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Traditional matchmaking — hiring someone one-on-one to match you with a suitable partner — is making a comeback.
Canadian TV personality Erica Ehm found her wonderful husband this way. And even Dr. Phil recently tried his hand at matchmaking for American Idol’s Paula Abdul on a special primetime show but found it isn’t as easy as it looks.
Abdul is rumoured to have, in the past, used the services of a professional matchmaker.
It all sounds so old-fashioned and out-of-date when there are so many avenues for singles to meet and connect nowadays.
From newspaper personals, speeddating, lock and key parties, social events, sports groups, dating phone lines, cellphone texting and dating agencies to the most popular, online dating websites used by millions, there’s a wide choice.
Yet, despite all the choices, many singles find not only are they too busy to search out a mate, but also find the dating world frustrating and fruitless.
Gloria Macdonald, one of Toronto’s top professional matchmakers, owns Perfect Partners (perfectpartners.ca) and says when her clients arrive, they’ve “just about tried everything” to meet someone including online dating.
“They’re people who have found dating generally unreliable and stressful with online dating overwhelming, time-consuming and full of misrepresentation. They say it’s hard to know anyone from a profile or even a photo, and they also want more privacy with their search.”
Macdonald’s success rate is high and she says it’s a combination of “instinct, art, personality profiling and science.”
Lisa Ronis is one of New York’s hottest matchmakers and star of an upcoming W Network dating series, Manhattan Matchmaker.
Her clients are busy, professional men and women, 30 plus, who want to be married.
“It used to have a bit of a stigma to hire a matchmaker,” she says, “but now it’s not only acceptable but a great way for ultra-busy people to find someone. I do all the work for them.”
Ronis says many are “picky,” especially the women. They all want someone with money, power, smarts and high energy, she says.
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