In an ideal world, while you fight to extricate your Gucci slingback from a sewage grate, your future spouse would prevent you from being struck by a UPS truck.
In an ideal world, while you fight to extricate your Gucci slingback from a sewage grate, your future spouse would prevent you from being struck by a UPS truck. He was a surgeon who had just returned from a tour with Doctors Without Borders. As you fell into each other's arms, he would look into your eyes and fall madly in love. Sorry, girls, but you're not Jennifer Lopez, and Matthew McConaughey is wed. In the real world, it's as uncommon to meet a partner as it is to discover Gucci handbags on cheap. Instead, a Stanford University study found that the most popular way couples really meet is through dating apps, which are used by so many people to interact.
While this gives us hope, we are aware that using the dating websites on the World Wide Web may be challenging and frustrating, to say the least. Because of this, we contacted 12 real women from all over the nation who had been successful at it and asked them for their top online dating advice. Below is their wisdom.
"Await the person who goes out of their way for you. For instance, Joey made sure to choose a location and time for our first date that were convenient for me and close to my apartment. He resided all the way down in Hell's Kitchen while I was living on the Upper East Side at the time (which is New York for far). It made me feel like he cared about me and my life, which is so different from the typical "Hey, let's meet up" mentality that you typically see on dating apps. As a result, we have been married for four and a half years and have a 19-month-old kid. Amy D., 35, from the Bronx, New York
"I'm divorced—after getting married quite young—so using dating apps for the first time in my late 20s was moderately scary. But after my first marriage, I realized that I didn't want to waste my time on people who didn't get in touch with me frequently enough. Going on dates is fantastic, and you should do it if the person you're texting seems interesting to you. However, if they don't respond to your messages promptly, move on. Anyone who is truly interested in getting to know you will be upfront about it. Carra T., 29, from Los Angeles
"I would advise my single pals to be open-minded and avoid choosing a specific "type." I was swiping right on all the extremely manly, bodybuilder types when I met my future husband because, at the time, I was into them physically. You may believe that only blonde men with Thorn-like hair or people under the height of 5' 6 are attractive to you "is not a possibility. I was completely drawn in by my husband's smile in his profile picture, though, so I decided to give him a chance. I'm so glad I did! Just last November, we tied the knot. 40-year-old Megan K. from Lexington, Kentucky
"When I started online dating, I went on a ton of Hinge dates—maybe two first dates a week—that never resulted in anything meaningful. I eventually followed the advice of my best male friend, who said that I needed to pay to use a dating site like the now-defunct How About We if I wanted to meet a person who was serious about a long-term relationship. (However, today's paid dating services like Match, eHarmony, JDate, etc.) I was matched with a tall, 6' 4. My soul mate, obviously, was the man who wanted to take me out for mac & cheese and wine. Since that time, five and a half years have passed, and I've never checked in again. Our marriage is four months old. Meredith G., age 31; city of New York
"You need to turn off notifications on your dating apps so that you don't have any interruptions when you're with someone in order to give a first date—or any date, really—a chance to blossom and grow into something real and important. Being on a date with one person while receiving a new message from another is impossible. Miranda B., 37, of Dallas
Instead, rather than merely focusing on someone because their photo would look fantastic on the cover of GQ, it's critical to strive to understand who they are. The images of my future husband were pretty ordinary and not exaggerated like many others. He had common photographs of himself and his dogs (apparently an indication of reliability) instead of modeling headshots, as well as a straightforward selfie in the kitchen. His biography was typical; he doesn't go on weekend adventure hikes or exercise excessively. He consumes pizza and whiskey. That sold me. 31-year-old Lauren N. from Long Beach, California
"Four years of dating, three years of marriage, and a baby on the way later, I can say that I'm happy I gambled on online dating and a partner who was completely different from me. I went into it with the mindset of being open to and accepting of those differences, which weren't insignificant given that Mike comes from a large Italian family in New Jersey and my family and I are from Rizal, a province in the Philippines just outside of Manila. But being accepting of our differences and educating one another about our unique traditions and customs brought us closer than I had thought. 36-year-old Dia M., Somerset, New Jersey
"You ought to be able to respond to the inquiry, "What are you looking for? When my now-husband asked me that on Bumble after we had already been talking for a little while, I would never be the one to ask it and actually always thought it was a stupid question, but he seemed like a really honest and straightforward guy (he is!), so I did tell him the truth that I was looking for someone serious about the future. It turned out to be precisely the response he was seeking! So, if that's what you want, don't be scared to be sincere and pick out the guys who aren't genuine. After nine months, we became engaged. Nine months later, we were wed, and now have been wed for just over a year. 29-year-old Alex P. from Manchester, New Hampshire
Related article: 10 Qualities Older Women Want in a Man
"My faith is really important to me, and I wasn't sure how I was going to screen out individuals who didn't share that basic value, so I was a little hesitant to attempt app-based dating and didn't get on the bandwagon until later in the game. Franz and I agreed to go out for tacos after only talking on the app for a few hours since we were both quite upfront about how important our faith is to us. We met after two weeks of using Bumble. I would advise other online daters to be transparent and honest about their huge deal breakers and to never compromise their main principles and ideals for anyone. After that, Franz and I started dating and have recently got married! Tuna and Wasabi, our cats, and I now share a home. Alex V., 28 years old, Sacramento, California
"Moving things from my phone into real life as soon as possible led to my biggest achievements with actual dates that I met on apps. Send each other a few messages to gauge interest and comfort, but after that, devise a strategy for meeting up right away. A few occasions, after exchanging messages or texts for weeks with someone I had never met, it felt as though we had already gone through all the icebreaker activities online, and the meeting always ended in disappointment. My fiancé immediately caught my attention since, after exchanging a few texts, he proposed to me with a set place and time. He had clear aims, and his decisiveness was pleasant. On applications, people can be quite flat. The greatest approach to ensure success is to give someone the benefit of viewing the whole picture in person. —Megan G., 27 years old, of New York
There are some topics recommended here: 10 Topics to Talk About on a First Date
Sincerely, I believe that the most important thing is to keep trying while also being open to taking vacations from online dating when necessary. I had to take a break every now and then for about a week because I felt like I had searched everywhere for my spouse and it was exhausting. I became jaded from the repetition of all those awkward, awkward, and occasionally just awful first dates. I ended a lot of horrible dates! We've been married for a year, but I didn't end the date I went on with my future spouse because I gave myself time to recover from the negative in order to appreciate the positive. Jess A., 43, from Baltimore
"I would say that the online dating pool is more like an ocean than a pool to anyone who is wading, swimming, or drowning in it. Everyone is actually doing it, thus we ought to all be talking about it. Consult with your pals! Share your fears, concerns, pleasures, lows, and highs, especially when it seems like a gigantic dead end because it might be difficult to continue when it becomes depressing. It is good for your mental and emotional wellness to talk about it. Perhaps a friend or family member is experiencing the same thing or has a horrific date story that will make you giggle. The notion is that since internet dating is no longer a fresh idea, there shouldn't be any stigma attached to it. 32-year-old Kailah B. from Albany, New York
Related article: 10 Tested Ways for Search Love Online
