She Got The Perfect Proposal!

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Christine didn't know that Mark was scheming with the tour guide to get the best photo op for when he proposed.

On their last stop of the tour, Mark stayed behind to talk with the tour guide, but Christine didn't find this suspicious.

"Mark likes to talk!" she shares.

Christine was taking pictures of the scenic views of the canyon when the guide came over and told her that he had a perfect spot for a sunset photo, and he offered to photograph her and Mark. She had noticed the guide taking pictures of the other couples and families with the canyon views behind them, so his suggestion to take a picture of her and Mark didn't alert to what was coming next.

"The tour guide brought us not even five feet away from the edge—did I mention I am afraid of heights?" she says. "And then my life changed…."

God’s stunning creation served as the backdrop.

With the canyons aglow behind them, Mark got down on one knee and asked Christine to be his bride.

"Yes, yes, yes!" she answered.

Then they watched the sun go down as a newly engaged couple.

"I have to give it to Mark for the perfect proposal and not to mention we have pictures and a video of him proposing thanks to our tour guide," she says. "This is exactly how I would imagine my perfect proposal."

They both found a partner in faith.

Forty-somethings, Mark and Christine, connected on CatholicMatch in July 2018. "We both tried other various dating sites but our Catholic faith drew us to try CatholicMatch, wanting a partner to share the same values and morals," Mark explains.

Christine initiated the conversation, and then after a few email exchanges and a phone call, they had set up their first date.

At 7:30, on a Monday night, they met at a restaurant called Bensi's, in NJ, which offered a quiet place to chat and get to know one another better. Mark and Christine talked through dinner until the restaurant was about to close. Both of them wanted to continue the conversation, so they took a walk in a shopping center.

"Eventually, we parted knowing that I would be leaving for Arizona on Wednesday for two-and-a-half weeks. Strangely, my flight was canceled and had to be rebooked for Friday," she says.

More wonderful dinners and something unexpected...

Christine sent a text to Mark saying that her flight was rescheduled a couple of days out. "I secretly hoped he would bite and ask me out again. And just like that, he did!"

Mark took her to the movies, and then afterward, they grabbed dinner. "Once again, the conversation came easy and the 6:00 am flight the next morning was getting closer," she recalls.

While Christine vacationed in Arizona, she and Mark continued to talk on the phone and text. When she returned home, they went on their 3rd date. Once again, they closed the restaurant.

While planning their fourth date, Christine's mom had a stroke. Mark showed how much he cared by checking in on Christine and her mom to see if they needed anything.

"He was my rock in a devasting time," she shares.

They became inseparable.

Everyone around them noticed how good they were together. Christine gradually introduced Mark to her family members. By early November, she met Mark's parents, and on Thanksgiving, she met Mark's entire family at their Thanksgiving celebration. "

"They were wonderful and made me feel very comfortable," she remembers.

Right before Christmas, they got their parents together for dinner. "We made Mark's grandma's special homemade lasagna. We decorated his house in and out—Christmas magic was in the air. Once again, we had a hit on our hands. Our parents enjoyed the evening with us and each other and stayed much later than expected," they say.

After just a year, they were married!

On July 9th, 2020, Mark blew Christine away with that memorable proposal. Then one year later, on July 17, 2021, at Our Lady of Peace, in New Providence, NJ.

One special memory "was watching Christine cry as she walked down the aisle," he says. "The other was our wedding dance to Shania Twain's 'From This Moment.'"

Mark closes, "Our love story is filled with great happiness, hopes, and dreams. Finding the love of our life on CatholicMatch was truly a great start and we hope that others can find theirs also. It is not only meeting but staying together through the many ups and downs that life has to offer. It is also knowing that we will do that together...."

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