When Beth, 31, first spotted David on CatholicMatch, she wondered if he was even real.
“I thought he maybe was a bot or something,” she admits. His only profile picture was not very clear, and his limited information left much to be desired.
Still, she decided on messaging him—”Hey, David, how are you?” After spending three months online, Beth had figured out two things. The first was to not be afraid of sending the first message. “I don’t want Catholic women to be afraid or feel like it’s a stigma to be the one who makes the first move,” Beth states.
Beth’s first message to a guy was always the same. If he never responded, she simply enabled the ‘hide message’ feature and moved on.
Her second realization was in narrowing down her search radius to a specific location. Interestingly enough, this was not Flagstaff, AZ, where she was currently living. After finishing her bachelor’s degree in Flagstaff, Beth had discerned that God was calling her to move two-and-a-half hours away to Phoenix. So, she decided that she would search for someone to date in the Phoenix area. If the relationship worked out, she would already be in the area she wanted to settle.
Given that David fell within her search radius and despite his nondescript profile, she messaged him. Six hours later, he responded.
David, 31, was attracted to the fact that Beth could speak his first language.
David spent almost a year on CatholicMatch before receiving Beth’s message. His mom teased him about seeing the CatholicMatch ad on the back of the parish bulletin, and encouraged that he try it out. Since it is important to David that he pass on the Spanish language to his future children, he was immediately drawn to Beth’s bilingual abilities.
The couple began exchanging messages, texts, phone calls, and video chats. Due to David’s variable schedule as a paramedic, it took some patience to find time for their first in-person meeting. Thankfully, their connection kept their interest in each other until they could find time to meet.
Beth knew he was her husband the second she laid eyes on him!
Their schedules finally allowed them a day to meet in person in April 2021, a month after they had connected online. Getting out of her car and looking at David for the first time, Beth knew he was her future husband. The next day, she even told her would-be maid of honor that she had met the man she was going to marry. “It was almost like the air was heavy, like a feeling that I’m done looking—there he is,” shares Beth.
Despite the peace and excitement of that moment, their actual in-person exchange was quite minimal. Both had prior commitments that weekend, so they had just a sliver of time for their meeting. Yet, it was all they needed.
From there they continued communicating long-distance and visiting each other when able. Beth soon met David’s parents and cousin over a plate of tamales, and David came to Flagstaff to visit Beth and all her friends. The next month, Beth had found a job and was already moving to the Phoenix area to pursue their relationship further!
A dust storm proposal leads to a fruitful engagement.
As their relationship progressed, David felt like it was the right “next step” for them to pursue engagement. Since Beth had been given the insight early on that she would become David’s wife, she had to approach things from a place of patience and trust.
On a hot day in July, David took Beth to the Medieval Times dinner theater. While waiting in the car in the parking lot for a dust storm to pass, David proposed! He didn’t really have a plan on how he wanted to propose that night, so he figured then was just as good as any time. They celebrated the rest of the evening by eating their food with their hands (Medieval style) and deciding how they would share the news with their family the next day (since it was too loud to call anyone from the restaurant).
While sharing the news with Beth’s parents, David asked Beth’s dad for his blessing, which gladly gave. Beth and David saw his family at Mass the next day like they did every Sunday, and David flaunted Beth’s newly ringed finger in front of his parents as a way of telling them the news!
Their experience preparing for marriage proved both memorable and fruitful. The Spanish Engaged Encounter retreat was especially helpful because it provided a safe space and guided discussion topics which helped David become comfortable with opening up emotionally to Beth. They still are very connected to the Engaged Encounter community there—called “Caminemos Juntos.” David has even recommended Engaged Encounter to his guy friends who are struggling to make the next step toward marriage.
From a Super Bowl wedding to a newlywed trip to World Youth Day!
Their short engagement culminated with an eventful wedding in Phoenix on February 4, 2023. This was not to be upstaged by the Super Bowl, which was taking place the following weekend in the same city! Although that made travel a bit tricky for their wedding guests, it did not deter them from having almost 200 people at their wedding.
Another couple from their Engaged Encounter retreat was having their wedding on the very same day at the same parish, just a few hours before Beth and David’s wedding. As a result, Beth and David shared their church flower arrangements with them! Many of their friends from the Engaged Encounter retreat were in attendance at both couples’ weddings that day.
The highlight of the day for Beth was their Grand Entrance to AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” into their Reception Hall. The highlight for David was the fun photo and video shoot they took at a beautiful nearby park with the bridal party prior to the reception.
This summer, Beth and David are attending World Youth Day in Portugal for a pilgrimage honeymoon! They even asked for donations for the trip on their wedding registry. “We have been very blessed, people are very generous.”
Wedding photos courtesy of Julia Romano
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