Steven was born in Milwaukee, WI, and moved to Texas when he was 6 years old, attended college in Austin, and now lives in Houston. He was drawn to CatholicMatch because he always knew that he wanted to marry a Catholic woman, and he knew a couple in his Bible study group that had met on CatholicMatch and had a good experience on the app.
Alison was born in Raceland, LA, a small town deep in Cajun country, and attended college and medical school there before eventually relocating to Houston. Her cousin had met his wife on CatholicMatch, and she decided to give the site a try herself after seeing his success firsthand!
They were each a little bit hesitant to try online dating. Steven’s biggest frustration with online dating was the amount of work he had to put into it. He’d have to send a lot of messages to different women before getting a response, but CatholicMatch members were usually more responsive than on other secular sites. Alison had significant trepidation about online dating due to concerns about safety and trust.
Alison had been on CatholicMatch for about 6 months when Steven made the first contact.
Steven had joined CatholicMatch in late 2001, when it was still named StRaphael.net, and was in and out of subscriptions since then. He had been on the site for almost 22 years when he met Alison!
They communicated for just a couple of weeks before seeing each other since they were both local to Houston. Their first date was at The Post, which is a food hall near downtown Houston. Steven wanted to take Alison to the rooftop for a romantic view of the city, but it was closed that night, so they went back to The Post two and a half years later for some epic engagement photos!
They both went into the first date pretty relaxed since they both had done online dating before.
There’s always a sense of anticipation before a first date, but they were comfortable with each other right away, and it was a no-brainer to do a second date. Since then, they've done escape rooms, gone to musicals, gone hiking, to plenty of good restaurants, and also took trips to Cancun and Grenada. Steven even got to see Alison ride in the Krewe of Muses at Mardi Gras in New Orleans!
They shared a funny story about when they went to their first escape room together, and, being in their 40s, they had a difficult time because their close-up vision in the dark isn’t that great anymore. They failed to escape the room because they couldn’t read the locks! The next time they did an escape room, they brought reading glasses.
After two years of dating, Steven proposed to Alison at her house.
While she was at work, he decorated her dining room with a bouquet of roses, rose petals, red lights, and candles. After Alison walked through the door, still in her scrubs from work, he got down on one knee and gave her the ring. They then went out for a wonderful dinner at Field and Tides, and the next day they saw Hamilton.
Steven is attracted to Alison’s dedication – both to her family and to her vocation as a physician. He also loves how she puts up with his quirky sense of humor.
Alison is attracted to his patience and his strong intellect, and that he enjoys travel as much as she does. They both appreciate having each other for support through the day-to-day struggles of life.
One of the biggest challenges they had to overcome in their relationship is their busy work schedules. Sometimes they had to finish up work in the evenings or weekends instead of spending time with each other.
Their wedding took place on May 30, 2026, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Houston, TX.
The highlight of the day for Steven was seeing his best friends and family under one roof for the first time, and seeing that all of them were praying for them and celebrating them as a couple.
Alison’s highlights were the band and the second line (a New Orleans tradition) with her friends and family.
The highlight of married life for them so far was their honeymoon. They visited Istanbul, Athens, and cruised around the Greek Islands. They’ve found that their biggest challenge has still been time management – they are still trying to balance their busy schedules with spending time together.
Their advice to current CatholicMatch users is to never give up!
They went through a lot of awkward dates with others before they found each other. Also, keep praying for your future spouse. Steven prayed by the heart of St. Valentine at the Whitefriar Church in Dublin, Ireland, in October 2022. Five months later, he met Alison!
