While thousands of singles sign up for a professional matchmaking service every month, it’s still a relatively small percentage of the population. What this means is that the information about using a matchmaker often comes from unreliable sources like movies, TV, or people who ‘heard something from a friend’.
This results in a lot of misconceptions and incorrect information about how matchmaking services work. Today, we want to dispel the disinformation and help clear up some confusion. We’re going to cover the six most common myths that you might hear about hiring a matchmaking service.
1. These services are only for people who are desperate or weird.
When matchmaking apps came about in the late 1990s, there was a stigma that these websites were only for people who were desperate, strange, or hopeless. This stigma quickly spread to the realm of professional matchmaking as well.
However, it simply wasn’t and isn’t true. Are there people who fit these criteria that use matchmaking services? Sure. However, there are plenty of “normal” and exciting people who just like to have the extra help to find someone special.
Fast-forward over 20 years later and you only hear this myth in small, highly-outdated circles. This is one of the only threads we could find about it within the last 5-10 years, which means it’s incredibly rare.
Spoiler: The responses all say that it’s unusual in the sense that a lot of people don’t do it, but it’s not weird and does not make the person weird for wanting to use one.
Matchmaking services continue to be enjoyed by people from all walks of life, and it’s not a service only for the hopeless or weird. Additionally, the stigma of this has faded dramatically over the last 20 years and it’s now something you’ll hear friends and family confidently recommend to each other.
2. You have to be rich to hire a matchmaking service.
There is no denying that matchmaking services are expensive. And yes, this does mean that some people may be priced out of hiring a one-on-one professional service. However, this does not mean that you have to be rich to hire a matchmaking service.
Most matchmaking services start around $3,000, which, yes, is a lot of money and is a major purchase for most people. That said, people who aren’t rich make purchases of this size all the time. You may have to save up for it. You may take longer to sign on the dotted line. And you may be a bit more nervous with the purchase than someone who is wealthy.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t hire a professional matchmaker and enjoy the benefits of the highly-specialized help.
To be clear, there are no salary requirements to work with most professional matchmaking services. You will find a few very boutique services that may verify income, but these are few and far between and also aren’t on the list of the matchmaking companies we recommend.
3. You’re guaranteed to find the one.
Some people believe that professional matchmaking services are miracle workers. They believe that because you’re paying so much and getting such an intimate level of service that you are guaranteed to find the one.
This is not true. And even more importantly, if a matchmaker is guaranteeing this to you, that’s a major red flag.
Matchmakers can guarantee they’ll work hard for you, try their best, and deliver a guaranteed number of dates. However, they have no control over the emotional connections that you may or may not form with the people you go out with.
4. Matchmaking should be your last resort to finding love.
In myth number one, we talked about the stigma that used to be prevalent about matchmaking services only being for the desperate. Along with that came the myth that people only turn to matchmakers when they’ve tried everything else and exhausted all of their options.
Yes, some people may wait until they’ve tried everything before hiring a matchmaking service. However, you don’t have to do that.
Here’s an analogy. Let’s say you want to get in shape and lose some weight. Do you have to exhaust all of your other options before you consider hiring a personal trainer? Or course not.
If you want faster results and you want to give yourself one of the strongest chances possible to find love, you can do so with a professional matchmaker at any time. You do not have to wait until you’ve tried everything else.
5. Professional matchmakers are only for older people and seniors.
Yes, the average age of a matchmaking client is always going to skew older due to the price point. More people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s have the financial flexibility to spend a few thousand dollars on finding love.
However, we’ve talked with plenty of matchmakers who share that they do get a considerable number of younger clients interested in utilizing their services. We’d attribute this heavily to the dispelling of many of the rumors and myths we’re covering today.
You do not have to be older to hire a professional matchmaker. Even if they don’t have an ideal match for you in their established pool of single candidates, most matchmakers have ways of “hitting the streets” to find ideal matches of all ages.
6. The matchmaking process is no fun.
The last myth about hiring a matchmaking service we want to dispel is that the process is no fun at all. Yes, anytime you’re dealing with ‘matters of the heart’ it can be emotional, which may mean it puts you out of your comfort zone. However, the idea is that you’re supposed to enjoy the process.
A great matchmaker knows how to calm your nerves, address your concerns, and give you strategies to make the process of finding love fun. You do not have to hate your time working together just because there are a few anecdotal stories out there of people who didn’t enjoy the process.