A note from the bride:

James and I met for the first time at an MCA Homecoming game back in 2006 when we were 11 and 10 years old, respectively. At the time, we both shared a love of video games and Pokemon. Four years later, I invited James to my first high school dance as an unspoken “more-than-a-friend” date. After a few months, we decided to make it official.

Proposal:​

James often teases me over the sheer number of mugs in my cabinet. On Christmas Eve in 2017, James and I snuck away from the festivities to exchange our gifts. Though I knew a proposal was in the cards fairly soon, I pushed away the thought when I

sized up the three gifts he brought — none were ring-box sized. The last gift I opened was a mug that read “officially off the

market” with an arrow pointing to the handle. As soon as I looked up, James was down on his knee and saying all kinds of sweet words that I desperately tried to commit to memory. Before saying “yes,” I blurted “you got me a mug” and we hugged a lot. To me, each mug has a story, a meaning, a memory. I would trade them all for this one.