They Had the Worst First Date, But Now They are Getting Married

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In 2011, Jagoda and Brandon went on one of the worst first dates either of them had ever had. Despite the awkwardness of the first date, Jagoda texted Brandon that night, thanking him for the date and letting him know that she would love to see him again. On July 11, 2015, the Illinois couple will exchange their marriage vows.

Jagoda and Brandon both joined CatholicMatch after seeing an advertisement on the back of their parish bulletin. “Meeting somebody through friends wasn’t working, and meeting someone

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through school or work wasn’t working either,” says Jagoda, 28.

Brandon’s motivations for joining were similar; “Nobody I dated in college really stuck with me—I didn’t really have that great of a connection with anyone. About six months after I moved back home, I started dating on websites. I used a couple of the other ones, but I felt like I was struggling to find a quality girl on the free websites. My mom had seen an ad for CatholicMatch in the bulletin, so when she heard me complaining, she said ‘Hey. What about CatholicMatch?’ I paid for three months and I met Jagoda within the week, so I wasted two months of money, but that’s OK,” jokes Brandon, 26.

Brandon Felt Like Her Profile Was Written For Him

“Not only did she look cute in her picture and everything else, but also I felt like the profile was actually written for me,” says Brandon. He was impressed by how similar their backgrounds were—from traditions, culture, and values to their education and points-of-view. “The ‘what do you look for’ and ‘what do you want’ parts of our profiles basically matched up word-for-word,” says Brandon.

He was so struck by how perfect this girl seemed to be for him that he showed his grandfather her profile. “I asked him, ‘Am I crazy?’ and he was like ‘No, it literally looks like she wrote it just for you.’”

Jagoda wasn’t so convinced. “When I got a message from Brandon, my subscription had ended and I was like ‘Forget this. I’m not renewing my subscription again. This guy looks like a jock; he’s way too cute for me. I’m just going to waste my money if I renew this subscription again.’” But Jagoda kept going back to Brandon’s profile, and after two weeks, she renewed her subscription. “He had on this red shirt in his picture that brought out his blue eyes, so I think it was kind of that red shirt that attracted me.”

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When she read his profile, Jagoda was equally struck by the similarities in their backgrounds, so she decided that she would give him a chance—even though he was a jock, which is not her type of person. “Never judge a book by the cover, that’s basically what I learned,” laughs Jagoda.

A Less Than Perfect Start

For their first date, Brandon drove the 40 minutes to pick Jagoda up at her house. On the way to their restaurant, the couple got lost—which is stressful enough for an established couple and potentially disastrous on a first date.

“When we got to the restaurant, we got yelled at by the hostess because we were late. It made it extremely awkward because somebody yelled at us on our first date. The date kind of pushed forward, but at that point we just didn’t think it was going to work out,” says Jagoda.

After eating dinner, Jagoda invited Brandon to her house to watch a movie.

Brandon laughingly describes how the second part of the date progressed: “First, we were arguing about what movie to watch. And then I did that stupid move where you yawn and put your hand over her shoulder, and she was like, ‘What are you doing? What’s the matter?’ and I was like ‘Nothing. Nothing is the matter.’ Afterward, not to sound cocky, but I always get kisses on the first date, and she went for the hug. So I was like, ‘What?’”

Even with the awkwardness—which could’ve completely derailed the relationship—the couple both expressed interest in seeing each other again. When asked if the rest of the early relationship went smoothly, Brandon shared a story about their second date.

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On their second date, Jagoda and Brandon went to California Kitchen. While they were eating pizza at the bar, the couple decided to get drinks. Brandon ordered a long island, so Jagoda decided to order one as well. “I was in a fraternity in college, so I know my drinks,” says Brandon, “So I was like, ‘You probably shouldn’t have a long island,’ but she ordered it anyways. The thing has five shots in it, so Jagoda got a little tipsy on our second date,” laughs Brandon.

Bonding

Both of them are adventurous, so they enjoy spending time together experiencing new cultures, going out of town, and eating at new restaurants. They also share a love of exercising, which includes hiking together and working out together at least once a week.

They also enjoy spending a night in watching television. “We bond over the HGTV shows with the houses. We argue over them because we love the show, but we can’t ever agree on any houses. That’s always fun,” adds Brandon.

The couple is also lucky enough to share similar attitudes towards socializing. “We’re very social. Jagoda is good at setting up date nights with other couples and I can talk to anyone, so we go out with other couples once a week,” says Brandon.

Proposal

Two-and-a-half years after they started dating, Brandon proposed to Jagoda on Valentine’s Day 2014. “Yes, I’m that guy,” laughs Brandon.

It was Brandon’s goal to ask both of Jagoda’s parents for permission to marry her before popping the question, but putting that plan into effect caused some conflicts between him and Jagoda.

On Valentine’s Day, he took the day off and took Jagoda to breakfast.

“I was freaking out and she was yelling at me like, ‘What’s the matter?’

And I was like ‘I can’t tell you.”

She said: ‘Why are you keeping secrets from me?’

And I said: ‘I’m not keeping secrets from you,’ but I was, so I was freaking out!”

Brandon was able to ask Jagoda’s mother for permission, but he was having trouble tracking down her father, who was working that day. Many excuses later, Brandon was finally able to ask Jagoda’s father.

“At this point, she was ready to kill me. To get her into my house, I said I needed to help lifting something, which is a stupid excuse because I work out. She was like, ‘You’re an idiot, but alright.’ So we got up to my place, and I got down on one knee and proposed. It was short and sweet. The biggest thing was asking her parents without giving it away,” says Brandon.

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Jagoda already knew that the proposal was coming because they had chosen a ring together some time back, but she didn’t expect it to happen on Valentine’s Day. Brandon shared why he chose to have Jagoda pick out her ring instead of making it a surprise: “It’s not as romantic, but there was a good reason why I did it that way particularly. My dad had to buy two wedding rings for my mom because the first one wasn’t big or pretty enough for her. I was not going to buy two of them, so that was definitely a factor!”

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