[griffinmill]

(08-05-2016 06:59 AM)XPQ22 Wrote:  

I've asked a number of couples I'm acquainted with how they met, and it's all the same reply: "through our friends/on Tinder/OKCupid."

I've mentioned this before. I've been a wedding photographer for the past five years as my main source of income and so I have some knowledge of how a lot of couples (at least in the UK) are meeting.

Most are meeting when they're young (between 24-30) in bars and clubs or through social circle. One of the common things I hear is a guy having met a girl in a club and then finding her on social media, and building up a relationship with her on there before getting her out on an actual date. I've heard stories of how he's been flummoxed why she responds to some messages and not others, but he kept chipping away. Sometimes it's been social/family circle, or they lived next door to each other at university.

How many times have I heard they met on a dating app? Zero times. In five years. I know the stats suggest that a lot of couples are meeting online these days, so either the stats or lying, or my clients are. Here's a major caveat though: The majority of the couples I'm meeting have been together for so long, and met 5-10 years ago, before internet dating exploded, and I'm in a small province of the UK which may be more traditional.

I remember one couple (both about a 9) who had been set-up on a date. At the end of it he got a handshake and a nice to meet you, says he was nervous as all hell and terrified to go in for a kiss. They ended up marrying though. The narrative I hear is that no matter how handsome the guy is, the girl always put up some resistance ("After meeting her that night she backed off and I had no idea why!"). It was by no means plain sailing - the difference is these girls, unlike online, were worth chasing.