Wedding season is upon us, and that means it's the perfect time to put yourself out there if you're looking for a relationship (or even just a fun night, post-reception!). If you think about it, weddings are basically the perfect place to meet people, which is why hooking up at weddings is so common.
I spoke to professional matchmakers to find out what makes weddings so conducive to dating and hooking up, and the reasons make so much sense. I mean, for one thing, everyone is dressed to the nines. And for another, everyone in the room is feeling happy and celebratory, and they've all got love on the brain. On top of that, most weddings mean spending an evening in a room full of people you've never met before, who your friends clearly know and love. (Why else would they be there?) It seems only logical that weddings would produce a love connection or two, or at the very least, lead to a sexual connection for a night.
Here are some of the main reasons matchmakers agree that weddings are a great place to meet new romantic partners, whether you're looking for a hookup or hoping for a new relationship.
Going to a wedding often means dressing up and looking camera-ready the whole time — not to mention, you're there to celebrate and have fun. You look your best, you feel your best, and you're perfectly primed for meeting someone new. I mean, when you feel your most confident, aren't you more likely to start a conversation with a cute new person?
"Everyone usually primps and looks amazing at weddings," matchmaker and dating coach Karenna Alexander tells Elite Daily. "They look their best and are in a fantastic mood — and that is often a recipe for connecting."
You go to weddings to celebrate love, so what better place to look for it?
"Weddings really do make even the non-believers into romantics," Lori Salkin, senior matchmaker and dating coach at SawYouAtSinai.com, tells Elite Daily. "Between everyone feeling a little wistful and sappy and everyone being dressed up, people are both in the mood to meet someone and have their best game on for someone to meet them."
Basically, weddings are already such a romantic setting, so of course you're going to be more open to a romantic connection while you're there — whether that's a hookup or finding a potential long-term partner.
Some weddings you go to might not be full of new people for you to meet. This might be the case if two of your friends from high school or college get married, for example. If you grew up with or went to school with both of them, you probably already know most of their friends. But in most cases, going to a wedding means meeting at least a handful of new people you've never really interacted with before.
"Unless the bride and groom are high school sweethearts, usually weddings come with two entirely different sets of friend groups — which means new [people] that are not part of your friend group or your extended friends group, and are potential prospective dates that you have never met before," Salkin explains.
And most weddings (huge celebrations can be an exception) are a gathering of the bride and groom's closest friends — which means that, not only are you meeting new people, but you're meeting new people that your close friends already like and trust. The only thing better than meeting and vibing with someone cute? Meeting someone cute who's already vouched for by your friends.
Weddings are great because, no matter who you talk to, you all have at least one thing in common: knowing the bride and groom.
"A wedding is a situation where the guests will often all have a lot in common with the couple, so in that setting there will likely be many compatible singles," Alexander says.
If nothing else, you can start a conversation with someone you're interested in by asking them how they know the happy couple, and you'll probably discover more talking points as you go. After all, if you share mutual friends, you must have some shared interests as well, right?
If you're heading to a wedding soon and hoping to meet someone while you're there, all that's left to do, as Alexander says, is to "dress hot and be happy!"
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