Marry your best friend.

A simple saying that we all have heard a million times. Marry someone who optimistically supports & uplifts you. Someone who will do things that may not thrill them, simply to enrich you. Marry someone who is honest. Honest with you, with others, & with themselves. Find someone who makes it easy to feel grateful, for everything. Alyssa & Ryan are the perfect example of marrying your best friend. Alyssa & Ryan's friendship started back in 2015. They met through mutual friends, both working at restaurants in Downtown Geneva. Alyssa & Ryan became fast friends, sharing a very similar sense of humor and interest in sports (Bear Down). They soon learned that they would both be attending Illinois State University in the fall. With only 4 floors in between them at the Watterson Dorms, their close friendship was bound to head into a new direction. Alyssa & Ryan started dating in October 2015, the rest is history. Throughout their 8 year relationship, Alyssa & Ryan spent time creating close relationships with each others families and friends. Ryan proposed to Alyssa on July 2nd, 2022 at Glacier Canyon National Park. They now have a new home together in St. Charles, Illinois with two dogs Mylee and Winnie.

Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with. Someone who speaks highly of you. Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laughs that make your belly ache, and your nose snort. The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs. Wit is important. Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them. Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry, too. Despair will come. Find someone that you want to be there with you through those times. Most importantly, marry the one that makes passion, love, and madness combine and course through you. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep, and dark. ~unknown

A&R

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour

Reception