James and Mariah met in the summer of 2014 when Mariah’s older sisters were giving James a ride to volunteer at a sports camp at First Baptist Church in Temple. James’ parents dropped him off at Mariah’s house before camp so that Mariah’s sisters could drive him from there. At her house, James took his iPad mini and asked Mariah to play chess while he waited to leave. That was their first of many chess games.

As the years passed, Mariah and James remained close family friends and often celebrated holidays together. During the Christmas season of 2018, Mariah and James began speaking more frequently and developed several inside jokes that they cracked at the annual holiday celebrations. After the holidays, the two kept in close contact and continued to make each other laugh. During this time, the two began spending time together outside of scheduled family gatherings. James came to support Mariah at her performance in the pit orchestra at Belton High School and Mariah went to see James play basketball at Academy High School. It was clear that sparks were flying.

On February 9, 2019, James picked Mariah up and the two went on their first official date: eating cinnamon rolls on a foggy Saturday morning while listening to each other’s favorite music.

As a high school senior in 2019, Mariah decided to attend Baylor University that August. Once August arrived, suddenly James found himself in Waco a fair amount. The two events were completely unrelated according to James.

The following year, James decided to attend Baylor, much to everyone’s “surprise.” James continues to deny accusations that Mariah influenced his decision to attend Baylor even though he planned to attend Texas A&M prior to February 9, 2019. The two will let their wedding guests decide if James followed Mariah to Baylor or if it was a coincidence.

The two continued to date throughout college and James proposed to Mariah in August of 2023 at the Old Church at the Silos.

Mariah and James are very excited to start their lives as a married couple in June. The two strive to center their relationship around Christ and show each other love the way Jesus showed humanity. They are very grateful for the people God has placed in their lives, including each other (obviously).

M&J