Since moving to New York 5+ years ago, dating hasn’t been a huge priority for me. Being in a long term relationship in my 20s consumed me and I found that I had lost myself in the process. I was so wrapped up in my end goal of getting married and having babies, that I didn’t even see a life outside of that scenario. So when I decided to move to NYC, I wanted to focus more on myself and what made me happy outside of being in a relationship.

Being SINGLE has actually been freeing for me. It’s made me more aware of myself and realize what I really am looking for in a partner rather than what I once was willing to settle for. But as much as I enjoy being Single, I do ultimately want to find someone to share my life with. The hard part is meeting good quality guys. Dating nowadays is so much different than it was say 10 years ago. I mean, where do you meet guys without having to swipe right or spend your weekends at the bars?!

Which leads me to my recent adventure of, SPEED DATING.

A friend of mine had brought up the idea of going speed dating in casual conversation and I’m pretty sure my intial response was something like “sure”. But after she approached me again about it I figured, what the hell? After all, I’m not meeting any men at my local Trader Joes.

Ater a week of back and forth, we decided on a date and time to try a local speed dating event in the city hosted by NY MINUTE DATING. This particular event was geared toward 30s and 40s professionals and would take place on a Friday night from 7-9pm.

HOW IT WORKS:

Cost: $35 paid online prior to event

Location: Local Hotel Bar in the city (varies depending on event type)

Duration: 2 hours total including a 10 minute break. Each date is timed for 5 minutes.

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by two women from NY MINUTE DATING hosting the event. We were then asked to write our names onto name tags and given a ‘MATCH CARD’ to fill out with the names of each date and circle the names of the guys we were interested in being matched with.

Seating was arranged where ladies were given the chance to choose a table of their liking and remain seated during the entire event. The guys are instructed to switch to the table to their RIGHT every 5 minutes after each date.

Since it was located at a bar, alcohol was available for purchase. Although in my opinion, it would have been nice if they had included 1-2 drinks within the price of the event.

Since my friend and I arrived a few minutes early to the event, we grabbed a drink at the bar and then decided to sit next to each other at two of the high top tables. As more women started to arrive, we noticed that majority of them also brought a friend.

After waiting a few minutes, the men started arriving. And shortly after, the hosts made an announcement to begin the speed dating.

Surprisingly I didn’t feel that nervous, and as each guy moved over to my table next, I felt more and more comfortable. There ended up being 13 dates total. Each one lasting 5 minutes, giving time for only basic questions like; “Where do you live?”, “What do you do for work?”, “What do you like to do for fun?” etc.

As we approached the 1/2 way mark, a guy who immediately caught my attention sat down and started talking, only to be interrupted by the hosts calling out a 10 minute break. As most of the other guys opted to get up and take a bathroom break or grab another drink at the bar, he chose to continue to sit with me. As we sat there and talked for a few minutes, he then all of a sudden got up and said he would be right back. Leaving his empty beer bottle on the table, I thought maybe he needed to grab another one from the bar. But after 2 or 3 minutes, the host came over to me and said “I’m sorry, your date had an emergency.” I immediately thought to myself, “WOW, he actually used that excuse?!” So there I sat, alone for the next few minutes sipping my vodka and texting my friends what happened to have a laugh.

By the end of the last date, I was happy that I had put myself out there. And even though I didn’t feel enough of a connection with any of the guys for a second date, I would still do it again. I mean, where else can you go on 13 dates in one night? Typically that would take a few weeks to accomplish. So not only did I save myself from wasting several nights out, but I also only had to get dressed and put makeup on once. WIN WIN, right?!

So if you’re looking to get back into the dating scene, I highly recommend speed dating. You never know, you may just meet your match.

Have you ever been speed dating before?! If yes, what was your experience like?