One of London's leading Matchmakers Rachel MacLynn has recently called for better regulations in the professional offline search for love. The offline dating industry, personal matchmaking, is reportedly worth £170 million. This suggests that there is a lot of trust and a lot of hard earned cash placed in the hands of personal matchmakers which leads to the question what security do the consumers have?
Personally, I think the show of strength in spending power with disposable income is really on the up in the UK and with the offline dating industry contributing £4million to the economy in 2014, the figures seem to show the same. Additionally, I have to agree that Rachel is right, with 10 years in the industry under her belt, she makes a good point. There needs to be tighter bolts on those we elect to run our love lives doing the hard part for us. The search for a someone really is a booming business and although you may build a wonderful rapport with an individual looking to be your head-hunter for happy-ever-after, you have to ensure you are fully protected with your purchase for a personal matchmaker.
There are regulating bodies such as The Matchmaking Institute and The ABIA that ensure there is a particular code of conduct and guidelines in place to ensure professional matchmakers have a way of working which is in line with the industry as a whole. Also, contributing to making the industry in the UK a better place, ensuring all matchmakers signed up have the skills to provide proper services to their clients is The Matchmaker Academy run by award winning Matchmaker Caroline Brealey and the UK Dating Awards who in their second year of residency, founded by Charly Lester, are doing a fine job of ensuring the best of the best are noted for their contributions as experts in the industry as a whole and most importantly, in the services to their clients; the dating industry consumers.
Offline consumers can pay anything from a few hundred pounds to £50k for services to find a suitor. Surely these are the kinds of monetary figures that speak volumes about something needing to be firmly in place to ensure that both the hearts and the money of those opting in for said dating services are in the safest of hands. I believe that if there can be no guarantees that you will find your forever love the least you can expect is a great service fully in line with the standards of a great industry.
Finding a matchmaker who knows what they are doing, who is a people person & who truly has a passion for putting you in the best place to find your perfect partner is essential. The offline sector of the dating industry is growing so quickly; it's essential you make sure you're covered and your heart is in good hands.