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A chat-room conversation in March 1994 led Leslie Salzmann and Mark Robbins to the altar on February 8, 1996, in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Though distance will separate them for a while -- she works for Microsoft Corp. in Seattle and he's getting an MBA in San Jose -- email will keep them in touch. (Photography by Olivier Laude) |
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 Jim Pratt, 39, was a self-avowed bachelor until he decided to try the services of a Russian-American matchmaking service for $50. After a year of online exchanges, Pratt married 19-year-old student Anna, and together they've started their own matchmaking service called USA Connect: Russian-American Introductions. Their daughter, Deanna, was born January 31, 1996. (Photography by Ron Johnson) |
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Two people notice each other. They exchange pleasantries and friendly conversation. They arrange to meet again. There may be a misunderstanding, a setback. Then reconciliation. Then . . . Some online courtships resemble the plot of an old romantic movie. Others are closer to tabloid romance -- impulsive, improbable, and endangered from the start. One celebrated online affair got out of control -- a man is suing his wife for virtual infidelity. In chat rooms, discussion groups, and, in one case, a virtual community, the men and women pictured here started with a hello and ended with an "I do" -- more or less. So far, their stories end happily ever after. |
 It took about a year of digital correspondence to convince Julia Eaton to leave behind her troubled past in Seattle for a new life in Atlanta with pen-pal Jean-Paul Montagnet. Says Eaton: "I'm just hoping for a more 'boring' life and planning on going back to school to be a physical therapist." (Photography by Gary S. Chapman) |
 "We live in the same city, yet we needed a computer in Palo Alto to cross paths," says New York-based Sean Butterbauh, who met real-life love Andria Fiegel in an interactive, text-based virtual community called LambdaMOO. (Photography by Nicole Bengiveno) |
 Tracy Borders, a single mother of seven, credits America Online and pen-pal Valentine "Buz" Schuler with helping her rebuild her life. She moved from Hawaii to Florida to meet him, and the two now work for the same Internet service provider. Four-year-old Kyle just wishes they'd stop kissing.(Photography by Bill Frakes) |
http://www.match.com
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