eHarmony

What’s New in Relationship Research: Rebounding May be Good for the BrokenheartedOctober 23, 2009

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom, new research shows that a rebound relationship—or even just the promise of one—might be helpful in alleviating the attachment to a former relationship.

Are you the type that often has trouble “letting go” of a partner?  Do you wonder if you should just return to a failed relationship?  Have you ruminated over certain aspects of your past love over and over, straining the patience of your friends and family?  It’s possible that the best thing to do in order to get over an ex- partner might not be spending time “self-reflecting” on the death of the relationship, but imagining yourself with someone new—and fast.  New research shows that for those who are “anxiously attached,” simply feeling optimistic about finding a new partner may engender a release of feelings over an ex-partner.    Researchers at the University of Toronto had individuals recovering from a breakup read optimistically-themed articles about finding a new romantic partner, and this strategy proved effective in enervating feelings of attachment to an ex.

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New on Project Wedding: Classifieds!October 22, 2009

Hi, I’m Joe, one of the founders of Project Wedding. I’m excited to tell you about Project Wedding’s brand new classifieds section where brides can buy and sell wedding items, share info about events like trunk sales and bridal shows, and get the latest on discounts from retailers and wedding vendors alike.  We’ve seen a lot of demand for a classifieds section from our Project Wedding brides over the past few months.  For brides who have gotten married, it’s a great way to recoup some of their wedding costs by selling wedding items they no longer need.  For brides who are still planning their wedding, it’s a great way to save money by finding discounted items from other brides and hot coupons at name brand stores.

Even though our classifieds section just launched, we’ve already seen hundreds of items posted.  Here’s a quick sample of some of the great deals you’ll find:

•    A Gorgeous Watters Wedding Dress – 50% off
•    A Beautiful Oleg Cassini Gown – 37% off
•    A Swarovski Pearl and Crystal Set – $40

Head over to the classifieds section and start saving!

Also on Project Wedding: Wedding Songs, Wedding Dresses, and Free Wedding Websites

It’s Not Just Free Communication Weekend…It’s a Free Communication Event!October 19, 2009

Get ready…starting Wednesday, it’s eHarmony’s Free Communication Event—the first time free communication has been five days long!  From Wednesday, October 21 through Sunday, October 25, you can communicate with your matches for free and experience the difference of eHarmony. Once you complete our Relationship Questionnaire, we’ll look for your matches based on 29 Dimensions® of Compatibility — like humor, intellect and character.

You have nothing to lose, so why not try eHarmony this week? Get started by logging on to www.eharmony.com today. And here’s a little inspiration—read about these couples who met during a past Free Communication Weekend:

Chelsea and David
Married 09/13/2009
Texas
“He became a member and I started during a free communication weekend.  David and I found each other on Day 2. David and I emailed daily and within two weeks he flew [to meet me] for the first time.  I’m pretty sure we both knew immediately.  I told a friend of mine, ‘If it isn’t him, it’s no one’ and I just learned that he went home after that first meeting and told one of his friends he was going to marry me.”

Rebecca and Jordan
Married 07/05/2009
Virginia
“My dad suggested eHarmony, since I had the time on my hands, so I decided to give it a try. Jordan took advantage of a free communication weekend in late October, and we made it through all the steps in like a day and a half!! He knew from the very beginning that I was his ’soul mate’.”

Paige and Stacey
Engaged to be married 12/19/2009
Florida
“My friends encouraged me to try [eHarmony] one more time on a free communication weekend around the New Year 2009.  That was when I decided to join again and soon after Stacey initiated communication. It has just been so hard to meet guys and find someone like this to date so I decided to give eHarmony a try after some other success stories from friends.  Stacey is definitely the most wonderful man I have ever met and we are just so rightly matched.  It’s been a long wait but now we both see that it has been worth it!  I am so thankful for my experience on eHarmony since it has led me to the man of my dreams.  I couldn’t ask to be matched to anyone more right for me!”

Celesta and Thomas
Engaged to be Married 06/05/2010
Canada
“Thomas and I met on eHarmony on a Free Communication weekend at the end of March 2009, after going through the steps on eHarmony we communicated via email and chat programs. Thomas invited me to Canada to see a movie one night and that’s how it started. I’m afraid that without eHarmony I would have never met Thomas, but am so grateful to you for ‘introducing’ me to him. He is more than I ever would have thought I would have and we are very much in love.”

From the UK: Love in the WorkplaceOctober 13, 2009

In the UK, we joined forces with Touchstone Pictures to promote the Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds rom-com “The Proposal”.  Since the movie comes out on DVD today, it’s a great opportunity to discuss finding love in the workplace.

We thought it would be interesting to find out what UK consumers really thought about finding love at work so we conducted a study with 1,000 people and the results were quite surprising!

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eHarmony Celebrates Customer Care Appreciation WeekOctober 12, 2009

eHarmony’s corporate offices in Pasadena are never dull or drab.  But last week, our halls looked like a carnival, decked out with balloons and banners in celebration of Customer Care Appreciation Week.

Each day, we had prize raffles hosted by our VPs along with lunches, snacks, and goodies for our valued Customer Care Agents.  And Friday morning, I heard a few cries of “BINGO!” coming from several cubicles as the troops wrapped up last week’s bingo challenges for awards such as gift cards and vouchers for free food.  I got into the act on Monday, and actually won a gift card myself (thank you, O-75!).

It’s good to know that we work for a company that loves us, especially when our company is in the business of love.  We want to extend that appreciation forward and let our customers know that we thank them for making our job so enjoyable.  Customer Care Week has definitely encouraged us to stay the course, and make every email and phone call a pleasant and useful one for you, the customers we are entrusted to care for.

