In 2018, Becca signed up for CatholicMatch shortly after moving from California to Texas to start work as a physical therapist. Though she wasn’t initially keen on the potential awkwardness of seeing a bunch of people she knew in real life show up as potential matches, her desire to find a like-minded life partner who shared her faith ultimately won out.
For his part, Trent, a 5th-grade teacher born and raised in Texas, created a CatholicMatch profile- as well as profiles on several other dating sites- in 2019. While he initially felt disappointed that he had fewer potential matches on CM when compared with other dating apps, Trent ended up circling back to CatholicMatch because he gradually found that “I was wasting time and money on those other sites, going out with women who were less serious about their faith. With CatholicMatch, I knew what I was getting.”
She messaged him first!
When Becca came across Trent’s profile in May of 2021, she right away liked that they both agreed on all the Catholic Church’s core teachings. She saw, too, that they both enjoyed being outdoors. Overall, she said, “he put just the right amount of effort into his profile to make me interested, and to show me what we had in common.” While she had previously felt unsure what to say in initial messages, the content of her first message to Trent came easily. She wrote asking him “What is wakeskating?”
At the time she sent her message, Trent was actually wakeskating on a lake away from cell phone service, so he didn’t respond for about a week. When he did write back, he told her “It’s like skateboarding on the water. Whereas in wakeboarding you have binding to keep your feet on the board, in wakeskating, it’s just your feet on the board.” When he clicked through Becca’s profile in return, Trent was also struck by the similarity in their values as well as her apparent love for her Catholic faith.
She let him pick her up for their first date.
Becca smiled as she recalled that she broke with tradition by letting Trent pick her up for their first date, a meal at her favorite Mexican restaurant in Dallas. Though for safety reasons she’d previously only met men at central locations for dates, with Trent she felt more comfortable because they’d already been talking for several weeks. Trent said of that first date, “It went very smoothly. There were no awkward moments or times where we were searching for something to say. I definitely left that date wanting to see her again.”
He did this on the second date and won her over!
When the couple’s plans to go to TopGolf, a technology-enhanced golf driving range experience in Dallas, on their second date fell through, Becca was floored by Trent’s reaction. Though they’d been told that no reservations were required, when the couple showed up they learned that the wait time would be 2-3 hours. Becca commented, “I was so impressed by how calm and unbothered Trent was. He didn’t get mad or act rude, he was polite with the staff. [Instead] he called his friend who was more familiar with the area we were in to get some recommendations for things to do. I had been looking for someone like that.”
They saw each other more and more often...
In the following months, Trent and Becca spent more and more time together, frequently making the one-hour drive between his and her towns. They split their time in each other’s town pretty evenly. The location of the activities they attended together, like volleyball and softball leagues, dictated which one made the trip.
They came to appreciate what they had in common- love for being outdoors as well as spending time with family- as well as their individual interests; fishing and volunteering with the Knights of Columbus for him, walking and running outside, and yoga for her. While Becca had grown up in California before attending college in Texas, by the time she met Trent her family had also moved to Texas, so the two were able to meet and spend lots of time with each other’s families on a regular basis.
Becca knew she was seriously attracted to Trent ever since that second date, and his realization that he wanted to spend forever with her came gradually over time. He recognized “she was deepening my faith. I was devout before I met her, but with her, I got even closer to Our Lord. I saw that she was bringing out the best in me, making my faith stronger.” Trent said the “final piece in the puzzle” for him was a successful trip to have her meet his dad’s side of the family in Minnesota over Christmas of 2021. After that, getting engaged was just a matter of time.
For her, he rolled out the red carpet!
Trent and Becca had discussed engagement and their plans for the future in-depth, but Trent still wanted to maintain some element of surprise for the proposal itself. He took Becca in January of 2022 to get sized for a ring, but threw her off the scent by colluding ahead of time with the jewelry store owner. After she picked out the ring she liked, the owner, an acquaintance of Trent’s from church, told Becca that because it was being custom-made the ring would not be ready for at least a month. But that was not in fact the case!
Becca had communicated to Trent that she didn’t want the proposal to be a big to-do, so Trent figured “what better place than her family’s house to propose?” A short time after their trip to the jeweler’s, Becca’s mom invited the couple over for a meal. As they pulled up, Becca commented that her dad must be working on some project in the backyard. She knew that the big moment had arrived when Trent took her by the hand and walked straight towards the backyard. Lights were strung up, the brick walkway was lit with candles and rose petals. Trent had even set up a backdrop with chocolate and flowers and pictures of the two of them. And there, on January 21st, 2022, he got down on one knee.
A Summer Wedding!
The couple is planning a summer of 2022 wedding in the church where Trent was confirmed and attended youth group, a place that “was a big part of my life for a long time.” Asked what each is most looking forward to about marriage, Trent said that they’re both so excited to have kids and start a family. Becca agreed, and added, “I’m so excited and blessed to have someone to support me through the ups and downs, and to be there to support them 100% of the time too.”
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