We didn't meet in a bar, or at a party, or at work, or at school. We met the old fashioned way, on a niche dating app 😎

Sam had been on and off dating apps, while Sarah had been on and off the continent, neither doing a whole lot of dating over the previous few years. Come Thanksgiving 2022, Sarah decided to give Catholic Match a try in the DC area, with limited success. She made the decision to delete her account by Christmas if she hadn't met anybody interesting, meanwhile on the morning of December 9th, 2022, Sam was having a conversation with a priest who encouraged him to take more practical approaches to meeting a potential spouse. That morning, Sam decided to make his account on Catholic Match, before even signing onto work. He saw Sarah's profile and it was an easy swipe right! A few hours later, Sarah decided there was no reason to wait until Christmas to delete her account and signed onto Catholic Match, which greeted her with the newest profiles in the area. One of the faces that popped up was Sam's, and Sarah thought he looked so joyful and really loved his beard. They hit it off that day, exchanged numbers the next day, and were on their first date the day after that.

From the start, we both knew there was something special here, and wanted to be serious about our relationship. None of this wait 2 weeks to go on another date, talk here and there business. We saw each other 5 times in the first two weeks, and then went home for Christmas. After Christmas, we started seeing each other, even if briefly, almost every day. Lots of intentional time felt like we time warped from having just met to having known each other for our whole lives. By late January we were full blown in love and not afraid to tell each other. By March we knew we wanted to marry each other, but were afraid to tell each other. By April that fear subsided, and it was all in on getting ready for engagement, and subsequently the rest of our lives. Engagement in September (spoiler, didn't wait that long 🙃), and talking about the future of our family and lives together. It was so full of joy and we couldn't wait for what was to come!

Fast forward to June 28th… Sarah and Sam had talked about it extensively, and were so ready to make a deeper commitment to each other and get engaged in September. Sarah was totally oblivious to anything to the contrary. On the flip side, Sam knew for a month he was planning on proposing in June! Sarah often joked with Sam that he could propose at any moment, wearing a paper bag on his head and with a paper ring. They had a date night planned, but Sarah had no idea that it wasn't just any old date night. On the night of the 28th, Sarah’s sister Katie asked her to get their nails done together. Immediately, Sarah turned to Sam and shrieked “are we getting engaged on Friday?!” Sam played it cool, and convinced Sarah that this is exactly what he would do when he would propose in September (getting her nails done and planning a dinner where they first met), NOT that he was proposing that week. Sarah mostly believed him, but when she saw her sister’s face (which Sarah can read like a book) the next night outside the nail salon, she instantly knew what was to come. She got to spend the night praying and preparing herself for the next day. Although the surprise was no more, Sarah had never been more joyful or peaceful in her life. Friday night, Sam picked Sarah up, and they drove to Old Town for dinner. They walked along the river, and as they got to a special spot to both of them, Sarah pointed it out and Sam started gently leading her in that direction. He turned to face Sarah, started laughing out of nervousness and excitement, and then proposed. Sarah responded easily “a million times, yes!” They got to celebrate just the two of them for a couple hours of dinner, drinks, and prayer before a small party with friends. The proposal was so Sarah and Sam, and they are beyond grateful they didn’t wait until September to begin this exciting journey of preparing for their marriage!