Do we ever tire of the subject of finding love? Given that shows like the Bachelor/Bachelorette and Pilot Pete and Hannah are household names, like a blood-thirsty crowd cheering on gladiators in a coliseum, we seem to like a love story, happily-ever or otherwise. Swipe dating apps are the means to meet nowadays, or are they? Being both curious and baffled by the SLC’s single scene, we asked for some relationship “success stories,” to learn how the magic began and if that connection continues…
Their stage was set from a connection on IG.
“Originally from Massachusetts but was living in Los Angeles at the time and was at LAX catching a flight back to Boston when I met someone at the airport bar flying to Salt Lake City. We struck up a conversation and became friendly and exchanged Instagram handles. A few months went by and we started talking and became fast friends. Over the summer, I came to Utah to do some hiking and escape L.A., and while I was here, we hung out, and we both realized we were more than friends. We spent the summer doing the long-distance thing, and with working remotely, I was able to take the jump and move here from L.A.” —Kara
All the Single-SLCer’s
Make Feb. 15th a day to appreciate your status.
Don’t be SAD, get to the Gateway.
Ok, ok. Don’t think we’ve forgotten you. In celebration of Singles Awareness Day, Saturday, Feb. 15, The Gateway is joining forces with the dating app Bumble for their first 21+ Bar Crawl. Get your $5 tickets here.
From Philly to SLC, these two love birds reintroduced themselves via Insta.
“My now-boyfriend and I went to high school together. Always had a crush on him, but went to different colleges in different states, he was living in Utah and I was living in Pennsylvania. We reconnected via Instagram early last year, I moved to Utah in June and the rest is history!” —Kaitlyn
Natalie and her partner created sparks through Tinder.
“I met my boyfriend on Tinder in 2013. We matched while he was driving across i-80 on business and I felt obligated to chat him up all night since he was driving alone across the country with no plans to stop and sleep. We met a few days later on Thanksgiving and started dating long distance right away. After 18 months and so many flights back and forth from KC to SLC, he moved in with me and we’ve pretended to get married at least 5 times since then. I never would have guessed that I would have found such a solid relationship from a dating app.” —Natalie
Don’t these three love stories reassure you a bit? As it seems, social media and dating apps dominate as the means of finding love, or sex or both. So to answer the question, yes, dating is happening in SLC, it’s just gone high-tech. Being the mid-cuffing season, singles, take your pick, get on in there and have fun.
Former Salt Lake Magazine Associate Editor Jen Hill is a SLC transplant from Bloomington, Ind. As a blogger and feature writer, Jen follows the pulse of the community with interests in urban agriculture, business, fitness & beauty and anything that allows her to get out of the office and into the mountains.