“Before my husband Marlon and I knew one another, we consecrated ourselves to our Immaculate Mother, and our lives were changed in every way forever,” Alexandra says. Both she and her future husband Marlon undertook consecration to Mary in their single lives, and both felt it inspired them to seek out future spouses on CatholicMatch.
For her part, Alexandra did the 33 Days To Morning Glory consecration, and in March of 2020, felt called to pray the Rosary daily as her parish priest Fr Sanvido advised.
Not long after, this same priest told her that in four months’ time, she was going to meet the man she would marry!
“Something told me that he wasn’t just making me feel hopeful, even though my Godmother tried to give me cautious reason!” Alexandra laughs. Exactly four months later, to the day, her friend Lisa told her to join CatholicMatch. With some prayer, Alexandra decided to give it a shot.
“I met Marlon shortly afterwards,” she says. Marlon lived in British Columbia, and Alexandra was in Ontario. Both were immediately interested in each other, and took this interest to prayer in the Rosary. Marlon invited Alexandra to come and meet him, because Alexandra’s job as a work-from-home artist offered her a flexible schedule.
Alexandra was a little concerned about taking two airplane flights across the country, during a pandemic, to a remote location, to meet a stranger!
“I thought, how will I ever explain this to my parents and sister?!” she laughs. Alexandra was living with her family and spent almost all of her free time with them. She presented Marlon with her hesitations. So on Thanksgiving weekend of 2020, he video-called her family to introduce himself.
“My parents were so impressed with Marlon that my Dad said to me ‘What an exceptional guy! We have to get you on the next plane out to BC to meet him!’” Alexandra recalls. So she booked those two flights after all!
She also ensured to do a video introduction with the priest, Fr. Sanvido, to get his opinion.
On November 1st, Alexandra flew from Toronto, to Calgary, and finally met Marlon in Northeastern British Colombia. Praying her Rosary on the flight, she felt both nervous and exactly where she was supposed to be.
“When I stepped off of the plane in Fort St. John, Marlon was waiting at the front of the crowd with the kindest, calmest eyes,” Alexandra recalls. They hugged, feeling right at home with each other, and drove off holding hands under the full moon. Marlon was a fantastic and respectful host, and took her to a grotto to the Blessed Mother, where he had made his Act of Consecration during his singleness.
There, he asked Alexandra to be his girlfriend . . . and said “I love you” for the first time!
Alexandra went home filled with excitement and peace about their new relationship. They continued to date long-distance for the next few months, visiting back and forth when time and flight schedules allowed.
Come April of 2021, the couple revisited the same Marian grotto together. They prayed a Rosary, and upon finishing the last prayer, Marlon got down on one knee.
“I was speechless… It was so beautiful and romantic, with our Blessed Mother right beside us!” Alexandra remembers. She didn’t know it, but the hidden photographer was also right beside them, capturing the moment on film!
As everyone these days knows, wedding planning in a pandemic wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.
Marlon and Alexandra spent a lot of time deliberating on what date to choose and how many people to try to invite–all of which could change at the drop of a hat, depending on lockdowns. They ended up being married August 21st of 2021, which was the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. The ceremony was at Our Lady of Good Counsel, where many of Alexandra’s extended family were members. Fr. Sanvido, of course, was the celebrant! Alexandra also painted a large piece of Mother and Child and displayed it on the altar–the piece today now hangs in their living room.
The two had a son in October of 2022, and named him Daniel.
“We believe with all of our hearts that we prayed the Rosary towards one another in this life,” Alexandra says. “Life truly is a miracle!”
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