Dear Cecil and Marianna Sandstrum: 

The day your catalogue advertisement arrived in my mailbox back in January of 2001, it marked a turning point in my search for the perfect marriage partner overseas. For after some fifty-nine long letters, countless international telephone conversations, an expensive excursion abroad, a tremendous amount of language-translation work, costly address-order purchases and a stream of seemingly endless “pretty-faces”, the proverbial “light-at-the-end-of-tunnel” came the moment I decided to give Marianna’s agency a try. And after a period of some four years dubious deliberation with as many agencies, through letter correspondence with ladies from many parts of the world, my tenacious quest for finding the right woman to begin a truly sincere relationship that would lead to a truly lasting marriage, never seemed to fully materialize. I cannot say that all of my work was in vain, for there were many opportunities it yielded for my choosing. However, none of them ever seemed quite right for me. Although several of the ladies with whom I corresponded seemed lovely and gracious, there was always something that was a little ‘‘off-center’’. An odd feeling of subtle uncertainty seemed ever-present; it was always unmistakable. But this is exactly where Marianna’s agency differs. I prefer to regard it as having the genuine personal touch, in contrast with other organizations in the international romance business, because the all too important focus is on what really matters: finding each man and woman the perfect match in a marriage partner, on a one-on-one personal basis. Their dedicated and sincere methodology is germaine to the rarely encountered bottom-line result, and not in luring vulnerably-slated gentlemen toward an exotic, tropical vacation and Sunday-morning pool-parties clad in hoardes of bikini-bottomed “beauties”. A key difference is that the staff members of Marianna’s are thoroughly and personally familiar with all of the ladies, which are exclusively selected, through a process of careful interviewing, based upon certain fundamental criteria. In this way and in my opinion, they are the “Cadillac-of-the-Industry”.

Admittedly, I was quite skeptical upon their suggestion of the lovely young lady who is soon to become my wife. I am 45 years-old and my fiancée is only 22. I had never dreamed that a lady this young and beautiful could ever be the right choice for my bride-to-be. Her name is Olga and she comes from one of the most enchantingly interesting and romantically charming cities of the Ukraine, Chernovtsy. After about a year of exchanging letters and a number of ever-increasingly intimate telephone conversations, I ventured to meet her in-person for the first time. Never in my life had I experienced hospitality as genuinely sincere as that demonstrated and consistently offered by the Ukrainian people. Even the customs officials and airport state security inspectors were friendly and very considerate. The reception, with which I was greeted by my fiancée as well as by all those of her wonderful family, was exceedingly attentive and warm. Here I was a stranger from a foreign country, and yet, after welcoming me into the comfort of their very charming home, as though I were a family member of long but unfulfilled standing, I found them to be not only sincerely thrilled to have me there but behaving as though they couldn’t do enough for me. Needless to say, I came away from my trip-of-a-lifetime with a feeling about my fiancée as certain and truly content as any man could ever possibly hope to be. Later this year, pending the approval of her immigration visa, I will be returning to her native country for a traditional Ukrainian wedding ceremony before I finally bring her home to the United States.

With the deepest appreciation and gratitude to an agency whose expertise and genuine sense of commitment to every detail remains, by far, unparalleled in the industry, we wish to express our sincerest thanks.                                                                                    

                                                                                      Gene and Olga C., Crystal Lake, IL.

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