It's finally wedding time!

We're so excited to see you all so soon! Please make sure to arrive at the venue by 9:40AM as the ceremony will start promptly at 10:00AM. We recommend reviewing the FAQs page as well as the Schedule page for all details and information. If you would like to give us a gift, there will be a card box/gift basket at the venue (our Zola registry is online only, but our Target registry allows giving gifts in person and other gifts are welcome). If you have any questions not covered on the website, do not hesitate to reach out to Aria (904-210-4748) or James. Thank you! :)

James and Aria met in Mrs. Akers' Algebra I class at Oakleaf Junior High School in Orange Park, FL in 2009 when they were 13 and 12 years old, respectively. James was the class clown and always had a smile on his face. Aria was the super shy nerd and always had the right answer. They had a couple mutual friends in the class but never really spoke to each other; however, they each had a crush on the other from afar. They were just brave enough to be Facebook friends, and James asked his friend for Aria's number but never texted her. After that school year, James moved with his family to California (thanks, US Navy). For the next ten years, they remained Facebook friends but never really interacted. In 2020, Aria finally made an Instagram account. Having been Facebook friends since 2010, Instagram suggested they follow each other. In November 2020, James commented on one of Aria's stories, and they started a casual conversation about living outside of Florida (Aria was in New York for graduate school and James was still in California while serving in the United States Marine Corps). Eventually, they ran out of small talk, and James admitted that he had had a crush on Aria in middle school. When Aria admitted the same, they scheduled their first video call. It turns out that James still had Aria's number saved in his phone after all of those years. Their first video call was three hours long, like they had been friends forever. They had their first official video call date in January of 2021 (they watched Scott Pilgrim v. the World together), but it wasn't until June 2021 that they finally met in person again when Aria visited James in San Antonio, TX (he was there for military training) and officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. After a year and a half of dating and meeting each other's families, James proposed to Aria in San Antonio, TX, in October 2022 (this time they were there for a conference she was attending). They knew that they still each had about two and half years left in their program/service and wouldn't be able to live together, but they were ready to make the commitment of marriage and married in a very intimate ceremony on a dock overlooking the Matanzas River in Palm Coast, FL on December 20, 2022. They intentionally wore purple, rather than traditional white, because they knew that they wanted to have a traditional style wedding when they finally lived together and could plan the lovely event together. In June 2024, James retired from the USMC, and Aria graduated with her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University, so they bought a house in Jacksonville, FL and finally moved in together! Now they have planned their official celebration of their marriage (a vow renewal) for April 12th, 2025 in their hometown of Jacksonville, FL, the part of Florida where they originally met a little over 15 years ago.