Alyssa attended Cleveland and Anne Sullivan Elementary, Whittier Middle School and then Washington High School, graduating with the class of 2006. She then studied Graphic Design at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities where she met Justin. After graduating in December of 2009 she worked with a design firm in Minneapolis.

Justin grew up in Morristown, Minnesota and studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. After graduation, he was offered a job with Cummins, Inc. in Columbus, Indiana.

Justin and Alyssa met in a campus bar after the Homecoming parade and pep rally in 2009. They started dating shortly after and he asked her to be his girlfriend before she left for Thanksgiving that year. They continued to date until his graduation when he was offered the job in Indiana. They spent the summer long distance until Alyssa moved down to Indiana that August. This year, before making the big trip to Minnesota for Thanksgiving, he asked her to marry him.

The wedding date is undecided, but wedding planning is just getting started.

Alyssa is the daughter of Jane Strand (Aschoff) and Rick Strand of Sioux Falls. Justin is the son of Sharon and Jerry Voegele of Morristown, Minnesota.