Want to make 2014 the year you get married? Or the year you make some extra cash? Or the year you finally put your stellar matchmaking skills to good use? MarriageMaterial.co aims to help you achieve all three.
Marriage Material, which launched Jan. 1, provides cash rewards to amateur matchmakers for pairing their friends with the site’s singles. If you see someone for whom you think your brother/sister/pal would be a match, you can suggest they go on a date. In return, the single member sets an amount they’re willing to pay the matchmaker for hitting relationship benchmarks (such as first date, engagement and marriage). The minimum is $10; the maximum is limitless. If the dates don’t work out — or the single doesn’t want to go out with whom the matchmaker suggests — they pay nothing.
“If at heart you’re a romantic, this is a cool thing to do,” explains founder Dana Michel, “and getting compensated for it is the icing on the cake.”
Anyone signing up as a single has to pay a $99 yearly fee, which Michel says is to ensure members are serious. (If you’re interested in matchmaking, you don’t pay.)
Harlem resident Lisa Pegues says she became an amateur matchmaker for the site because, “I think there’s a bit of matchmaker in all of us. We’ve all done it, whether it’s hooking up a family member or setting up friends on a date.”
The married 42-year-old adds the site is good for those who want a serious relationship. “When [people] start on sites like Match.com [they’re] excited because you’re going to meet a lot of people. But then you realize a lot of people just want to hang out.”
Astoria resident Jason Kirton agrees. “I really want to go on dates with people who have the same mindset as me,” says the 28-year-old digital strategist, who signed up as a single on the site.
Kirton has already had some luck in his matchmaking, too (you can sign up as a single and also match up singles). “[One of my friends] is a nanny and she doesn’t get out to too many things, and I found a guy . . . and they’re going on a date,” he boasts. (Matchmakers are not required to present friends as potential dates on the site, however.)
Pegues and Kirton agree the money is a nice bonus, but Pegues — who has attempted to set up three of her friends with a client on the site — says her main motivation is truly to help her friends who are looking for love. “[My husband and I] have card parties where people can meet each other and talk,” she says. “This seemed like a cool next step since we were already enjoying that.”
Michel notes amateur matchmakers have an advantage over professionals. “If you’re a professional matchmaker, you have a finite pool of people. This way, the world is at your fingertips . . . the benefit is that everyone can participate. If you’re a romantic and know great people then you can come in and try it!”
And who knows? You might even be able to finance your own lovely white wedding with some extra green.