Since we are all living longer lives and with different goals and expectations than our parents, we tend to push back the moment we are ready to commit seriously and build a family. So when college loves are over and all the good men you know are taken, a neutral match-maker like the Internet might be a great avenue to finding your Mr. Right. -Karon Warren

Like many other couples today, you and your fiancé met one another online. While you may have felt a bit uncertain about using online dating services to meet someone special, you definitely don’t have any regrets about doing so. And you’re not alone.With the plethora of dating sites available today—eHarmony, Match.com, Chemistry.com, the list goes on and on—more of today’s singles are finding true love via the Internet.

So is Internet love the best way today to find your soul mate? In a world with billions of people looking for love, is it finally the ultimate solution to finding the unique being that will complete you? Can cyber love survive the harsh test of real love?

Online dating success stories
Laurie Maddalena of Rockville, Md., harbored a lot of reservations about using an online dating service.

“I didn’t think I could meet a ‘normal’ person online,” she said.“I had some stereotypes in my head about the kind of guys who go online.”

Even after her best friend met her husband online, Laurie still waited a year and a half before finally signing up. She chalked it up to being focused on her career. After taking the plunge with eHarmony, Laurie still remained selective when it came to interacting with other members.

“I didn’t go on dates just to go on dates,” she says.“I only met someone in person if there was a comfort level online and if they piqued my interest.”

In March 2007, someone did: Rino. For their first date, the couple went to Jaleo restaurant in Bethesda,Md.This was followed up by more dates,which Laurie saw as a great sign. It wasn’t long before she realized that he was “the one.”

“A few months into our relationship, I realized Rino was someone I wanted to spend my life with,” Laurie said. “He is this most caring, compassionate person.”

Barely a year after they first met, Laurie and Rino married on Aug. 16, 2008. Obviously, Laurie is happy with her online dating experience.

“It’s very entertaining, just seeing who you will be matched with next,” she said. “It’s great for people who are very busy since not a lot of work is involved.You are in control; you don’t have to go out with anyone you don’t want to. Another pro is that I met my wonderful husband!”

Saying good-bye to the bar scene
Christine Weiss of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., also was leery of taking the online dating route, even after her own mother met her husband on Match.com. “I resisted at first because I thought only losers or old people did online dating, and I never had a problem meeting people,” she said.

However, after her mother logged on and did a search for matches in Christine’s age group and area of residence,Christine was pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

“I was over the whole bar scene and did not want to meet anyone else that way, so online seemed like a good idea once I saw what it was all about,” she said.

That “good idea” came to fruition in November 2002 when Christine met Mike. After corresponding via email and talking on the phone for a couple of weeks, they met at Yard House at Irvine Spectrum for their first date.

“We hit it off immediately,” Christine said.“We had ‘the talk’ 10 days after our first date to remove our profiles from Match and become exclusive. We’ve been inseparable ever since.”

Christine said she thinks the online dating process actually helped her get to know Mike better in less time than traditional dating.

“While exchanging emails and phone calls, you just get to higher ground faster than if you just meet someone in a bar, and you’re trying to yell over music and learn about someone,” she said.

It certainly worked for Christine and Mike, who wed on September 4, 2004.

However, not everyone signs up and immediately meets their true love. For Kimberly McCarl of Denver, it took more than three years with Match.com.

“I had some experiences that prove all the critics right,” she said. “I met short people, tall people, rich people, poor people, nice people, crazy people. I had some good stories to tell.”

Kimberley advises those who are having problem with the online dating scene to not give up.

“[Online dating] can be tough on a girl’s ego,” she said. “You have to expect that there will be times you can connect with someone but they don’t connect back. You have to learn to have realistic expectations without getting bitter.”

Thankfully, Kimberly heeded her own advice, which led to a meeting with Todd on June 11, 2005. They latter married on May 25, 2008.

Online dating just a trend?

According to a July 2008 Harris Interactive/eHarmony study, an average of 236 eHarmony members marry every day. This represents a 162-percent increase in marriages of eHarmony members since 2005.

The numbers get stronger, too. In February2008, Survey Sampling International LLC and GGP National Survey Network surveyed more than 2,700 respondents and found that nearly 400 had used an online dating service or personal ad. Of those, 48 percent married, became engaged to or entered a committed relationship with someone they met online.

And, if a report published by Jupiter Research in January 2008 is accurate, expect more singles to enlist the aid of online dating services. According to the “U.S. Paid Content Forecast, 2007 to 2012,” online dating sites are projected to increase 16 percent over the next five years, from $900 million of revenue in 2007 to $1.9 billion in 2012.

As such, the stigma of meeting “the one” online has slowly dwindled away. Lisa Jordan Spires of Atlanta experienced this aspect firsthand. She first met her husband Will in January 1999 in a Yahoo! chat room, and they later wed on October 6, 2006. It took some time before they readily admitted to others that they met online.

“For a few years after I met Will we were kind of evasive when people asked how we’d met, saying we met in school or on vacation or things like that,” Lisa said. “Or we’d feel people out to gauge whether they’d be cool with the whole thing and then we’d tell them the truth. Now I think it’s more common, and I don’t really care what other people think, so I just tell them how we really met.”

What do you think of online dating? Did you meet your significant other online?

-Karon Warren