A couple who were unknowingly baptized beside each other as babies were married in the same spot 27 years later.
In 1992, Savannah and Isaac Montoya, both 31, were just 6 and 3 months old respectively when they were baptized at San Miguel Church, which specialized in group baptisms, in their hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Unbeknownst to both families, the babies would later cross paths again, fall in love, and get engaged in November 2018.
When Ms. Montoya, a banker, was planning her wedding, she came across old photographs and noticed a familiar face in the background of her baptism—her fiancé.
Shocked and overjoyed, the pair realized they had “met” each other years earlier when they were baptized side by side.
The pair say it made their nuptials “extra special because it was meant to be.”
Twenty-seven years on, in September 2019, in the same church, Ms. Montoya walked down the aisle where she was greeted by her “heaven-sent” life partner.
“Locking in a church was one of the final pieces of our wedding puzzle,” Ms. Montoya said. “That’s why we decided to pull out our baptism photos and, sure as day, there was Issac and I side by side.
“I immediately burst into happy tears. We couldn’t believe it and neither could our families. Growing up in the same area means a crossover is bound to happen, but it’s rare there’s one as close as this. I was already ecstatic to marry my husband, but this made it 10 times more exciting, and we shared the news with our guests ahead of the wedding.
“I always used to be a little skeptical of the invisible string theory, but our story goes to show it exists.”
Despite going to the same primary school, their paths didn’t cross until 2011 when the pair found themselves in the same friendship group. However, it wasn’t until a year later that the couple—at the time both 20 years old and single—started to date.
“One day, I saw Isaac differently, and I thought ‘Oh, maybe I do like him,’” Ms. Montoya said. “Luckily, he agreed, and we started dating. We were both keen travelers and very family-orientated, and that’s how we both knew that it was for keeps.”
After six years of dating, in November 2018, Mr. Montoya, a heavy equipment operator, popped the question to his future wife, and the pair got engaged. Over the moon, they swiftly got to wedding planning, and the magical photo was discovered.
The following year, in September 2019, in the same month and in the same church where they'd been baptized almost three decades before, the pair got married in the presence of 350 guests.
“It made walking down the aisle extra special and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Ms. Montoya said.
After four years of marriage, in June 2023, the couple welcomed their first child, Isaac Matthew Montoya, now 6 months old.
“We are going to get him baptized, hopefully in the same church, as we‘d love to carry on the tradition,” Ms. Montoya said. “Safe to say, if we do, I’ll be taking so many pictures.
“Who knows, maybe [our baby] will meet his future spouse.”
