After seeing many of my college friends get married and begin the next chapter of their lives, I was wondering when that would happen for me. Through prayer and conversation with my parents and sister, I decided to try the world of online dating. I signed up for "Catholic Match" because having a partner share my faith was important to me. One of the first profiles I came across was Andrew's. From the first glance at it, I was interested. I don't know if it was his love of peanut butter, his interest in music and ballroom dancing (salsa to be specific), his dedication to health and wellness, or his own relationship with God that truly resonated with me. He did have posted that he was taking some time away from online dating, so I wasn't sure if I should reach out.

In the meantime, my parents and sister were dying to see the "dating pool" applicants I had stopped by my parents' house before a doctor's appointment. Before I left, mom asked if I was going to leave my computer (and the dating website/my profile) with her. My only rules: no commenting on anyone's profile, no responding to messages. By the time I came home, mom and dad had their list of bachelors that I needed to look at. Andrew was at the top of their list. They convinced me to reach out to Andrew and see what would happen. About three months later, Andrew responded...

I had had mixed results with online dating, and had never had a proper relationship with a Catholic woman. I decided to make that a priority rather than a bonus, and started on Catholic Match.

I was working through mental health therapy in Winter 2021 and didn't feel I was in a good place to start a relationship, but my therapist encouraged me to at least start looking. I first received a message from Erin in April 2021, but didn't respond. I spent the rest of spring and summer resolving some topics, and in late July while at a Latin dance congress, I finally responded to her.

She was fortunately still single, and was very excited to hear back from me. We flirted back and forth for several days, both playful banter and establishing a basis for some conversation, and I finally asked for her number to arrange our first date.

Andrew: Our first date was supposed to be a trivia night - I found a place up by her, and we showed up on time to a nice-looking little bar. However, when we got there, the place was empty! I asked, and they told me that trivia was cancelled during COVID! We ended up just drinking and talking all night, and what was supposed to be two hours turned into six! Our second date we made much more low-key - meeting at a brewery for games. Luckily, Erin really enjoyed the type of games that I brought, and everything snowballed from there - party games, board games, card games, dice games...Each time playing gave us more time together, learning how the other person behaved and acted in different situations.

Erin: Every day and experience has been another memory and adventure helping us learn about the other person.

Andrew: I'm a movie guy, and I knew that a big part of our relationship would be Erin's attitude and perspective on movies I liked, and my attitude on movies she liked. Luckily, since she was also educated in film, we had a lot of starting points and common ground. Watching classics like Casablanca or White Christmas, plus action movies like James Bond and Indiana Jones, gave us opportunities not only to enjoy each other's company in silence, but also see what kind of atmosphere we liked and what we were passionate about. Plus, watching a movie while cuddling under a blanket is always a great way to spend more time together :).

Andrew: If one thing can be said about us falling in love, it's the impact we've had upon each other. Over the past two and a half years, we've taught each other about our interests, our likes and dislikes, and those weird little nerdy quirks that add to the affection. I've definitely impacted Erin's sense of media entertainment, specifically TV and music. She's been listening to some bands in the past few months that she's never heard of, much less could picture herself listening to, before being with me! A great example is Gloryhammer, a Swiss/English metal band with the gimmick of a high-fantasy Scottish prince fighting an evil sorcerer.

(Erin) Pretzel Knot

I got permission from Erin's parents before I got a ring, and at the time didn't really have an idea of how I was going to propose. I had two ideas, both fitting our playful dynamic, but nothing for a clear resolution of how to ask.

I decided to make Erin go on a scavenger hunt. I keep trinkets from our dates - brochures, ticket stubs, cards, things like that - and wrote up a list of clues for each one. I was working from home at the time, and hid the items and clues throughout my apartment. There were 10 items, with the last one having a bonus clue leading to the ring box.

Erin shotgunned the first five or six, finding them all pretty quickly while enjoying the trip down memory lane (she was more excited about finding the items than the nostalgia, I think :) ). However, she started running into some trouble and overthinking clues from our more recent dates.

While I was working, I was listening to music, and the soundtrack from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was playing. I was REALLY hoping Erin would finish the scavenger hunt before the music stopped, but I couldn't be too obvious about it or she'd know something was up. Erin is fun to surprise, but is frustratingly good at guessing surprises.

I didn't really care about the rest of the clues, but once she found the last one leading to the ring box, I got up and was following her around while the music was gearing up towards the end.

She finally found the box! Erin turned to look at me and asked if she was going to cry, and I said, "Absolutely." I made my pitch and got on one knee, and she said yes!

During this time, the music was winding down (Return of the King ends on a beautiful song called "Into the West" by Annie Lennox). After Erin said yes and I got back up and hugs/kisses/puppies/rainbows, the song ended. Since it was a live performance of the soundtrack, after the song ended, there was a beat, and then there was audience applause - it was like they were cheering for us, too! I couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

I had a special bottle of Old Pepper bourbon sitting on my sideboard from at least 2018 that I was saving until I proposed. We opened that that evening and relaxed, enjoying being engaged and Erin enjoying her new sparkly, and it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that we started telling our families.

(in no particular order)

1. Getting married

2. Seeing the other person for the first time at the other end of the aisle

3. Celebrating with our friends and family

4. Our honeymoon! We're both well-travelled on land, so a cruise will be a new experience.