Looking for love in the personal ads may be a thing of the past.

Dating services and online sites now make the process easier and in some cases more fun.

As it is, it's not hard to find a date in Austin but finding a real match can be difficult.

A new style of dating service tries to hook couples up in 8 minutes.

"The stigma is that it's all a bunch of people who are not as dateable let's say, but I definitely don't think so. You always find good matches,” Ryan Wynn said.

Young professionals engage in multiple pre-arranged mini-dates all in one night.

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"People come here knowing they're in a room with other singles who want to meet other singles so it's a little bit less awkward than walking up to somebody at the gym or grocery store,” William England said.

"I work full time, I work for IBM, then I'm going to school part-time getting my MBA. So, I pretty much go to school Monday, Tuesday evenings, then study the rest of the week, so I haven't really been able to meet anybody,” Sara Epsztin said.

The pace is fast, but don't let the name fool you.

"I, as a young professional definitely want to get my career off the ground. I want to be stable before I think about marriage and I think a lot of my peers are thinking the same thing,” Wynn said.

"No, I'm definitely not in a hurry to get married, women these days are a lot more independent, they're out there and want to find the right person,” Lynnann Nguyen said.

Sometimes the right person is what we thought we ordered. But that person turns out to be the wrong selection on life's menu.

Groups like Single Gourmet serve up cuisine with dating on the side mostly for folks single a second time.

"They don't want to do the bar scene and yet they still want to have fun. In addition, a lot of them at that age don't have a lot of single friends in part because they may have been married for a while. So, this really introduces them to some new single friends,” Ross Jones said.

"It was difficult, it took me a while to recover and sort of ease back into because I hadn't had to worry about things like that for a long time,” Peter Hoffman said.

Single gourmet targets mature adults with distinguished tastes.

Events are more mature: on a recent night it was vodka sampling.

"I was just so tired of the single thing, meeting people on a lot of pretensive basis so I wanted more of a relaxed atmosphere where I could meet somebody on a person-to-person basis,” Brad McGrew said.

"It's friends, it's mostly just making friends, people to meet for coffee or go for a jog or breakfast on Saturday morning or go for a walk,” Carol Ahlgren said.

Singles expert Mark Shafer said making those kind of connections is tougher for older adults.
"Our society seems structured so that it promotes a lot of interaction between younger people but as we get older we tend to isolate some, we tend to get more established in our niches, and networks and communities and so we don't have a lot of easy exposure to a lot of other single people who might be great candidates, great partners,” Shafer said.

Many are also finding great partners online.

Internet dating helps people re-enter the scene with privacy.

"The Internet is a way that we can connect without having to go outside of our homes. It's suddenly opened up an entire new community that is easy to access and it's the first thing that's come along in many, many years,” Shafer said.

But like every other form of dating, the Internet has its pitfalls.

"It's what I call the window shopping phenomenon. It's easy to go online and see another 100 people who could be potential relationship partners. So, if you're dating someone you've got in the back of your mind the idea well there could be someone better. In fact, tonight, I could go find that better person online and begin a correspondence. I think that works against having the kind of experiences that promote a long-term stable relationship,” Shafer said.

A long-term stable relationship is what most on the dating scene say they're looking to find.

"I feel like I have a lot offer a relationship, and children. I don't have children of my own but I think I'd make a great dad. So, those are all things I would like to do,” Joseph Collins said.

"I think everybody has that desire down deep to find that special match, that special somebody you really gel with and mesh with, so I think everybody wants to get married, it think it might be delayed a bit, but I think that burning desire stays in everybody,” England said.

Each dating service we talked to says membership is growing at a fast pace. With a large majority of clients simply looking for friendship first.