by Ashley Our story begins in December of 2020 when I decided to give Catholic Match a try to look for a future spouse. I had high hopes after a few close friends found success on the online dating platform. Laszlo, on the other hand, was already there to see what Catholic dating was about, and to keep his options open on the chance that God would send him a bride. I came across Laszlo on December 20th, his 30th birthday. Impressed with his profile, I decided to send him a ‘heart’ to let him know I was interested. Soon after, Laszlo sent the first message and we quickly delved into meaningful conversations about faith, art and the state of the world. There was just one major hurdle, Laszlo was living in the UK, and I was living in Canada! Despite that obstacle, our long distance courtship began a few months later on the First Friday of March in 2021, days after Laszlo’s first Confession and First Holy Communion. We talked on Facetime for hours every day, dissected books we read and prayed together. Our quality conversations were no match against the 5 hour time difference. I grew to love his sense of humor, personality, confidence and immense love for Christ. Even before meeting, we had a strong sense we were meant for each other. After six months, we could finally meet in person in Spain; one of the only three countries in the world at the time that did not require quarantine to travel to. Joined by my close friends, a newly married couple we invited (who also met on Catholic Match), we spent an amazing week with each other, which confirmed our intentions to unite and pursue our vocation together. All of this was followed by months of severe struggle against uncertainty in circumstances, restrictions, and bureaucracy. Laszlo got rid of most of his belongings and flew to Toronto in January 2022. He moved in right next door to my house, jumping from an ocean dividing us to living right next to each other!

by Laszlo The Lord had placed it on my heart for a good while to propose to Ashley in an Adoration Chapel. He also guided me to choose a very special day, May 13th, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, to ask her to be my wife in the chapel of the parish of St. Joseph the Worker. I planned out the proposal with the help of Ashley’s family. Before the big day, Ashley and I took a trip to Ottawa to join the March for Life, where we got severely sunburnt in the scorching heat (it was totally worth it!). The following day, experiencing heat exhaustion, Ashley woke up with the room spinning, nauseous, and she could barely get out of bed all day. This immediately jeopardized my proposal plans as I tried to organize everything for the evening, running around during the day to prepare the scene, buy and place the flowers in the chapel, and coordinate with Ashley’s family so we could all be there together for that special moment. I prayed extra hard all day for Ashley’s miraculous healing, and, when all seemed lost, Our Lady came through (as She always does) - suddenly, out of nowhere, Ashley said ‘Hey, I’m actually ok, we can go to Adoration if you want.’ I immediately assembled the troops, at which point Ashley was growing suspicious that something was about to happen... When we got to the church, the Adoration Chapel was chock full. There was a Mass about to begin, and even though I was ready to pop the question with everyone watching, the chapel suddenly emptied out, and it was only us left. At the right moment, I grabbed Ashley’s hand and led her to the Blessed Sacrament, where I knelt down, and asked her to join me for the greatest adventure of our lives…