Our Story

May of 2016 my friend Cortney and I went to a bar called Hoss’s Deli in Virginia. While there with a bunch of coworkers, I noticed a really attractive man was hanging out with our friend group. I leaned over and told Cortney I’m going to date that guy. Come to find out Matt was actually there to be a wingman for one of his friends and was supposed to distract Cortney while his friend talk to me. The rest of the night I did my best to flirt with him. However, I wasn’t too great at it. I asked if his accent was from Boston which he did not like and I stole his beer. If you know anything about Matt, those are the two things you don’t do. But for me, those two tactics worked.

We kept our relationship, pretty quiet as we got to know each other since the following Monday, we found out, we actually worked together. There was a big shuffle at work that moved him to my shift. It wasn’t until July 1, 2016 that we made things official. From July until about October we really got to know each other. But it was in October that we found out. We had the same goals to work at NGA and that we did not want to be active duty anymore. We started the process to Palace Chase into the Guard as well as securing jobs at NGA in St. Louis. February 15, 2017, we separated from active duty and moved to St. Louis. On February 16, 2017, we joined the Kansas Air National Guard together and started work at NGA in March. In October 2019, we were activated at our guard unit and have been there ever since.

The Proposal

For those who don’t know Matthew Brodeur, he likes to do things last minute. Where I like to plan things out ahead of time, so it was only natural that my last day of visiting Matt in Germany, celebrating our seven years of dating, that he would ask me to marry him, and when I say last day, I don’t mean the day before I left, I mean the day I left! We were heading out the door to take me to the airport. Matt was putting on his uniform. I was closing up my suitcases. Matt turns to me and says “Just like everything else I do last minute, will you marry me a Alyssa Marie Matteson.” And, of course, my answer was “YES!”

We have three beautiful fur babies, a beautiful house, and can’t wait to start this next chapter of our lives.❤️