James and Kasey met in Saint Augustine Florida while attending Flagler College in 2013. While Kasey loves to tease that James doesn’t remember the first time they laid eyes on each other, which was shortly after moving into the same dorm suite as her brother, Dan, things worked out just fine.

James moved into the infamous Cedar apartments in downtown Saint Augustine. The front door at Cedar 4 was always open and there was always someone around to start the party. Kasey, while living beachside, was frequently downtown for nights out with their close and overlapping circle of friends.

After some time of getting to know each other and becoming close friends, James and Kasey realised it was more than just friendship that they saw in each other.

Shortly after this realisation, James was set to depart Saint Augustine and head back to the UK to make a decision on continuing to live in the US or staying home in the UK. Kasey went back to Cape May for winter break at home. Over that winter break, they managed to stay in embarrassingly close contact.

By the end of winter break, Kasey and James had made the decision that regardless of distance, neither was interested in seeing anyone else. They were all in!

Shortly after Kasey returned to Saint Augustine in early 2015 for her spring semester, James booked flights to visit and trial at a few different schools. After trialling and earning a football (soccer*) scholarship to Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach, James was ready to move back to Florida. He’d only be an hour up the road from Kasey. That distance felt like it was down the road compared to how far apart they’d been and they were both delighted.

They continued to drive back and forth between Saint Augustine and Daytona Beach while they continued their education. It felt too easy to work, be a student, enjoy sunny Florida and build really strong foundations for friendship and love.

After Kasey graduated in the spring of 2016 with James and her family by her side. She soon after moved back to Cape May to accept a job and start working. James continued to work hard and take on extra classes through the summer to graduate as soon as possible so they could be back together again.

Through the support of their parents, Dan, Joanne, Mary and Garry, and their families James and Kasey managed to see each other on a regular basis regardless of distance again. They always said that as long as they had a date on the calendar for their next visit, they both felt excited and eager to be back together again.

Once James graduated Embry Riddle in May 2017 with his family all by his side, James and Kasey both moved to upstate New York to see if they could make things work while staying in America. They learned soon after this that visas would be their next big hurdle to staying together in the same country.

James and Kasey continued to apply for different job roles in both the UK and US. They agreed whatever offers came along would dictate what country they would try for, and sure enough a great opportunity presented itself to James. His US visa would soon run out and he headed back to the UK. Kasey would then begin the process of applying to live in the UK.

The details of Kasey’s visa story are one for another day, but essentially it kept them apart for way longer than anticipated and was their biggest trial as partners yet. But thanks to their resilience, love and incredibly supportive parents, families and friends, Kasey was approved to move to the UK in April 2019.

Having settled into life in the UK, James and Kasey were living and working in central London in their first home as a couple. It was beautiful, very old, always freezing and wildly overpriced. But they made for great memories nonetheless. Things then took an unexpected turn when the pandemic hit. James and Kasey headed back out to sunny Kent where they were fortunate enough to spend time with James’ family and get out of the city.

In November 2020, on Thanksgiving Day, Kasey and James purchased their first home together. At this point, James and Kasey had settled in comfortably as a team living and working from home. They are essentially inseparable at this point.

Between these milestones, James and Kasey are very frequently up in Scotland for Celtic matches (HH) and to see friends. Flying to Florida to spend the Christmas holidays with Kasey’s family. Exploring new countries in Europe. They had built a beautiful love-filled life! Things only got more fun after they added a new family member, Ange, to the mix in the summer of 2022. Their silly, sassy, stubborn puppy.

At this point in their relationship it seemed like there was nothing left to do but get a ring, pop the question and bring together the most special people in their lives to celebrate their wedding!