By the time of this wedding, we will have shared 11 years together and 4 years of engagement. Though we grew up only a few blocks apart in Buffalo, our story did not begin until New Year’s Eve of 2015.

Since then, we have both earned our degrees, navigated James' deployment, started our careers, purchased a home, lived in four cities, and welcomed four beloved rescues into our lives. We have climbed many mountains and conquered more than a few dragons along the way.

Ours has been a fast-moving life—full, expansive, and always in motion. Now more than ever, we have come to value the beauty of stillness.

This ceremony is a quiet pause in our journey: a return to presence, and a deliberate step away from everything we have built so that we may simply be with one another.

An unofficial national mantra of Costa Rica is Pura Vida. While it translates literally to “pure life,” it reflects a conscious choice to live with gratitude, to move lightly through stress, and to embrace joy regardless of circumstance.

Though choosing a place so far from home was no small decision, it was an intentional one—a setting worthy of marking this chapter as we begin our lives together as husband and wife.