One matchmaker, who is well-known in the matrimonial business, says she only handles marriage proposals from those serious about getting married and not dating. Matchmaking β once practised by well-respected community elders who rarely shared the secrets of their trade β is now growing rapidly online, with a new generation of matchmakers adopting social media to help prospective brides and grooms tie the proverbial knot.
These matrimonial sites offer a wide array of matchmaking services that involve helping people to meet, communicate, interact and eventually entering into wedlock. They enable people who are single or looking for a second wife or searching for partners they are compatible with, start to interact and eventually get to know each other so well that they can start a relationship independent of the matchmaker. The fee is set at RO 30 at the time of registration, but upon a successful match, the bride and bridegroom pay RO each.
Matchmaking is handled with great deal of care and discretion, according to the veteran matchmaker. They then get to decide whether or not to take things forward. I now entertain only serious proposals and requests, and I know they are serious only when they pay the registration fees. Of course, compatibility is not a full-proof science β there are couples who got along very well before marriage but got separated after tying the knot due to compatibility issues.
Some desperate people also falsify their details in the hope of snagging a good match. In desperation, I decided to seek out a matchmaker. But in the information that I had disclosed, I did not furnish my exact age β a mistake that came back to haunt me.
Not long thereafter, a man came to propose to me but found out I was older than I had claimed. I was truly embarrassed. Muna cautions against matchmakers who charge exorbitant amounts of up to RO 1, per couple upon a successful match. Al Kharousi, a year-old man, opines that prospective brides and grooms have their own reasons and circumstances for depending on matchmakers to find suitable spouses.
