There’s good news for all singletons out there who’ve been doing it tough in this new iso world of ours, as it really is possible to find love in lockdown.
New hot couple, Anna, 30 from Bondi and Steve, 34 from the Central Coast not only found love online, but have made their relationship official without actually ever meeting each other.
The newly loved up pair, who met on new British Irish dating app Swanned, took only a handful of phone and video calls to realise they felt a huge connection with each other. Within 2 weeks they had made their relationship exclusive, not just without having ever kissed, but without having ever met!!
“Steve suggested a video date after we’d had a few flirty messages back and forth”, said Anna, a Merchandise Fashion Planner originally from The Lake District, “and was so romantic from the get-go! He arranged an Italian takeaway and sunflowers to be delivered to my house for our very first date and called and paid for the whole thing without even knowing where the food was to be delivered! Needless to say it gave me the flutters straight away!”
With us all suffering in these isolation times, singles around the country are feeling it even more without having a companion to snuggle with and little prospect of meeting anyone. Swanned founders recognised action was required and actively encouraged their users to date virtually. Partnering with Uber Eats, Swanned is offering discounts to members to help them dinner-date digitally.
Steve said “I’d been out of the dating game a while when I read an article on Swanned and thought I should give it a go. I’m Australian but have always found British girls really cute so I thought, why not!”
Fast forward two weeks and things are only getting better. With the country still in lockdown, Anna and Steve are yet to meet face-to-face but with news of the restrictions being lifted the pair are unsurprisingly counting down the days.
“I’ve never felt so strongly for someone I’ve never met before” tells Anna, “and I feel like we’ve actually got to know each other in a much more intimate way than we ever would if we had first met in person. I’m giddy and properly pinching myself that i’ve been able to meet Steve in these weird circumstances.”
Anna said, “We played 20 questions to get to know each other and asked things like Do you want to have a family? Where’s your favourite place on earth? And the last question Steve asked me was Even though we haven’t met, how would you feel about being exclusive?, it was very romantic!”
“I really feel like these are the kind of stories you read about in magazines, I never thought in a thousand years that something like this would happen to me!”
Steve echoes Anna claiming “I know it sounds crazy, but I really do think Anna and I have found something special here. I’ve been single for a while and never had much faith in dating apps. So I feel very blessed to have met Anna, who is also a complete hottie.”
Anna said “I am so excited to finally get to meet Steve in person. I think my feelings are heightened as we’ve built up such an amazing connection. I think these circumstances force you to get to know someone genuinely, rather than rushing into something.”
And it’s not only Anna that is giddy at the blossoming romance. Swanned Co-founder Isla Cameron explained “we are absolutely thrilled to hear the success of Anna and Steve’s love story, even more so that it’s happened in these more unusual circumstances. “Our app focuses on real connections being made as opposed to some of the fast swiping fashion of other dating apps and this is exactly what has happened here. In their case because the physicality was taken out of the equation, they’ve created a deeper bond that we believe has a lot of potential!”
Natalie Smith, Swanned’s other Co-founder added “This current climate is forcing us to go back to the old school ways of dating. My great aunt flew to South Africa and married her penpal who she’d never met in the 1960s - how amazing is that! We may have moved on in so many ways since those times but it appears love at first sight still does exist, and we couldn’t be happier that it happened on our dating app.”
The number of users on Swanned hit an all time high last week as more and more singletons realised that dating behind four walls is still feasible. The usual peak periods of active users in evenings and weekends has flattened with more consistent usage throughout all times of the day.
Natalie said “On a positive note, coronavirus seems to be quite the conversation starter. For the timid users among us who struggle to find a topic to strike up a conversation, there’s now a common convo starter of working from home life. With everyone in the same boat, it’s much easier for everyone to chat and time will tell whether Anna and Steve are only the first of many to find love in the time of Corona.”
