I paid over $3,000 for a matchmaker. I met my husband on my second date.

Ryan walked into the restaurant, and I looked at him and said, “Oh, gosh, wait. Do I know you?” And he said, “Oh, yeah. We went to the University of Michigan together.”

We crossed paths briefly for one semester because he was doing a dual degree program, where he was getting two degrees, one in engineering and one in science. It was my last semester, and we talked a couple of times at a student organization meeting.

It turns out we grew up 10 minutes away from each other, and I hadn’t seen him. It took matchmaking to sync up.

The date was a hit

We were on our first date for four hours, and he had such a nice personality. It seemed like we had a lot of things in common, and I enjoyed myself.

I felt safe, and I could share myself completely. It seemed he wasn’t judging me at all, but he was genuinely interested in me. I think that’s why I continued to go out with him just to see how I could feel being around him, and I found myself enjoying his presence.

He called me after, saying that he knew I was doing this matchmaking process and would continue to ask me out until I said no.

After the first date, Lillian did a debrief call. Once I told her I liked him and would explore going on more dates with him, she paused on introducing another person because they didn’t want to create confusion. But I was in communication with her.

It was Ryan’s birthday on our fourth or fifth date a month into seeing each other. Honestly, it almost felt like my birthday because we planned this full weekend with a hotel room and massages, and he covered it. We went out for drinks and games with friends, and he just treated me with such kindness, care, and attention.

I called my friend that day and told her, “Well, he got me. I fell for him now.”

We got married just over a year later

We moved in together in May 2023 and got engaged in October. We only dated for about 11 months before getting engaged.

Once we got engaged, we looked at wedding venues and realized, “Why wait a whole year to get married?” So we got married on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day.

Our matchmaker was at our wedding, and she gave a beautiful speech at our rehearsal luncheon about how she matched us. She said she talked to Ryan, interviewed him, and had a very light, fun, warm feeling about him like she did when she spoke to me.

Since I only used two out of the six Tawkify matches, I had a remaining balance of $2,266.67 that I gifted to my friend at my wedding in front of everybody. She’d been wanting to try it.

Matchmaking allows you to relax during the process. Sometimes, when you’re stressed and so involved, it creates this tension. But when you can just let someone take care of it and trust that they have better judgment than you do about picking your partner, I think it makes it feel much better.