So we know you’re probably wondering how our love story began. Well, it’s a tale as old as time…or Hoffmans? It was two months into the pandemic with no end in sight and against both of our best wishes we found ourselves swiping for love in all the wrong places - well maybe they weren’t all wrong since they brought us together. Mike liked that Alyssa laughed in all of her pictures and didn’t seem to take herself too seriously. Alyssa liked that Mike had lots of pictures with his family and seemed like a family man. Both ended up being true and we instantly hit it off.

Alyssa initially thought Michael was a little sus because he was younger than her and she couldn’t find out much intel about him online despite her and her friends’ best FBI efforts. But after our first virtual date that lasted for over 4 hours and had a double feature cameo appearance by none other than Poppa Ash (the last ending with him placing a full Margherita in front of the camera), we knew there was a strong connection.

Fast forward through a month of virtual dating with board game nights, watching rom coms on facetime (our Netflix sync game was strong), and everything in between, we finally decided to meet up in person and did a socially distanced yoga date in Golden Gate Park. In true fashion, Michael was 10 minutes early and Alyssa was 10 minutes late - pretty much foreshadowing the future dynamic of our relationship. Michael was a great sport and even though he was quite inflexible, Alyssa loved that he was still willing to put himself out there, be vulnerable, and venture outside of his comfort zone. Michael, on the other hand, had an internal monologue of “Don’t mess this up! Don’t mess this up! Don’t mess this up!” on repeat. After that, things moved pretty quickly. Alyssa met Michael’s brother, his roomies aka The Boys, Michael’s parents, and some of his closest friends including his relationship shamen. Michael also virtually met Momma Wisdom along with all of Alyssa’s closest friends and chosen family in the bay. Oh and this all happened within two months of making things official - we definitely paced ourselves.

Our first big trip together happened a year later when we had a sliver of hope that the pandemic was almost over (ha - joke’s on us!) and we ventured to Belize. We were both kind of nervous since until this point we hadn’t really had any conflict arise and knew that trips in foreign countries where everything can and will go wrong can really test the strength of a relationship. On the first day, we lost the keys to the AirBnB and paid double for dinner because we spaced on exchange rates. However, the silver lining was that we met each other with kindness and understanding when things went wrong and leaned into laughing at ourselves instead of letting frustration get the best of us. In other words, we passed the vibe check and knew that no matter what adversities came our way (nevermind if they were self-inflicted) that we’d face them together. Outside of trips, our love took shape in many forms, such as vegging out on the couch while watching Love is Blind, co-hosting board game nights with our competitive tribe, alternating between being chef and sous-chef for dinner parties, and many more throughout the years.

Many more memories, highs and lows, laughs and cries and everything in between, Michael took Alyssa to Mendocino for our 3 year anniversary where he ultimately popped the question for us to spend the rest of our lives together. Her response? “You’re already stuck with me so might as well make it official.” Kidding. It was more like: *ugly cry* “OMG!!” *ugly sob* “Yesss!!” *wipes snot and watches Michael close the ring box and put it back in his pocket* “Umm babe I think you’re supposed to put the ring on my finger”. Needless to say, it all went well (aside from Michael almost falling off a cliff) and was the perfect way for us to embark on this new phase of our adventure together. That’s our love story in a nutshell and we’re so excited to celebrate our love and special day with yall!