In January 2024, Subrina Pumford moved to New York City. It was always her goal to move to the big city and work as a designer. Little did she know that, along with her dream job and dream city, she would soon also meet her dream man! Not that she was looking for love. Sure, she had downloaded CatholicMatch - but just to date for fun, explore the city, and maybe get a free dinner or two. Meanwhile, Anthony Hejduk had recently finished a consecration to the Virgin Mary. In an attempt to focus on prayer and better discern his own future, he had given up dating. Now, a few weeks post-consecration, he prayed on it and soon felt that it was time to re-enter the dating pool. To ease back into things, the only action he took was downloading Catholic Match. He figured that by the time he got back to NYC in a few weeks, he might get a match or two. Three hours later, Subrina and Anthony matched! A match made in heaven. It was textual chemistry at first message: “Read any good theology lately?” Long text exchanges led to a coffee date, which ended with the pair meandering around in below-freezing weather as Anthony interrogated Subrina about Nepali grammar. She later learned that his questions about Nepali were more than a flirting tactic, as his now intermediate fluency attests to. The day they met, they took their first picture together at the Brooklyn Promenade, overlooking the New York skyline. Through chattering teeth, she agreed to a second date. Nine days later, Anthony and Subrina were officially dating. The process of falling in love was a bit of a whirlwind, as they bonded over a love of lists (including Subrina’s list of necessary attributes for a partner, which Anthony thankfully cleared), made tons of Nepali chai, and sold an enormous amount of tinned fish. For context: Subrina, assuming she wouldn’t have much of a social calendar in the city, had signed a three month contract with a tinned fish company to sell samples every weekend in various Whole Foods stores. Facing the possibility of barely seeing her for the first three months of their relationship, Anthony offered to join her, accidently working in the service industry for the first time. Their love was solidified amidst the aroma of Chili-Crisp Smoked Salmon. Subrina was, in fact, the best-selling fish saleswoman for the whole company, a fact which can only partially be attributed to Anthony’s uncompensated labor—she isn’t an Instagram influencer for nothing, after all! As the weather warmed and the tinned fish contract expired, Anthony and Subrina became a deeper part of each other’s lives, meeting each other’s families and beginning to plan for a future together. They held to a resolution not to talk about marriage for the first six months of their relationship, which seemed reasonable at the time, but was sorely tested as time passed. When their six month anniversary arrived, they opened the documents they had both independently made devoted to wedding plans, marriage, and family life, and allowed themselves to do some “hypothetical” planning. Within the month, Anthony asked Subrina’s father for her hand! In December 2024, Anthony and Subrina planned to hold a chai party for their friends in the city. Anthony realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to cover up planning an engagement party and getting her in a photo-ready outfit, a task which becomes much more difficult when one has a philosophical opposition to all forms of lying. But their very real nostalgia for the Brooklyn Waterfront allowed him to tactfully suggest recreating their early relationship photos in chai-party-appropriate Nepali clothing. About eleven months after their first photo together, Anthony proposed to Subrina in front of the same skyline with a ring that she helped to design. On the ring were two aquamarines in Marian blue, a testament to the Blessed Mother’s intercession in bringing them together and guiding them towards their shared love and vocation.