The Bride & Groom

Juliana was born and raised in Huntsville. After graduating from Huntsville High, she earned a Business degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Alabama. She is employed in Huntsville by a local consulting 昀rm.Mason was born in Georgia and raised in Hazel Green. He graduated from Hazel Green High School, attended the University of Alabama, and completed his business degree in Finance from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is employed in the corporate of昀ces of Hexagon.

The Meeting

In 2015, when I was 15 and he was 16, we were introduced by mutual friends, Anna Reid and Hunter, who had started dating a few months prior. We were planning to enjoy a 昀nal swim of that summer in Anna Reid’s neighborhood pool before starting sophomore year of high school. She invited Hunter to swim with us and Hunter brought along his best friend, Mason. We talked the whole time at the pool and went to Sonic afterwards. The next week we all went on a double date and the rest is history!

The Proposal

Mason planned a trip for us to go to Hot Springs, North Carolina for the weekend as part of my birthday present. I thought it was super special because the 昀rst trip Mason took with my family was to Hot Springs to visit my cousin who was working as a river rafting guide on the Ocoee that summer. We have the best memories of exploring the tiny town and staying at a house in the mountains, so I was excited to return there after so many years together.But for this trip in December 2023, we not only revisited the places we had experienced before but also discovered a new place Mason had researched called Max Patch, a lookout spot with a 360-degree view of the mountain ranges. We went to Max Patch at sunset and decided to take photos of ourselves and our dog, Ollie. We set up a tripod and watched our dog play in the snow. As we were taking pictures, Mason sneakily began recording before lowering to one knee for the proposal. It was such a special moment in such a beautiful place and could not have been more perfect! We kept our engagement a secret for the rest of the weekend so we could be in our own little bubble while we enjoyed the rest of our trip.

Planning the Wedding

We got engaged in December of 2023 and were married at the end of September in 2024 so we had about nine months to plan our wedding. Our wedding planning was pretty smooth sailing.The funniest thing we experienced happened early on – the weekend of the engagement. Our families both knew that Mason was going to propose in North Carolina but not exactly when. My parents planned a dinner for both families to celebrate once we returned home Sunday night but decided not to invite anyone until they heard the happy news con昀rming that he had asked and I had accepted. The problem was, we wanted to keep the engagement to ourselves for a little bit and didn’t call them until Sunday morning when we were on our way home.My parents had gone to a wedding on Saturday and had spilled the beans to a few close family friends and then panicked when the engagement news did not arrive as expected. On Sunday morning, our mothers were so relieved to hear that everything went perfectly, and rushed to make sure everyone knew to come to the house for dinner and a family party. It was such a happy night with Mason and our loved ones.