Starting is often the hardest part of any journey, endeavor, or story. To say our story started smoothly would be a disservice to all the beautiful bumps and lessons that make our love so unique. Enjoy reading about how our relationship started and how we ended up where we are today. We look forward to you being a part of the next chapter as our love continues to bloom. Catherine and Jeremiah met in a university classroom during the second semester of their freshman year at Western Connecticut State University. They sat next to each other, slightly offset, amongst a group of soon-to-be close friends. Catherine immediately caught Jeremiah’s eye but was quick to shut down his struggled attempts at flirtation. As time went on, their relationship as frenemies flourished. Catherine’s stubbornness quickly clashed with Jeremiah’s brashness. Nevertheless, mutual friends helped to keep them in touch. After some time apart due to the global pandemic, they started going to the campus gym together once they returned to school. Jeremiah soon realized that Catherine was more than just a normal gym partner. Through the conversations they shared, the evenings spent studying, and the meals cooked in Jeremiah’s dorm, they started to form a bond. Catherine found herself resisting the closeness that was growing between them; after all, how could someone who annoyed her so much at one time be the one she wants to spend the most time with? Before heading home for winter break in the fall semester of Senior year, 2021, Jeremiah made the bold move to ask Catherine out to dinner. Quick to write this off as a friendly meeting, Catherine scrambled to find a friend to bring with. After failing to remove all doubt that his advances were romantic the first time around, Jeremiah decided on his 22nd birthday to ask her out on an official date. From that point on, he visited Catherine a few times at her family home in Danbury, CT. As things got more serious, and that first date finally happened, they officially started dating. Their love started out with mutual appreciation, attraction, and spiritual connection. God drew them in closer to Him, and they dedicated their relationship to Christ shortly thereafter. The three and a half years of dating that followed were full of love, growing pains, and the trials and triumphs of life. Catherine introduced Jeremiah to Portuguese values and food, as well as a family that spans across Portugal, Connecticut, New York, and beyond. Jeremiah brought Catherine into his large and chaotic family, including four older brothers, their respective wives/girlfriends, friends, and family across the Midwest, who all quickly made her feel right at home. They love traveling, trying new foods, and spending time with friends and family. Catherine brought Jeremiah to Portugal in the summer of 2024 and acquainted him with her roots and grandmother’s farm, where she spent summers as a child. She got to know his friends a bit better in February 2025, when the two visited Los Angeles and San Diego, California. On July 3rd, 2025, Jeremiah bought an engagement ring with the intention of asking the love of his life to marry him. On August 3rd, 2025, at sunset on Skaket beach in Cape Cod, he did just that. Through tears of joy, Catherine said yes. Since that day, the two of them bought a home in Stratford, CT, and have been hard at work wedding planning, house prepping, and laundry folding (maybe). They are now eager to begin a new journey in marriage and settle into their new home, in a new stage of life. They hope to raise a God-fearing family in the near future. Their story is just beginning, and they cannot wait for you to join them on July 25th, 2026, for the start of the next big chapter.