.png)
About the Author: Steve Ward
Steve Ward is the Owner and CEO of Master Matchmakers and a second-generation matchmaker who built the firm alongside his mother and co-founder JoAnn Ward. He hosted and executive-produced VH1's Tough Love for six seasons, co-authored Crash Course in Love (Simon & Schuster), and has been featured as a dating expert by CNN, the Today Show, Oprah, Glamour, People, and Cosmopolitan. He has spent more than 25 years personally coaching and matching relationship-minded singles nationwide.
Quick answer: Master Matchmakers' consultation is a working conversation, not a sales script: a team member learns your relationship goals, lifestyle, and criteria for a partner, then walks you through pricing and timeline. It runs both ways: we are also deciding whether we can genuinely help you.
"Matchmaking consultation" gets searched by people trying to picture what the first call actually looks like before they hand a stranger a description of what they want in a partner. Most of what comes back is reassurance: no pressure, no obligation, without ever saying what gets asked or decided in the room.
I have sat on this call, or had a member of my team sit on it, for more than 25 years. This is the plain version: what we actually cover, who you are talking to, what we are listening for on our side, what you should be asking on yours, and what happens once you hang up. None of it requires guessing, and no part of it locks you into anything before you have seen the agreement in writing.
What Actually Happens on the Call
Before the call, you fill out a short form describing yourself and what you are looking for. That form is intake, not the consultation itself: the consultation is a real conversation with a member of our team, not an automated form or a script read off a screen.
On the call, we ask about your relationship history, what has and has not worked before, your lifestyle, and what you actually want in a partner, including the things you consider non-negotiable. We explain the programs available to you, walk through pricing, and give you an estimated timeline based on how specific and open your criteria are. Handing a search to someone else changes more than who does the browsing, and what actually changes once a matchmaker takes over is easier to see once you have been through the call yourself.
Who You're Actually Talking To
You are talking to a person on our team whose job is to understand your situation well enough to make a real recommendation, not to move you through a funnel. Master Matchmakers works with a dedicated team, a personal coach alongside a group of matchmakers, so the person on this call is someone involved in the actual search, not a separate sales function handing you off once you sign.
That matters because the questions you get asked are used, not filed away. Your answers about lifestyle, schedule, and what has not worked before shape which program gets recommended and how the search is approached from the first introduction onward.
What We're Listening For
On our side, the call is doing two things at once: understanding what you want, and deciding whether we are genuinely positioned to help you get it. We ask about your history and your patterns because the answers change which program makes sense, and occasionally whether a different kind of help fits better than a matchmaking search does at all.
Said plainly: not every consultation ends with someone becoming a client. The purpose of the call is mutual assessment, not enrollment, and the recommendation you receive afterward reflects that judgment rather than a script every caller hears regardless of fit.
What You Should Ask Them
The consultation runs in your direction too. Treat it the way you would any professional you are about to hire, and ask questions the recommendation should be able to answer without hedging:
- How are candidates actually sourced, beyond being verified once they are found?
- What exactly is included in the starting fee, and what would raise it?
- How is feedback collected and used between one introduction and the next?
- What happens if the recommended program is not producing introductions?
- Does the agreement expire, or can it be picked back up if life gets in the way?
A recommendation that cannot answer those plainly is telling you something, whether or not it says so directly.
| Stage |
What happens |
What it commits you to |
| Before the call |
You submit a short form describing yourself and what you want |
Nothing; this schedules the conversation |
| During the call |
A team member discusses your goals, history, and criteria, then walks through programs, pricing, and timeline |
Nothing; it is a conversation, not an agreement |
| After the call |
You review a written recommendation and the agreement at your own pace |
Nothing changes until you sign and pay |
| Once you sign |
Identity, age, and photo verification plus a background check begin, then profile building and introductions |
Fees from $3,500, and a contract that does not expire |
What Happens After the Call
You do not decide anything during the call itself. Afterward, you get a recommended program and pricing in writing, and you review the agreement on your own timeline rather than being asked to decide on the spot. Because the fee depends on how specific and open your criteria are, what a matchmaker actually costs is easier explained during the call than in general terms, but the range and what drives it are broken down in more detail on its own.
Only once you sign and pay does anything on our end begin: identity, age, and photo verification, a criminal and public-record background check, and profile building. None of that starts before the agreement is in place, which is also why the consultation itself cannot tell you who you will be introduced to, only how the search would run and what it would cost.
What It Commits You To
The consultation itself commits you to nothing beyond the conversation. Signing the agreement is the actual commitment, and that happens only after you have seen pricing and terms in writing, not during the call. Master Matchmakers' fees start at $3,500, and the more open you are about who and where you are willing to be matched, the lower that starting figure tends to be. The total still varies with how many introductions and coaching sessions your search needs.
Contracts do not expire once you sign, so there is no clock forcing a decision on the call, and no reason to say yes before you have actually read what you are agreeing to.
The Only Guarantee We Make
Accurate Information, Not a Promised Outcome
In business since: 2001 | Private network: 65,000+ singles | Fees from: $3,500
We will not tell you on this call that you are guaranteed to meet the right person, because no legitimate service can promise that outcome. What we are answerable for is narrower: the information you are given about anyone we introduce you to is exactly what we say it is, verified before the introduction is ever offered, not after you have already met them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens during a Master Matchmakers consultation?
A team member discusses your relationship history, lifestyle, and criteria for a partner, then explains the available programs, walks through pricing, and gives you an estimated timeline. It is a conversation, not a form, and it does not commit you to anything before you have seen the agreement in writing.
Who do you actually talk to during the consultation?
You talk to a member of the Master Matchmakers team involved in the actual search, part of a dedicated group that includes a personal coach and a team of matchmakers, rather than a separate sales role that hands you off once you sign. The person asking the questions is the person using the answers.
Does everyone who requests a consultation become a client?
No. The consultation is a mutual assessment, not an enrollment step: we are also deciding whether we are genuinely positioned to help with what you have described. The recommendation you receive afterward reflects that judgment, so not every conversation ends in a signed agreement.
What should I ask during a matchmaker consultation?
Ask how candidates are actually sourced beyond being verified, what the starting fee includes and what raises it, how feedback is used between introductions, what happens if a program stalls, and whether the agreement expires. A recommendation that cannot answer those plainly is worth questioning further.
What happens after the consultation ends?
You receive a recommended program and pricing in writing, then review the agreement on your own timeline rather than deciding on the call itself. Nothing on our end begins, including verification and profile building, until you have signed and paid. Fees start at $3,500 depending on scope.
The consultation is the one part of working with a matchmaker you can evaluate before paying for anything else. Ask what you would ask any professional you are about to hire, notice whether the recommendation sounds specific to you rather than generic, and decide from there.