Blogs

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers looks at what an American would be buying from Berkeley International, the London agency at 23 Berkeley Square with a New York office at 45 Rockefeller Plaza. The review rests on the pages read on the firm's website in November 2026, in its own words, with no ratings or outside accounts. He sets out who leads the firm, how its FAQ speaks to members who divide the year between the USA and Europe, and how it describes itself as a private members club with vetted applicants and an in-person interview. He explains its country specific, European and Global memberships and what it says about bespoke fees, credits its offline, hand-picked approach, and covers follow-up, coaching and timing as the firm states them. He then lists what to settle at a consultation and explains how his own firm counts a match: a Presentation is not a Match, and a meeting that does not happen does not count against the contract. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers reviews Midwest Matchmaking from the firm's own website, drawing on 251 of the 280 pages the site lists, read in November 2026. He sets its two services side by side, the Dating Service and Matchmaking, showing who each is open to, whether matches are guaranteed, and where recruiting and coaching come in. He quotes what the firm prints on fees, with the page and its date, and keeps the Dating Service offer apart from the wider range on its cost post. He credits its account of background checks and client screening, and notes that a 2019 process post describes profiles, photos and a phone call before a first date, so he claims none of that as ground between the two firms. He sets out Courtney Quinlan's history with the firm and its self-reported counts, then raises the question for anyone buying a guaranteed number of matches: what counts as one. At Master Matchmakers a Presentation is not a Match, and the search runs nationwide. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers reviews Select Date Society from the firm's own website, all 246 pages of it, read in November 2026. He quotes each statement the firm makes about its pricing with the page and date it appears on, notes what could not be found for individual levels, and walks through the four memberships, from Concierge to the Founders Club. He credits the Executive VIP level's stated limit of five clients and the founders' long careers: Amber Lee since 1998 and Sandra Myers since 1996. The piece also covers the firm's Richmond address and the markets it lists at home and abroad, how an introduction reaches a client, and what its homepage headline says about introductions. Steve then explains how Master Matchmakers works, where a Presentation is not a Match and a meeting that does not happen does not count against the contract. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers reviews Modern Mingle from one source: the firm's own website, read page by page in November 2026. He sets out who leads it, which parts of Texas its San Antonio and San Marcos offices speak for, and how its three steps run from a consultation through a local search to arranged introductions. He credits what it says about interviews, background checks and the limits of any guarantee, and he does not claim screening as ground between the two firms. He explains what the site says on cost and contract terms, lists the questions to take to its consultation, and shows where his own firm parts ways: a Presentation is not a Match, photos and a phone call come before anyone meets, and the search can reach past San Antonio and San Marcos. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers treats a Washington, DC fee as a question about the map. He sets out what each firm publishes about its own figure and what it says sets that figure: a membership at Kelleher International, a retained search at Selective Search. He then shows how a brief narrows or opens across the DMV, using the Potomac, the Capital Beltway, the Legion Bridge and the places people work on either side of the river, and explains the other things that shape a quote. He describes the photos and phone call that come before any drive across the region, why a meeting that does not happen does not count against the contract, and his line that a Presentation is not a Match. He covers what happens if you move or pause and how unused matches can be transferred, and closes by asking you to give every firm the same brief. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers opens on why a Boston buyer cannot get one answer: each firm counts its figure in its own unit. He then gives the published figures, each with the page it sits on and the noun the firm uses for it, a membership at Kelleher International and a retained search at Selective Search. He explains why he will not offer a Boston average, and how a brief turns into a fee, using the inner core, Route 128, the North Shore and MetroWest to show the openness lever, and Longwood and Kendall Square to show how asking for your own field narrows a search. He covers what counts against a contract, including his line that a Presentation is not a Match, along with hold time and transfer. He closes on what to decide before a consultation. The more open you are about who and where you will be matched, the lower the fee, and Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers reads what ten matchmaking firms print about their own results and sets each statement beside its page and the date it was seen. The first table covers success rates in each firm's own words, and says what was searched where no percentage turned up. A second table holds counts, comparisons with dating apps and a satisfaction score, each labeled as what it is, so none is mistaken for a rate. Steve then explains what a published figure can show and what it cannot, and gives four questions to put to any rate: who is counted, what counts as success, over what period, and who supplied the number. He also sets out Master Matchmakers' own row, which carries no success rate, and what the firm does put in writing about verification, photos, phone calls and inaccurate information. The piece closes on the question most worth asking a firm, about clients like you. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500, and the more open a client is about who and where they will be matched, the lower the fee. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers takes the one membership price Three Day Rule states in its own words, $6,300 for a premium membership, and works out what that figure does and does not tell a buyer. He sets the firm's published list of inclusions beside what each item leaves unsettled, from the number of coaching sessions to who decides a photo shoot is needed, and notes the footnote that says services vary by package. He credits what the firm commits to on photos before dates, then looks at the question its pages leave open: how long the membership runs. He also covers the database that costs nothing to join, the VIP tier and the Million Dollar Matchmaking package, neither shown with a dollar figure in the firm's own copy. