They were suppossssssed to get married in 2020 but we all know how that worked out with Covid. After much deliberation- and many hard decisions- they made the tough decision to move their wedding date into 2021. The way the cards fell, I wasn’t available to be there on the date they chose but Amanda to the rescue. She went to cover their wedding as an associate shooter and captured these gorgeous images that were edited by me. I felt like I was there while going thru their images and I hope you do too when looking thru the blog!
Let’s get to know Mariah + James!
“James was on a business trip in Florida, enjoying a Friday night out with his coworkers at Siesta Key Beach Club. I was at there too, but I really didn’t want to be at the time! I had already gone to bed for the night but a friend woke me up and convinced me to go out with her! Once we got there, she took off dancing and I’m not much of a dancer so I stood off to the side to people watch. Haha! It turned out that James isn’t much of a dancer either because he was standing next to me doing the same thing! He looked over at me and asked why I wasn’t dancing and I asked him the same thing..we hit it off from there!”- Mariah
Chestnut Ridge, Blairsville PA Wedding
Her beautiful smile! -James
His sense of humor! -Mariah
Our dating relationship was long distance, so we had to be creative! It feels like we were always planning trips to visit each other! When we finally would see each other, our favorite things were going to Disney, the beach, watching movies, kayaking and exploring new places. My hobby was putting together very detailed care packages to send him! His hobbies are baseball, beer and biking! -Mariah
My family and Mariah’s older sister were the only ones who knew I was planning to propose at some point while visiting Mariah in Florida. I was extremely nervous every day leading up to it because I didn’t have an exact plan of where or when it would happen. So on the fourth day into my five day trip I woke up early and told Mariah I was going to the gym for a long workout. What I really did was drive to her dad’s work to ask for his blessing. Later that day, after her dad had given me his approval, Mariah and I visited Selby Botanical Gardens, which we’d already planned to go there so I knew she wasn’t suspicious. I finally felt the perfect moment to get down on one knee when we were standing on a small dock looking out at the water. After she said “yes”, she probably asked “is this real life?” a thousand times! -James
I said “I love you” first. We had just finished having dinner at the Melting Pot when I asked her to be my girlfriend and told her I loved her. -James
We have very similar personality traits. Sometimes, I’ll pick up my phone to text him something, and I’ll look down to see that he just texted me that exact same thing. Other times, he’ll be about to say something, and I’ll say it first. While we both get freaked out and laugh at these unusual occurrences, the reality is, we love them because they make us feel connected. -Mariah
Selfless, beautiful, caring. -James
Smart, thoughtful, humble. -Mariah
I saw snow for the first time ever last year while in PA. Organization makes me happy. I love learning about personalities and how people are wired. -Mariah
I’d ride space mountain at Magic Kingdom over and over if I could, I’ve never owned a pet and I enjoy following routines and updating my to-do list. -James
We both run at a relaxed pace which gives our relationship a sense of ease. James brings a calmness to our relationship and I bring order! -Mariah
We see a lot of things as shared responsibility which makes us a great team. We balance each other out well. -James
After James initiated some conversation at Beach Club when we first met, he asked me for my number and walked over toward the bathrooms to send me a text that said “you’re cute.” To this day we laugh about that text because it’s totally not his character to do something like that! I’m so grateful that he took the initiative though because we may not have ever crossed paths again if he hadn’t. -Mariah
God, Mariah, and my amazing family & friends. -James
James. sleep. chocolate. -Mariah
