If you’re thinking about trying speed dating for this first time why not make this week the one where you take the plunge? We’re running four events and all of them have seen really high booking levels over the past few days. This means only one thing, plenty of dates for you!
Dating expert Carolyn McKline trawls through the oodles of speed dating tips available and compiles practical advice for real people considering speed dating for the first time.
Original Dating have been responsible for thousands dates as a result of people attending our dating events and parties. Many people that matched at our events have gone on to have relationships and dozens of couples people got married as a result of meeting at one of our events. Dating events are a very safe place to meet people for the first time. Even so, it's worth being cautious when meet people for the first time outside of our events.
Our research tells us that a Los Angeles Rabbi called Yaacov Deyo invented speed dating in the late nineties as a way for young Jewish singles to meet and find a partner.
We're in a fortunate position, we're able to run high quality dating events that really work for people. We get a lot of emails from happy clients and another example arrived this week.
For many singles seeking to meet new people for romantic liaisons in 2014 the internet, it’s established, is the obvious place to start. Online dating sites are the newspaper personal columns of our time. Vast directories of willing singles, all in one convenient place. But here, the listings are searchable and filterable by every possible metric imaginable. For the right-thinking single this is the obvious hunting ground, surely.
On Saturday June 7, 2014 we're having a HUGE boat party and it's called Rock The Boat. 250 people will join us aboard the good ship Golden Jubilee for this three hour afternoon party cruise on the River Thames and we'd absolutely love you to be there too.
We hear a lot of success stories from people that met at our speed dating events and parties across London. Here's another example of one that popped into our inbox last week. There's really nothing nicer than knowing our events bring so many people together.
We’ve been running singles events a long time now and we ran our first lock and key party 10 years ago in 2004. Since then we’ve run well in excess of 2000 events but still to this day we feel a surge of excitement when party day comes round. Our most recent party was called the Spring Fling and it took place on Saturday April 12, 2014, this time at the newly refurbished, beautifully boutique Malmaison Hotel on Charterhouse Square in Clerkenwell.
The Spring Fling - Saturday April 12, 2014 Spring seems to have finally sprung and it's such a great time to meet someone new, just in time for what we hope to be another long hot summer. This weekend the clocks have finally changed and for the first time in 2014 there’s a chance you’ll be able to enjoy an after work drink with the sun on your face. Ah, bliss!
Yesterday we published an email we recieved from a couple that met at one of our speed dating events at Dion in The City. They'd just decided to get married and kindly wanted to let us know they'd met through our event.
Since we started Original Dating ten years ago we've heard hundreds of sucess stories from couples that have met at our events and but we never ever tire of hearing new ones.
Looking for some festive outdoor fun in London? Check out John's pick of date destinations in London this winter.
Back in 2010, a documentary – Catfish* - was released that followed the exploits of Nev Schulman. Nev had established a serious relationship online but suspicions grew as to the veracity of his paramour’s true identity. Nev undertakes to meet her in person. In reality she is, of course, somewhat different from her online persona.
It’s been a while since my last article but here I am back at the keyboard and I’ve got to admit, it’s a relief.
It sounds like a treatment for a reality TV show. Take 40 strangers. Put them in a room. Add a drop of alcohol. Force them to chat to each other for four minutes each. Light the blue touch paper and stand well back. Perhaps not even a reality show, perhaps simply a disaster movie. And yet this is what we do 6 nights a week, 51 weeks of the year. And we've yet to scrape blood off the walls.
We saw this video and just had to share! Don't worry, we'll never do this to you at our speed dating events in London!
One of the most significant revelations I’ve had regarding speed dating in London occurred about a month ago. For me, speed dating is less about meeting the ‘one’ than it is about meeting a whole bunch of like minded singles, having a chat and enjoying a genuinely fun night. And it certainly beats going down to the Dog & Desperate with the same mates talking about the same things and waking up with the same hangover AGAIN.
It's an oft cited legend within the dating world that if you want to find a Saturday that will remain dry, find out when the next Original Dating Boat Party is.
The beauty of Speed Dating London lies in its no-nonsense approach. You take an equal number of single girls and guys, put them in a room and give them a few minutes to chat with every other member of the opposite sex.
Original speed dating events in London normally begin at 7.30pm. You will need to register with our hosts and to begin with they will issue you with a score sheet. This will help you to keep track of the singles that you would like to meet again and perhaps go on a date with. After a short period of mingling, your host for the evening who will run through detailed instructions and give you your starting position if you are a guy or table for the event if you are a girl.
A London speed dating event is split into two halves, each lasting around an hour, there will be an interval at half time of about 15 minutes for speed dating London. You will have between 4 and 5 minutes with each person, after which you need to tick a box on your score sheet - "yes, I would like to meet this person again" or "no. Thanks but no thanks". Or "friend" if you'd like to get to know them platonically. Make sure that you do this after each date to keep track. Afterwards there is an opportunity for everyone to meet and mingle informally - this is often where the real action begins, so make sure you don't disappear too quickly!
After the event you simply tick who you liked on the Original Dating website and the site works about your matches automatically. If the dates you have ticked as a "yes" have reciprocated you have a match. You will be able to view the first names and message them via our site online without revealing your email address until you are ready to. You'll be having proper first dates in no time.