We met on a dating site and became innocent pen pals, seeing as we lived across the planet from each other. This worked well for James, who was a huge dork with the ladies, and it helped that there was no shot of going on a date. We decided to hop on a video call after wishing each other Merry Christmas, and we got along right away! We loved the same music, and James played guitar for Mau, who hinted that her birthday was in a week, on New Year's Day, and that James could write her a birthday song if he wanted. Mau was joking, but didn't know that James always wanted to write a song for some one. Mau's birthday marked the first day of a promising year!

After dozens of synced movie dates over poor video connections, and many hopes and disappointments and delays, Mau prepared to welcome James from the one last big delay of his nerve-wracking 20 hour flight to the Philippines! James tried real sea food for the first time (after a brief 14 hour nap), and our first date literally ended with fireworks with an international pyrotechnics show!

After a dream-like visit to the Philippines, James and Mau KNEW that they had to find their way back to each other. This time, it was Mau's turn to make her way across the planet, on a more permanent basis. It was still long distance, but traveling 3 hours between Mau's campus at Illinois State University and James' residence in Middleton was a lot more possible! We had many movie dates, barbecues in parks, wineries, hikes, a Dave Matthews concert and a surprise date at a water park in the Dells!

After 3 years of mounting evidence that we belonged together, Mau started to casually tease, why the heck didn't James pop the question yet?! James was finding it hard to stay patient too, but he knew he had to propose to Mau in front of her family, which is common in the Philippines! What Mau thought would be a simple vacation was much more significant to James. He spent weeks stumbling over practicing to ask for his future wife's hand to her parents, in their native language. They were of course thrilled to hear the news, and had only one request, that James cherished her. That wouldn't be a problem!

James and Mau were so excited to start building their lives that they got married within 2 short months of getting back from the Philippines! They couldn't have done it without James' family who helped to pull together a fun reception with anyone who could make it on such short notice. The night was an absolute blast, but James and Mau knew that as soon as they could afford it, they needed to take the time to invite and celebrate with everybody who is important in their lives'...of course, our lives are shared between our two homelands of the US and the Philippines...we guess that just means more opportunities to celebrate our union!

We have been so excited to celebrate our marriage with all of you! This is our opportunity to celebrate with James' friends and family, and Mau's friends that she's made in the US! We can't wait to see all of you!

Of course we can't leave out Mau's friends and family from the Philippines, but we can't take them all with us to the US either, so we are planning one more celebration in the Philippines in March of 2022. If you are willing to make the trek, we would love to invite any and all of you to the Philippines wedding as well! You will have an opportunity to RSVP to that with your invitation to this state-side wedding :)