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500, and the more open a client is about who and where they will be matched, the lower the fee. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers goes through what a reader can actually establish about the cost of It's Just Lunch before picking up the phone. The firm's FAQ, process page and home page show no dollar figure as of November 2026, and the FAQ asks readers to call to determine their membership package. He sets out what its own pages do say: where they raise the price question, what a membership is described as including, and how the guarantee is worded. From those gaps he builds seven questions for the call, covering billing, the number of matches, named services, city pricing, hold terms, dates that fall through and who the firm would introduce. He then lists what he would want in any written quote before signing, and answers the same list for his own firm, including hold terms, transferring unused matches and what counts against a contract. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500, and the more open a client is about who and where they will be matched, the lower the fee. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers sets out what Tawkify says about its own prices and where it says it. Five blog posts carry a starting figure, each shown with its wording and the date on the page, while the FAQ answers the cost question in words and the package table marks three tiers in dollar signs. The contract documents add more: the Service Agreement names a $10,000 retainer on Premier packages, explains how match credits are used, and says pricing comes on request or at purchase. Steve then lists what his team could not find after searching every page in Tawkify's sitemaps and reading its terms, from package totals to coaching prices, and explains how Master Matchmakers treats a Presentation and a meeting that never happens. He also suggests reading the contract before the call. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500, and the more open a client is about who and where they will be matched, the lower the fee. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers argues that two genuinely different products are being sold under one word, and that most buyers do not find out which one they bought until the first date. A blind introduction withholds the photo and the phone number until after you have already agreed to meet. A verified introduction hands you both before you decide. He credits the reasoning behind the blind model rather than dismissing it, since attraction building from personality first is a real position and some daters prefer it, and the objection is not that firms use it but that they rarely say so before you pay. He gives three questions that reveal which model a firm sells, including the one most people miss: there is usually a call before the first date, but it is with the firm's own staff rather than with your match. Master Matchmakers does not run blind introductions, and fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers sets the elite retainer tier against a boutique fee and is straight about what the higher number genuinely buys. Kelleher International and Selective Search both publish elite fees of $50,000 to $500,000 on their own sites, and at that level you get a dedicated team rather than one matchmaker, reach across multiple markets, and a fixed contract term. He does not write that tier off. It fits a search spanning several cities or countries, or a buyer who needs the strictest identity protection available. What he disputes is that most people need that scale. The core mechanics, verified and background-checked introductions you approve before meeting, plus coaching and honest feedback afterward, do not require a retainer. Master Matchmakers starts at $3,500 and the contract does not expire. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers makes a point that has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with paperwork: some firms marketing to US singles are incorporated abroad, which decides which country's law governs the agreement you sign. He is careful to say that incorporating in one country while marketing in another is lawful, common and unremarkable, and says so about the firm he uses as the worked example. What he argues is that a buyer should know it before signing rather than after. He sets out three checks anyone can run in ten minutes on any firm's own site: which legal entity you are contracting with by its full registered name, where that entity is registered according to a primary registry rather than a directory, and what the published terms say about governing law and venue. He runs all three on Master Matchmakers too, including where our own answer is not published. Fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers takes the question seriously instead of dismissing it, because plenty of lasting relationships do start on an app. He credits what separates a relationship-intent product from a casual one, and then makes a narrower argument: four things stay the same whichever app you pick. The selection is self-reported, so nothing is verified before you meet. The effort is unbounded and falls entirely on you. There is no feedback loop after a date that did not work, so the next one is no better informed. And nobody is accountable for the outcome. Those are structural, not fixable by choosing a better app. He sets out what closes each gap and is clear that the answer costs money where an app does not. Master Matchmakers verifies every match and fees start at $3,500. Continue Reading

In this post Steve Ward of Master Matchmakers writes about a town growing more than five percent a year where almost nobody is a stranger to Texas. Nearly half of Comal County's growth comes from Bexar, Guadalupe, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties, which is the corridor between San Antonio and Austin. The usual relocation story does not apply here: people did not arrive from another state with no network, they moved forty miles and kept the friends, the routines and often the commute they already had. The population is growing and the social fabric is not, so a serious searcher can be surrounded by new neighbours and still have nobody to introduce them to anyone. He explains how a search is run for a corridor like that, where the pool has to be built by active sourcing rather than a warm introduction. Fees start at $3,500 nationwide, New Braunfels included. Continue Reading