'13 Reasons Why' Star Austin Aaron Marries Girlfriend Kristen McNamara: She Is My 'Best Friend'

13 Reasons Why star Austin Aaron is married!

The actor, 24, wed his longtime girlfriend Kristen McNamara on Nov. 14, PEOPLE can exclusively announce. The couple exchanged vows at Tre Posti in St. Helena, California.

McNamara's uncle and Godfather Mike Yeager married the couple, who recited their own vows during the ceremony.

"I am so thankful we were both able to get through them without hardcore crying," says McNamara. "My favorite line from Austin's vows was, 'I never went to church growing up, but I thank God every day that I met you.'"

Adds Aaron: "My favorite line from Kristen's vows was, 'You are the person I was meant to find and the person my heart will always love.'"

In attendance at the wedding were Aaron's 13 Reasons Why cast mates Devin Druid, Tyler Barnhardt, Timothy Granaderos and Justin Prentice, as well as his cast mates from an upcoming Los Angeles Lakers HBO drama series.

For the big day, McNamara, a senior tech recruiter for customer relationship management startup Insightly, wore a gown by Lovella Bridal. She accessorized with a bouquet from The Bouqs Co. Weddings that had a sleeve from her mother's wedding dress wrapped around it, a diamond bangle from Padis Jewelry in Napa that Aaron had bought for her two days before the wedding and a blue garter from her older sister's wedding — her "something old, something new and something borrowed and blue," respectively.

For their first dance as a married couple, Aaron and McNamara chose "Lifetime" by Justin Bieber. But after the first chorus, the song faded into a mix of hip-hop and pop songs including "Crank That" by Soulja Boy, "In My Feelings" by Drake, "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC, "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift, "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical and "Forever" by Chris Brown.

"It really embodied our personalities with me being a former college cheerleader and Austin taking a lot of pride in his dad dance moves," says McNamara. "We just had the best time doing it."

At the reception, McNamara's family kept with tradition and sang their "McNamara Band Song" to welcome Aaron into the family.

"My family heritage is Irish, and we have a family drinking song that we sing at every wedding called the 'McNamara Band Song' (originally penned by John Phillip Souza) that my great grandparents started," explains McNamara. "Whenever someone marries into the family, they join the McNamara band, and we add a verse about them. My grandma, aunts, uncles, my mom, and siblings all have verses that we sing in order and now, so does Austin!"

For Aaron's verse, McNamara's family sang: "Oh, my name is Austin Aaron and from Napa I do come / to play in McNamara's Band and beat the big bass drum / I've played Cal football, and I've even been on TV, but this actor's greatest accomplishment was marrying Kiki."

In lieu of a traditional wedding cake, the couple had a donut wall and donut cake from Dirty Girl Donuts in Sonoma, which they said turned out "sensational."

At the end of the night, they shared a special dance alone to allow themselves some time to take the night in together.

"The day had so many events that we really wanted one beautiful dance for just us with no one else watching, except our amazing videographer Kyle Mize," says McNamara. "This was a dance to Brantley Gilbert's 'Whenever We're Alone,' and it was a quiet, intimate moment with the lights down low that we were able to share to really appreciate what a perfect day we were blessed to have."

Aaron first met McNamara at a football party while they were both studying at the University of California, Berkeley.

"I played football, and she was a cheerleader — good thing it wasn't cliché!" says Aaron. "I was about to leave the party and saw the most beautiful smile from across the room and turned around and introduced myself."

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As to how he knew McNamara was the one, Aaron says it was "the fact that we can go to Target, Marshall's or Ross any day and have the absolute time of our lives."

"We are able to laugh together every day, not take life too seriously and enjoy the little moments in life with each other," he adds. "She is my absolute best friend and soulmate."

Aaron says he decided to propose to McNamara last December at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to have "one good thing come out of 2020."

"We have honestly been married since the day we met, but I wanted to make it officially official," he says. "We decided to get married in November because my hometown of Napa is absolutely gorgeous after harvest with impeccable fall colors everywhere. We lucked out, and it could not have been a more perfect 75-degree day to get married."

Now that he and McNamara are married, Aaron jokes that he's most excited to get to wear a ring.

"She has gotten to wear her engagement ring for a whole year, and I've been so jealous," he says. "Now I finally get some bling! No, I would say being able to simply do life together with my best friend by my side [is what I'm most excited for]."

"Kristen is thoughtful, caring, hard-working, selfless and absolutely the most beautiful girl I know," he adds. "I showed my mom pictures of girls I thought were cute in college, and when I got to Kristen, she said, 'Stop eating. Call her right this second.' Turns out she picked right and was talking about my future wife. I said I've always wanted a relationship like my parents, and I'm so blessed to say I've found it with Kristen."

While the couple is looking forward to forever, first comes the honeymoon, which they'll spend at the Holiday Inn in Aruba in January.

"Apparently they have flamingos in the water!" says Aaron. "I've barely left California, so we are so incredibly excited."