Mike and Alison met freshman year of college at Longwood University. They lived in the same building in Curry Residence Hall on the 8th floor (Curry is now Moss Residence Hall). They lived three doors down from each other; quite literally the boy and girl next door. Like most freshmen in college eager to get to know their classmates, they first spoke playing a game of Apples to Apples with the rest of their hallmates. Mike saw Alison was wearing a Woodson High School jersey and asked, "Is that your high school? You must like wood." After that, Alison was hooked. The story didn't exactly start there, however. After exchanging glances all through college at parties where Mike's fraternity, Gamma Psi, would host Alison's sorority, Alpha Beta Psi. Mike and Alison would commonly talk at parties. Fast forward five years to 2017, Mike had moved to Reston, VA for his first job at Booz Allen Hamilton in Tysons, and Alison had moved to Reston for her first job at JR's Custom Catering in Herndon. Mike ended up messaging Alison on Snapchat to see if she lived in the area and if she wanted to hangout. Their very first official date was a trip to a Game of Thrones themed pop-up bar in Washington, DC, where she fell asleep on his shoulder on the way home. But that didn't stick either. Mike and Alison reconnected for their second-first official date at Jackson's Great American Restaurant in Reston Town Center in the summer of 2018. They became an official couple on August 7th, 2018 and will be getting married on August 3rd, 2024, nearly 6 years to the day it all began.