Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. This is a true love story. One for the ages. It’ll make you laugh. It’ll make you cry. But most of all, it’ll make you excited to party at the wedding.

So where shall I begin…

It was a warm Atlanta afternoon in August 2019. Matteo was hosting his weekly Workout Wednesday group in Piedmont Park. There was nothing particularly special about this day, other than former Bachelorette bad boy, Luke P. (who is actually a very nice guy) was at the previous Workout Wednesday.

Due to Luke’s appearance last week, we had a few new visitors this time. And that’s when Alli and Matteo first met. Matteo was just doing his normal prep for the group when suddenly he saw the most beautiful woman appear. It was like the heavens had opened up to reveal one of its angels.

As Alli and Matteo began talking, Matteo felt a sense of familiarity with her. A sense one would only get from meeting before. So, he asked “Do I know you from somewhere? Did you go to Georgia Tech?”. And while Alli’s parents believe it was “just a line”, Matteo stands strong that he is not that smooth and therefore, could never have come up with such a great line. To this day, they could never think of somewhere that they may have met. Some love doctors believe that they may have met in their dreams or in a past life. Now, Alli and Matteo do not buy into such conjecture, but they are love doctors afterall, so they are probably correct.

Nevertheless, Alli and Matteo had their first day a few days later. 2019 was a simpler time, and Matteo was poor, so their first date consisted of a walk on Atlanta’s Beltline. For the rest of the year, the dates mainly consisted of watching Bachelor in Paradise at Alli’s apartment. These dates helped fuel Matteo’s love for Alli because she always had corndogs in her freezer, something that he didn’t pass up whenever he came over.

A few months into dating Matteo moved to Knoxville, TN for work. They both missed each other very much during this time. When asked what Alli missed most about Matteo, she said “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation”. And when asked the same question, Matteo said “corndogs”.

Soon after starting long distance, COVID hit. This made a lot of people very unhappy and has widely been regarded as a bad thing, but for Alii and Matteo, it was a positive. During this time, Matteo moved back to Atlanta and this is when their relationship really started to take form. When Alli wasn’t working she was hanging out at Matteo’s house or picking up her free donuts from Krispy Kreme.

After about two months though, Matteo moved back to Knoxville and Alli started travel nursing in Winston-Salem. The two of them frequently made trips to visit each other as they missed each other dearly and weren’t going to let a 4 hour drive stand between them.

Several months later in January 2021, they were both ecstatic when Alli got a travel nursing position in Knoxville! They were now back in the same city together. Their favorite activities during this time were hiking in the Smoky’s and checking off all the local breweries on their Brewery Passport.

Which leaves us at the current chapter of their relationship. In August 2021, Alli started a 3-year program to become a CRNA. Since then, she’s been living in Little Rock, AR. While long-distance is no fun, they have made the most of it and haven’t skipped a beat. They FaceTime each other almost every night and are able to meet up every few weeks. Their travels since then have included Scotland, Costa Rica, Orange Beach, multiple weddings, and more.

Despite how great the past 4+ years have been together, they are looking forward to living together again come August of this year and seeing you all at our wedding in October.