight for their first kiss. A magical New Year’s Eve again segued into a series of dates, and this time they took. A few months later, as the world went into lockdown due to the emerging COVID pandemic, Alyssa and Chris decided to “be in each other’s bubble” and weather the storm together. They learned, in the crucible of the quarantine, that they were a better match than either could have possibly imagined. (The couple marks the official starting date of their relationship as March 14, 2020 – days before most of the world began to quarantine.) After four years of dating, Chris proposed to Alyssa on the waterfront in Coconut Grove on May 18, 2024. Alyssa said yes (whew), and the couple is now incredibly excited to be married, to start the next chapter of their lives together, and to share that milestone with all of their dear friends and family. …… Because they always claim credit anyway, we would also like to publicly thank Robert and Christina Muñoz for playing subtle matchmakers for the better part of a decade, for having the good sense to get married themselves, and for being the best friends we could possibly ask for.