We're getting married!

In 2010, the first Apple iPad was released, meat was used as fabric, Zuck was Time magazine’s man of the year and “TikTok” wasn’t an app, it was the biggest song of the year. Needless to say, that was a very different time. Jay and Erica were in the tenth grade at Beaches Chapel school in Neptune Beach. Jay just moved to Jacksonville from Navarre, FL and Erica was in her second year at the school. On the first day, Erica noticed Jay since he was one of a handful of new students for that year (This was a very small school, maybe twenty tenth graders at the time). With a class this small it is easy to cross paths early and often. They took all the same classes together, became science partners and were (somehow) the Spanish geniuses in the school. Besides taking all their classes together, their extracurriculars often would overlap as well since Jay played basketball and Erica was on the cheer team. For high schoolers that aren’t old enough to drive, this is a lot of time to spend with someone. The logical next step for any high school boy was to ask Erica to go on a date. This first date was as romantic as could be, Erica was Jay’s date to the “Sports Banquet” at Sneakers. After this went so well, Jay wanted to take things to the next level. On December 3, 2010, the most timeless power couple that Beaches Chapel has ever seen was born, Jerica.

Fast forward through eleven years of ups and downs. Nothing important, just 2 years of long distance dating, rescued pets, multiple friends and family weddings, international trips, dozens of holidays, and much more. Jay has been telling Erica for years that he will take her to New York. He decides that after two years of quarantine and years of struggling through school together, he decided this would be their year. He spent months planning the surprise trip and engagement. Erica had been working hard at work in her department’s busy season. She was in desperate need of a vacation. One day, Jay tells Erica that they have a trip coming up and she did not believe him. This was understandable since in eleven years, he has not planned anything spontaneous. Little did she know what was in store for her. Jay planned the day of the proposal to include a tour of Central Park, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and a nice dinner to end the night. He was nervous leading up to the moment, despite confidence that he would get a positive answer in the end. After the show, on the way to dinner, they stopped in front of the Rockafeller Center Christmas tree for a set of pictures, just as Jay had planned and he knew this was his moment. He pulled out the ring and a crowd formed as he asked Erica to be his wife. This wedding is happening because she said “yes”. With the wedding around the corner, we are excited to have so many people we care about together to celebrate with us. Family and friends are such a big deal to us, we are so happy to have you there for the big day. Thank you everyone for your support and love. We can’t wait to see you!