Our story all starts with a first date back in October of 2023... The only problem was it wasn't our first date. However, it was the start of the Lord bringing the two of us together!

In October of 2023 both Rachel and I traveled to Illinois. Rachel was visiting her friend Beth and I was going on a first date. It just so happened that through these separate trips to Illinois we met for the first time! Although, this small trip didn’t lead to anything for many months later.

Several months later in May of 2024 while Rachel and I were both casually using CatholicMatch, Rachel recognized me from Illinois and clicked on my profile trying to figure out why I looked familiar. This led to me responding and reaching out to Rachel (honestly not knowing I had met her before back in Illinois). Thus began the real start to our relationship.

*It was a slow start to the relationship with Rachel living in Springfield, Missouri and me in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We sent many messages and spent hours video chatting! It finally reached a point that we needed to meet in person. On June 23rd Brian came to visit Rachel for the first time in Springfield, Missouri. This led to many weekend trips and miles on our cars traveling back and forth between Missouri and Iowa but the time together was too precious to stay separated for long. As our relationship grew we loved hiking, cooking, and hanging with our friends/family.

On November 8th Brian made it official at Busiek State Forest and proposed with some support from family and friends! Rachel obviously said “Yes”! On January 2nd Rachel moved to Cedar Rapids, finally ending the long distance relationship. Rachel currently lives with Brian’s parents just a few minutes away. We are truly loving living in the same city and growing deeper in love as we prepare for marriage!