In Their Own Words: Nicole and StevenOctober 7, 2009

Meet Nicole and Steven, one of eHarmony’s recently-betrothed success couples. While every one of our couples has compatibility in common, we’re always amazed at the uniqueness of each of their stories. Here’s their engagement story, as told by Steven:

All it took was one date with one match on eHarmony for me to realize that the rest of my life would be blissfully complete. Within weeks after Nicole first contacted me and asked me out on a date, I found it difficult to be apart from her. The question of marriage was never “Will it happen,” but rather, “When will it happen?” And just as Nicole had been the one to initiate communication, she would also (to my surprise) be the one to propose 17 months later:

Everywhere we went people had always thought we were a newly married couple and were very surprised to hear that we were not. When they asked why, I would jokingly reply that I was waiting on Nicole to propose to me. I had no idea that might actually happen!

On August 15, Nicole took me out on a hot air balloon ride. We took part in a hot air balloon festival and flew amongst a dozen or so other balloons which helped to enhance the already surreal experience. Toward the end of the flight, Nicole took my camcorder and handed it to another passenger. I thought we were going to take one last set of photos but I could tell that wouldn’t be the case as she took my hands into hers – they were trembling!

That’s when I knew she had beaten me to the proposal. It took a little while and a lot of kisses for her to actually work up the strength to ask me to marry her, but when she did I ended up breaking one of the only three rules our pilot gave us – do not yell out of the balloon. He didn’t seem to mind though, and neither did the spectators below that shared in our celebration of engagement.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?October 6, 2009

Absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder.  In fact, separation from a spouse or partner can often be very distressing.  Lisa Diamond and her colleagues explored what happens to your body and your mind when partners separate – even for a few days.

In their study, researchers looked at 42 couples either married or living together before, during, and after a short (4-7 day) separation. Similar to children being separated from their parents, couples can go through similar experiences of separation distress.  Researchers found that separation changed the quality of couples’ daily interactions and increased negative feelings, levels of stress, and even sleep problems.

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Take Me Out to the BallgameOctober 5, 2009

Meet eHarmony success couple Joni and Jason, whose love of baseball created a bond between them—even though they root for rival teams.

Joni and Jason
Illinois
Married: April 19, 2008

Joni and Jason at Wrigley Field, each sporting their team's colors.

Well, another baseball season wrapped up over the weekend. It was sad to see the final out occur in each of our teams’ games on Sunday afternoon.

But only a little sad because we have the memories of another great season of living in a Cubs-Cardinals marriage. The year started out looking like the two teams would be battling for the division title all summer. But then the bottom fell out for my Cubs, leaving Joni’s Cardinals to coast into the playoffs starting this week.

This year was still a blast, however. We started out the season by continuing our slow-but-sure quest to visit all of the MLB parks. For our one-year wedding anniversary in April, we drove out to Washington, D.C. Among our stops there was a Nationals-Braves game. We also drove up to Baltimore for an Orioles-Rangers game. And if that wasn’t enough, we stopped in Louisville, Ky., on the way home to tour the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory and catch a Louisville Bats minor league game.

And of course, we also made it to Busch and Wrigley several times this year to see our teams. Two of those games were contests between the Cubs and Cardinals. We each saw our team win once, which helped make this season a tiny bit more bearable for me.

Joni and Jason at Oriole Park at Camden Yards catching a Baltimore Orioles game.

So what happens during the playoffs in the our home? Well, last year, when the Cubs made it to postseason, Joni threw her support behind my team. She didn’t go as far as to wear a blue hat or anything, but she was happy for me and the team for the very few moments the Cubs saw success in the playoffs. I expect to return the favor this season. I won’t be caught dead wearing any Cardinals stuff, but I’ll share in Joni’s happiness if her team can win some games starting this week.

As you can tell, baseball is a big, big part of our lives. We start in the fall by checking both teams’ schedules for the following spring and summer. From there we determine how baseball games can be worked into our vacations, our birthdays (which both take place during baseball season) and our weekend getaways. We often choose restaurants on their likeliness they’ll be showing a baseball game.  Even when we’re sitting at home, there’s a 75 percent chance the TV will be tuned to a baseball game or a baseball highlights show.

Each of us is very lucky that the other loves baseball so much. It adds a dimension to our relationship that we’ll always be able to share –even when we’re old and gray.

Joni and Jason at Nationals Park for a Washington Nationals game.

Meet Our New Commercial CouplesOctober 2, 2009

At eHarmony, we believe that there’s nothing more powerful than hearing a couple’s story in their own words as they demonstrate how much love they share. At each commercial shoot, we’re always touched by how deeply and madly in love our success couples are, and how wonderfully they represent the way eHarmony impacts peoples’ lives.

We’d like you to meet Heidi and Eric and Debbie and Sam, two eHarmony success couples who are featured in our new television commercials.

Heidi and Eric
Married July 1, 2006
Colorado

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Fall Arrives at JustMommiesSeptember 30, 2009

What better way to celebrate the arrival of the new season than by creating some festive candy cups out of autumn leaves? Over at JustMommies.com, we are always trying to find exciting new Do-It-Yourself projects that anyone can pull together.

This one is simple – and is a great favor for parties or for the trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood! We even found cute little marshmallow mushrooms for the cups. For the complete how-to on this project, visit http://www.justmommies.com/family-life/crafts/diy-family-project-woodland-candy-cups

Happy fall!