Andy was worried that Becky loved her house more than him (and Becky agrees this was a possibility), so he decided to propose to her in her favorite room in her house, the sunroom. While Becky was upstairs changing into a pair of comfy pajama pants—always the first thing she did when she got home—Andy used that time to hit "record" on his tablet and to get into proposal position.
When Becky came downstairs, she found Andy on bended knee. She thought, “Oh, it’s happening now!”
Here is Andy's best effort at transcribing the proposal:
Becky: Hey You
Andy: Hey Pretty
Becky: Whatcha doing?
Andy: What am I doing?
Andy: Hi
Becky: Are you seriously doing this right now? You're kidding right, are you kidding?
Andy: I love you so much, you're the most amazing girl I know.
Becky: (Inaudible girl noises) Are you really doing this?
Andy: I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you.
Andy: cause I have this box, with a ring in it.
Becky: What did you say, I missed it.
Andy: It's okay cause I videotaped it... Rebecca Marie,
Becky: Yes?
Andy: I need the other hand... I love you so much, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are the most beautiful girl I know and yeah, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
Rebecca Marie, will you marry me?
Becky: Yes (more girl squeaks) Oh my gosh, you totally surprised me.
Andy: I have had this planned the whole time.
Becky: You have? To do it today?
Andy: Exactly at this time.
Becky: What time?
Andy: When we got home.
Becky: Why?
Andy: Because
Becky: Because you would be buzzed and you'd have the courage?
Andy: No, but I did think about that. But I'm serious I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I know you've been bugging me the last few weeks. By the way, we're still rolling.
Andy: So you'll marry me?
Becky: YES!
Andy: You get to keep that now (ring).
Becky: Oh my gosh...oh my gosh... Oh my gosh, I'm in shock.
Andy: You okay?
Becky: Yeah
Andy: This is actually happening, in case you were wondering, this is real.
Becky: Oh wow, **** (removed to keep the G rating) are you sure?
Andy: I better be; I have video evidence.
The after party
“We called our families right afterward, then my close friend came over, jumped up and down a bit, and announced that she and Andy had been planning a big surprise engagement party, so go get dressed!” Becky remembers fondly.
Before she knew it, their friends were streaming into her house to celebrate, and faraway friends who couldn’t be present sent letters expressing their love and excitement for the couple. “Celebrating our engagement surrounded by the community that loved us was very important to me, and it was a blast!” exclaims Becky.
A future wife for a birthday present
Andy had been a CatholicMatch member on and off for two years. On his birthday,
December 26, 2013, he rejoined and received an unexpected message from his future wife. Looking at her profile, he thought Becky was cute and spunky. “However, I enjoyed craft beer, which was a 'deal breaker' for him!” exclaims Becky.
Becky liked how Andy's pictures showed him dressed in goofy costumes doing youth ministry, and she liked the passion with which he wrote his profile. “He wasn't afraid to be himself, which I loved.”
They discovered that they also shared a love of Dominicans, simple living, and do-it-yourself projects.
On January 10, 2014, they met for the first time at Fiddler's Hearth, an Irish Pub in
South Bend, IN. Andy’s first impression of Becky was that she was short. "Luckily, he didn't say that out loud," Becky declares.
"I thought, 'That is a big man.' He looked like Hagrid—big, friendly, and warm."
They didn’t let those first superficial impressions get in the way of getting to know each other. That first date lasted from 7:30 pm and ended at 1:30 a.m. after being kicked out. “We couldn't stop talking!” he remembers. “The date was going so well that by the end of the night, I had already secured a second date for two days later.”
Long distance
At the beginning of their relationship, they drove back and forth every weekend to see each other. During this time, Andy was living two hours away working at his alma mater, Purdue University, in their Newman Center. Becky had also just started a new job at her alma mater, Notre Dame.
After six-month of dating, Andy found a job in South Bend and moved near Becky, so that they could get to know each other better and determine if they wanted to become engaged.
A serenade before the wedding
After Andy’s surprise engagement party, they set their wedding date for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, August 15, 2015, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in South Bend, Indiana. "We picked some values that we wanted our wedding and marriage to have: simplicity, joy, and hospitality. Every decision we made we tried to make sure it embodied those three qualities," they say.
One thing that was special about their wedding day was that Andy took a moment to sing to Becky before the wedding Mass. "A lot of couples do the praying together around the corner so that they don't see each other before the bride walks down the aisle. Instead, I sang a "Salve Regina" in Latin to Becky in the Sacristy without seeing each other," Andy recalls.
Re-enacting their first date
After the wedding, Andy and Becky along with their wedding party of 19 people jumped
into a bus and headed over to Fiddler's Hearth—where they had their first date. "Andy and I sat at the table where we had our first date. The owner came out and met us and gave us complimentary Honeymoon wine to toast our wedding.
After reminiscing at Fiddler's, they piled back into the bus and went to their reception, a big outdoor affair on a farm.
"I had a really special first dance with my dad. I am the only girl out of five children. We did a choreographed dance to "My Girl." I had a broken toe, so I was wearing a boot, but it went well, and we were a hit."
Married life is refreshing
For Andy, the best part of being married is also the most frustrating part. It says it's wonderful that you always have someone to do things with, but the flip side is, you can't do what you want when you want.
Becky says that learning how to communicate has been the most difficult aspect. However, the stability of being married outweighs any negative. "Knowing that we are going to be together forever is so refreshing."
CatholicMatch isn't dangerous or desperate!
Becky and Andy, both twenty-somethings, joined CatholicMatch because they were having a difficult time meeting people their age, and they figured they could meet a lot more people online. However, before joining, they had some reservations.
“I always thought it was a little weird to meet people online because they are total strangers," Andy says. “I had heard stories of dangerous things that could happen.”
Becky adds, “I thought to go online was a sign that I was desperate!"
"Once we joined, we realized it was full of regular people like us who are in the same situations we are.”
