As Bryan stepped onto the curb outside Reagan National Airport, he was feeling a mix of anticipation and nerves. After a 900-mile flight, he was tired but eager to finally meet Jenny in person. As he scanned the line of arriving cars, looking for the woman he had come so far to see, a passing vehicle rolled over a pile of discarded mustard packets. In an instant, a spray of bright yellow condiment splattered across his face and shirt—just moments before Jenny pulled up to the curb.
"As Jenny pulls to the curb, she sees me being toweled off by a random stranger," Bryan recalled. "I was a little embarrassed. She thought it was cute."
That moment captures something essential about Bryan and Jenny: a relationship built on genuine laughter, shared faith, and the ability to find joy in life's unexpected surprises.
Their story is one of two people who spent years growing in faith and preparing for the vocation of marriage before finally finding each other.
The Roads That Led Them Here
Before CatholicMatch, Bryan had never tried a dating app before. He knew from the start of his dating journey that shared faith was not optional. "I knew that shared faith was paramount to my search," he said, "and that CatholicMatch was the best place to start."
When he created his profile, he turned to St. Joseph. "I prayed a lot, especially for the intercession of St. Joseph, that God would send someone to complete my family."
Jenny had tried eHarmony first, which let users filter for Christian but not specifically Catholic. The distinction mattered. "CatholicMatch solved a critical feature I was looking for in a partner," she said. "I liked the idea of a dating app where everybody on there had selected themselves into a Catholic community."
What she was praying for was clear: "a man who would love both me and my kids with his whole heart, and who was otherwise a good match for us." Jenny had been widowed and waited more than six years before she felt ready to look again.
They were both ready. They just hadn't found each other yet.
The Moment of Recognition
On May 5, 2025, Bryan came across Jenny's profile. His reaction was immediate.
"I knew immediately that Jenny was the one," he said. "I literally yelled out 'YES!' as I read her profile.” He said that in that moment, he felt like his search was over. When later that same day, she liked his profile first, there were, by his account, "more than a few fist pumps."
Jenny's reaction mirrored his almost exactly. "My immediate reaction was 'YES!!!' I thought he could definitely be the one." She showed his profile to her teenage daughter, who agreed. "That told me we were on to something."
Two people. One thousand miles apart. Both shouting yes at their screens at essentially the same moment—and finding the connection they had been searching for.
Building Something Real, Long Distance
What followed was a courtship conducted largely over screens and phone lines, with intention behind every step. Nine days after they first began chatting on the app, they exchanged phone numbers. Then came phone and video calls.
Just one month later, Bryan booked a flight to meet her.
"I hopped on a plane for the 900-mile trip to DC to meet Jenny for the very first time," he said. From the airport, they traveled together directly to daily Mass at her local parish cathedral. It was a deliberate choice, a statement about the kind of relationship this was going to be.
After Mass came dinner. Then meeting Jenny's kids and her mom.
The mustard incident served as a great ice-breaker.
By their second date, Bryan asked Jenny how long they would have to wait before they could get married. They deleted their CatholicMatch accounts together that same evening.
"We knew we were on to something serious before we even met," Jenny said. "But it was all spelled out during our third dinner during his first visit."
The Glue That Held It Together
Distance remained the central challenge through their entire courtship. Bryan was living in Missouri, Jenny in Virginia. Plane tickets are expensive, and every trip meant leaving kids at home in someone else's care.
They counted seventeen trips between the two of them from that first visit in June to their wedding in November.
The phone filled the gaps. Both had hour-long commutes to work, and they spent every minute of them together on calls. "We would also cap our evening with a phone call after the kids were in bed," Bryan said. They talked about everything: family, daily life, work, their children's activities, news, politics, personal histories, and faith.
Faith was central. During their courtship, they prayed novenas together to St. Padre Pio and St. Josemaria Escriva, asking for blessings on their marriage and family. "We prayed several novenas to St. Jose Maria for blessing upon our marriage and our family," Bryan said.
To manage the waiting between visits, Bryan would start a countdown timer each time they scheduled time together. Jenny and Bryan would watch it tick down side by side, each on their own side of a thousand miles.
The Proposal
During one of their visits, Bryan was scheduled to arrive on a Friday, but he came on Thursday instead.
Jenny was driving home from work, still on their regular afternoon commute call, talking to Bryan as she pulled into her driveway. When she walked through the door, there he was, in the mudroom entryway, ring in hand, already on one knee.
"Of course I said YES!" Jenny recalled.
"The surprise of the engagement was magical," Bryan said. "We kind of had a history of surprising each other on weekends where we weren't scheduled to see each other, but this was the best one."
Who They Are Together
Ask either of them what they admire most about the other, and the answers reveal a great deal.
Bryan admires Jenny's outlook on life. "I love Jenny's bright and positive outlook on everything. She's such a bottle of sunshine. She truly makes me a better person."
Jenny points straight to Bryan's faith. "I most admire Bryan's faith and prayerfulness and his devotion to his family."
They are also, by every account, fiercely competitive. "We're both super competitive and love to make sport out of anything," Bryan said. "This has led to more than one footrace." The most memorable came during their engagement photo shoot. It was raining, and they both kicked off their shoes and raced across the yard. Jenny won, then wiped out at the finish line. Bryan picked her up off the ground, and they shared what he called "a huge laugh."
God's Plan, Made Visible
Both Bryan and Jenny describe their relationship as the clearest evidence they have ever seen of God's faithfulness.
"It has filled me with gratitude for His immense blessing of bringing us together," Bryan said. "It is the greatest example of God's plan being absolutely perfect."
Jenny had waited over six years after being widowed before finding Bryan. The wait shaped how she understands what happened next. "Meeting Bryan has completely confirmed the reality that God has always had a perfect plan for my life," she said. "It has deepened my trust and faith in God and my gratitude to Him for all of my blessings."
What Comes Next
Married in November, the two are now in the early work of merging two households. Their first Christmas as a married couple was spent in Missouri, where all the children gathered together to pack up Bryan's house. A cross-country move to Virginia followed: a three-vehicle caravan crossing state lines to begin their new life as a blended family.
"It was hard work," Jenny said, "but we were so happy to be doing it and very proud of how our kids stepped up to the challenge."
The immediate horizon is getting the household organized and settled. The longer view, as Bryan put it, is "transitioning seamlessly from parenthood to grandparenting."
Their Advice to Catholic Singles
Both have counsel for those still waiting and searching.
Bryan: "Keep praying for your future spouse. Trust that God has a plan for you, and keep an open mind on some of the search queries that aren't absolute deal breakers."
Jenny: "Don't limit your search parameters by geography like I did. Thankfully, Bryan was searching nationwide. Be patient, as the right partner is worth the wait. Keep the faith and hope. God's plan is perfect."
She waited more than six years. He flew nine hundred miles on thirty-five days' acquaintance. Neither of them regrets a moment of it.
