When longtime Hallmark stars Meghan Ory and Benjamin Ayres showed up on the set of their new movie, “A Christmas Angel Match,” they were tasked with portraying angels Monica and Michael, whose mission is to help soulmates on Earth meet and establish a meaningful connection during the holidays.
(Spoiler Alert: If you don’t want to know what happens in “A Christmas Angel Match,” please stop reading here.)
In the movie, which premiered on October 19, 2025, there’s a plot twist as Monica and Michael are working to get soulmates Daisy and Patrick to connect; the two angels start having unexpected feelings for each other. Given the angels’ innocence and sole/soul focus on helping “tenderhearts” — their word for humans — Ory and Ayres decided it would only make sense to act like kids experiencing their first crush. And a first kiss between angels, they realized, had the potential to be “pretty awkward,” Ayres told EntertainmentNow ahead of the movie’s premiere.
Benjamin Ayres Says He & Meghan Ory Had Fun Choreographing Their ‘Childlike’ Interactions & Kisses
Hallmark“Chesapeake Shores” alum Ory and her creative partner, director Christie Will Wolf, co-wrote the script for “A Christmas Angel Match.” Still, Ory and Ayres realized as they arrived on set in Vancouver that they needed to get on the same page about how their angelic characters might behave, especially as they experienced romantic feelings for the first time.
Ayres told EntertainmentNow, “I was like, ‘Wait, have they ever kissed? We were literally, on our first day of filming, talking through this. I was like, ‘So, these two have never felt love before in this condition, in this way, and they have never kissed!”
“So that meant we get to have these childlike discoveries,” Ayres continued. “These angels are old and wise, but also childlike. So we were going back to what it felt like to be kids having a crush or their first kiss, trying these different ways of making that believable.”
In one scene, the two angels get caught under the mistletoe, but are so adorably nervous about potentially kissing that they both pucker up without ever coming close to touching. By the time Monica and Michael feel ready to try again, Ayres said he and Ory felt the scene still needed to be “really innocent” and “magical.”
“We were kind of choreographing how to have it be awkward and sweet, but with feeling,” Ayres said. “We’re like, ‘How about this? How about that? Ok, wait, let’s try it again.’ I think it worked in the end. I hope people love it.”
Early Reviews Roll In For ‘A Christmas Angel Match’
Fans had strong feelings about “A Christmas Angel Match” right out of the gate, taking to social media with their reviews, including one who commented on Hallmark’s Facebook post about the movie, “Omgoodness Im watching its at the end and Meghan Ory you wrote a great movie. LOVE THIS AND and you did great. Love seeing my Chesapeake Shores People.”
Someone else commented, “I love whimsical Christmas movies like this one. I enjoyed this one a LOT!”
Another fan sweetly shared, “I liked that they addressed the issue of screen time replacing human interaction. The comment that hit me the most was that there is still life or love even in the 70s, as I will hit the big 70 in a few months. I realize I haven’t been very forward-thinking.”
One viewer complained that the time Monica and Michael had been angels created too much of an age gap — “Too big of an age difference to match. Come on a 586 year old and a 97 year old?” — but Hallmark Channel’s social team adorably replied, “It’s only about a 5 year difference in angel years. 😉”
Other viewers were surprised by how different the movie felt from a typical Hallmark romance, even branding it “too silly.” But different was exactly what Ayres told EntertainmentNow they were going for — leaning into the comedy with tongue-in-cheek scenes, amusing puns, whimsical sets and props, and “exploring different ways” to experience and cultivate love.
“A Christmas Angel Match” is available to stream on Hallmark+ and will re-air on Hallmark Channel several times, including on October 21 and October 25 at 10 a.m. Eastern time on both days.
Very cute movie. Wish you would not have brought the gays in on the picture. You always seem to work them in some way, somehow???
I do agree. Hallmark seems to try to hard and to much to incorporate that. Sad they feel the need in almost every movie.😫