On New Year's Eve 2014, Damien and Natalia took the plunge and got married in Vegas, but they
didn’t live as a married couple until they were joined in Holy Matrimony on July 25th, 2015. “Since the beginning of our relationship, we had established that we weren’t going to have any sexual relations. We were going to be chaste,” says Natalia, 37.
“The Las Vegas wedding was just for paperwork because Natalia is from Ecuador, so we didn’t look at ourselves as married. We waited until we were married before God to experience that,” adds Damien, 44.
God prodded them to join
Natalia had been on-and-off CatholicMatch since 2010 before meeting Damien. In early 2014, Natalia's spiritual advisor asked her to give CatholicMatch another try, and even though Natalia had essentially lost faith in the site, she decided to simply view it as a way to meet like-minded people—and maybe her future spouse.
Damien felt called to marry someone who shared his faith and Catholic values, but he was having no luck finding that woman. He says, "I was sitting in church one day praying to God, Hey, help me out here! And then I looked down at the bulletin and saw an ad for CatholicMatch."
A few days after Natalia rejoined CatholicMatch, she and Damien connected, and on March 30th, they skyped for the first time. “We have not stopped talking since that day,” exclaims Natalia.
They liked each other even more in person
After the couple had been talking for a little less than two months, in May 2014, Natalia let Damien know that she was flying to Miami to visit her aunt and do a little bit of shopping.
“I thought, 'I think this is working out really well with us', and so I told her I would fly to Miami to meet her,” says Damien, who lives in California.
“When I saw him, I gave him a big hug, and when we got in the car, I thought, ‘Are you for real?’ Because he was so much better than what I expected,” laughs Natalia. “We had been talking over video, but it’s different when you see someone in person. I could tell from the beginning that he was the kind of gentleman who is hard to find.”
Damien was equally struck by how much he liked Natalia. “You hear these horror stories where someone online is not who they appear to be, but Natalia was real from the very beginning. The first time I saw Natalia, I said to myself, ‘This woman has a beautiful soul and a Kool-Aid smile, and I was right, her soul is so beautiful.'”
Damien spent five days in Miami, getting to know Natalia and enjoying each other’s company. During that time, they went to Mass together.
“God gave us a huge sign at Church,” shares Natalia. “We were picked randomly to bring the Bread and the Wine to the Altar, and then the priest gave us a blessing. That moment is one of the most important moments for us, and it’s always on our hearts.”
They didn’t let long distance keep them apart
A lot of couples limit their search radius when they join CatholicMatch, but Damien and Natalia didn’t feel like they had that option if they were going to meet their spouse. “I just wanted to find a man of God. If I have to move, then I had to move,” says Natalia.
Natalia and Damien had a creative way of feeling like they were together when they were actually far apart. “Just like any other couple, we had date nights. Every Friday night, we watched the same movie, ate the same food, and drank the same wine. We would use Skype or FaceTime to talk,” says Damien. “We went through this process of normal dating. If she cooked chicken and pasta, I cooked chicken and pasta. We’ve tried to be on the same page with everything we’ve done.”
The same is true for their faith and values. “We have bonded over how we see life and how we want to live our lives. We both wanted to marry and raise a family with Catholic values, and in terms of politics and things like that, we also see alike.”
Damien agrees with Natalia, saying “I think throughout this whole journey, we have bonded over our faith.”
Her family was celebrating before he even proposed
“Damien wanted to meet my family, so we made plans to have dinner, but the day before the dinner, Damien kept saying things to me like he was not prepared for marriage, or for any other relationship,” says Natalia. Damien’s intention was to distract Natalia from the fact that he was going to propose the next day, but he quickly realized that he had gone too far. “He realized that his distraction was a little risky, so he told me his whole proposal plan for the next day.”
The next day, Damien asked Natalia’s parents if he could talk to them alone and asked them for their blessing to marry their daughter.
“My parents gave us their blessing, and we all hugged each other. It was very moving.” When the rest of her family found out that Natalia’s parents had given their blessing, they started celebrating the engagement.
Damien said to them: "What are we celebrating? I haven’t proposed to her yet! What if she says no? Well, let's see what she is going to say.”
“Then he got down on one knee, took out the ring, and he proposed to me, and I said ‘Yes,’” exclaims Natalia.
Their wedding celebration lasted until 3 am
Six months after their Vegas wedding, Natalia and Damien were married in a beautiful ceremony in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, and because of the heat in Ecuador, the couple’s wedding started at 9 P.M. and the festivities lasted until 3 A.M.
The couples say they feel like God blessed their wedding because of the presence of friends, family, and many little signs. After their wedding, they went to an old neighborhood to take pictures and encountered a choir that was there celebrating Guayaquil's festivities. Even though they didn’t know the couple, the choir turned and sang to the couple. “It was so heavenly that I was crying,” says Natalia.
“Our wedding was flawless. My friends to this day are like ‘Oh my gosh, Damien that was the best wedding I’ve ever been to.’ It was great to have everyone be happy and just enjoy that great moment with us,” shares Damien.
In fact, things that could have been catastrophes ended up not being a big deal. When thirty more people than they planned for showed up, the couple ran out of food, but the day was saved by the fact that they had already planned to serve hotdogs and hamburgers at 2 am.
Watch their video here for highlights of the their wedding.
Marriage has made their lives better
“I thought marriage was going to be a hard pill to swallow because I moved out when I was 17, and I’ve been very independent, but it’s really easy actually,” says Damien.
Natalia agrees: “It’s wonderful. Everyone say that married life is going to be hard; you’ll see reality about the other person, but for me, it wasn’t a big change.”
The couple gives being on the same page and communication the credit for their easy transition. “I think we have adapted well because we talk a lot; that’s one of our strengths. If something is not going well, then we talk. Of course, we have had our differences like any couple, but we talk it through and try not to hurt each other,” shares Natalia.
“People ask me how my marriage is going, and I say I wish I would have done this years ago. I tell Natalia, ‘you make my life easy.’ She doesn’t make me stress,” says Damien.
Natalia and Damien welcomed their first child, Rebecca, on July 28th, 2016.
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