Professional matchmaker shares her top tips for finding your dream partner

A professional matchmaker has shared her top tips for bagging your dream partner — and warned that texting too much before a first date is a big no-no.Cath Gosden says couples should keep the initial meeting short and go for a coffee — and avoid constant messaging beforehand.The 53-year-old set up Genuine Connections two years ago after 17 years of being single made her sick of dating apps.She says daters should be open to people outside of their usual ‘type,’ as what they have been doing before hasn’t worked for a reason.And Cath says you should never send too many messages before meeting, as they can be easily misread — and kill off any romance before it’s started.The former payroll manager, from Felbridge, Surrey, said, “I spent a lot of time dating and things often go south when telephone numbers are exchanged.We can all misread a text, and people say things they normally wouldn’t over text.“I had never met the person but I had almost married them in my head, then you go and meet them and they are not what you thought.“They weren’t pretending to be something different, I had just over-romanticized it in my head so when I got there, I was disappointed.

I take all of that away.”Cath meets all the singles she matches herself and gives them questionnaires and a personality test before writing them a profile from this information.Once these are ready, she looks for similar values, lifestyle, and interests, or simply people she feels would get on well, and shows them profiles that could be a match.If both singles agree to meet, the expert then sets up the first date herself.Cath says the majority of her clients look for someone who is emotionally intelligent, kind, honest, ambitious, and active.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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