You’re reading a Wedding Blog, so chances are you are engaged…or at least thinking about it, so come on…spill the beans! I want to hear about how you met the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with, through good times and bad, for richer and poorer and in sickness and in health till death do you part…
Because, though Michael Bublé is prancing around supermarkets exclaiming he “just hasn’t met you yet”; word on the street is that more and more people are meeting through “alternative” means. So, by way of a “Social Experiment” I tried out speed dating myself last night!
A girl I used to work with suggested it a couple of weeks ago, and full of gusto and a New Years Resolution to “try new things to challenge myself” I said yes straight away! As the day loomed large though, this week I was having second thoughts…what kind of people go speeddating I thought to myself….losers? saddos? desperados? Who knows?!! I was worried. So much so, that I nearly bloused out on the 2 girls at the last minute. After a quick call to one of the girls, who proclaimed if all else failed we could laugh about it and have a few cocktails, I resolved myself to go for it.
We met guys who worked in Animal Shelters, Welders, Fishermen, a guy who works for Customs, farmers, writers, landscape gardeners, and a green-keeper! It was the most random selection of occupations you have ever seen! While the girls who were there seemed to be with friends, having a drink or two and a bit of craic; the male speed-daters were taking this very seriously!! A good few of them had traveled for the event, we had guys from West Cork, Waterford, Limerick and even South Tipp! Many of them knew the drill, being regulars at these events.
We all sat around the bar, with our names and a number on a badge. You were given a card with space on it to fill in the guys name & ID number. The girls stayed seated and the guys moved from one to another after the not-very-lengthy 3 minutes! How much can you tell about a person after 3 minutes?? To be honest, probably enough to know if you wanted to have another 3 minutes with them…so it was very effective in helping you put a tick in the columns: Yes/No/Friend. But filling out a little card on a person you had just met felt bizarre to me! We all did compare notes at the end of the night though and had a right laugh – we had all had the same 20 dates! At one of the breaks, my friend Siobhán said to me: “You have a nice one coming your way after this!”
Did I meet some nice people, yes. Did I get some floppy handshakes, yes. Did I have fun, yes. Did I meet anyone even semi-suitable…eh, no! 🙂
Nevertheless, a fun and harmless evening. It was well run by MysteryDates.ie and I would say to anyone thinking about going to a singles/dating event to give it a lash but keep your expectations low!!
So come on now, I’ve spilled my guts….let me know how you met your significant other – fill out our Poll!
