"Allyssa and I first met in the summer of 2003 while attending a debate camp in Kansas City. While we were both comfortable addressing large crowds, it ironically took us a week to say hello to each other, a few months to go on our first date, and 15 years for me to ask the most important question of my life. To be fair, life threw a number of detours in my way. We regularly saw each other at debate tournaments during high school, both graduated from Drury University, and spent a semester interning in Washington, D.C. in 2008, but we were also the classic case of being the right people at the wrong time. After college we went in completely different directions, with me moving to St. Louis for a postgraduate degree, and Allyssa moving to Salem, Missouri to begin her career as a reporter. Then, in 2012, I relocated to Baltimore to begin my career, while Allyssa moved to Kansas City to expand hers. From there were only ever in and out of each others’ lives for brief periods; a coffee during the holiday here, a quick text conversation there. Finally, Allyssa’s 2016 move to St. Louis put us in the same city for the first time since 2009. By the spring of 2017 we were finally the right people at the right time, and started dating. This time we quickly became daily fixtures in each others’ lives, meeting friends and families, having adventures both grand and mundane, and by Easter of 2018 we were engaged. Although some might lament all the years we could have been together, Allyssa and I know those were necessary for us to become the people we needed to be to make a successful life together. We just have a really long love story. Allyssa and I said “I Do” on top of a beautiful waterfall in the hosta gardens at Nathanael Green Park in Springfield, Missouri on May 26, 2019. The theme for the wedding was a roaring 20’s Gatsby theme and Hotel Vandivort made a perfect reception backdrop with its historic detail! Hotel Vandivort’s reception ballroom was bathed in green light by Complete Weddings + Events up-lights and the tables were decorated with handmade centerpieces. The wedding reception turned out incredible!"
"Allyssa, the bride, reached out to Complete a little over a year before her wedding because of a recommendation from Hotel Vandivort. Once Allyssa and I (Cassie) started chatting we immediately connected and the rest was history. Over the next year, we customized her DJ, Photography and Up-lighting package from afar since they were from St. Louis to what she envisioned. She made note that the most important thing to her was photography and she told me she was game to whatever I wanted to do but wanted some moody black and white portraits in Hotel Vandivort’s lobby. Finally, the wedding day was here and Allyssa was a vision of beauty as she walked through the Hosta Garden at Nathanael Greene Park to marry her best friend. Things ran behind after the ceremony, but Johnathan and Allyssa did not let it bother them and were just enjoying every moment! They are the type of couple that when you are around them you can’t help but notice the ease and connection they have with one another. You would think with the easy-going nature of this couple that would reflect into the reception. What I came to find out is that they love to dance! My favorite part was when the crowd gathered to sing Gloria to celebrate the Blues making it into the playoffs for the Stanley Cup. It was truly a night to remember!"
- Springfield, MO
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