As of New Year's Eve 2006, Nina & Steve tied the knot, and Nina's own dream came true!!! Her experience proves that the romance of a lifetime can be yours! It can happen to you too! And Nina can help! Here's Nina's story, in her own words...

So it only took me 43 years and roughly too many dates to even count to find my "Mr. Right", and he is my prince charming in every way. Well, if I had the option, I would not trade the journey in for any amount of love or money. Waiting turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to me romantically. My fiancé says that all the other guys I dated were just place-holders until we could find each other. I have been engaged three times and have probably been on more than a few internet dates, stemming from sites such as Houston Connect, Matchmaker, Yahoo personals, JDate, Craigslist, Backpage.com and Plenty of Fish.com.

Dating is a numbers game. You have to meet a lot of people before you can find the right match, I tell people. Yet, it is a very frustrating journey of ups and downs. I talk to people all day long who think that it's never going to happen -- they're never going to fall in love. So they give up, and stay home watching the Daily Show. I tell people, "If you think you won't find love -- you won't." There was many a time I went on a date and thought, "I just can't do this anymore."

After I adopted my baby girl Fayth, most of my friends said, "That's it for you, Nina. Nobody wants to date a 40-something woman with a baby!" Well, I thought it made me a better package and so does my husband-to-be!!

Everyone has an opinion and a story they tell themselves, regarding dating. Now that I am a full-time matchmaker, I am even more amazed by the stories I hear from people that are fed up with what they have been doing, because it's just not getting them what they want. I get feedback from the people I fix up, and sometimes it just amazes me how two people can misunderstand a situation and see things so completely differently. I am looking at the same situation as the two of them are, and I am seeing it yet a third way.

Meeting the love of your life is probably the hardest task there is, much harder than finding your life's work. At least you went to school for that or had some formal training. Who showed you how to date, or gave you a clue on what road to travel to meet that other half that you are so looking forward to spending your life with?

There are tons of self-help books out there… tons of love coaches, tons of seminars, so many it can make your head spin round and round. What's a single person to do in Houston, Texas?

Let me briefly share the story of how I found the man I have been waiting for my whole life. because it is truly a story of destiny and hope -- and it really reminds me that everything happens for a reason. No matter how many failed attempts you have had, you can never give up hope, that your dreams will come true and your true love will come into your life.

Nina Friedman the matchmaker has always been willing to try almost anything once. So some of my friends told me that it was important for me to have a page on Myspace so that I could let people know about my matchmaking business. At first I resisted, WHY? but finally I created the Myspace page. Late in August, I received an email from a man who said he was on vacation, and he was checking out some music on Myspace. He ran across my page, and it led him to yentagirl.com.

This is what his message said:

"Hi, I read the relationships web page at your website this morning. (http://www.ninafriedman.com/Relationships.html ) I am sitting by a lake in the middle of Minnesota, with my dog. (It is completely rustic, except that the place has wireless access. Different times all jumbled together.) Anyway, I would like to thank you for putting that on the web. It gives me a new focus. A couple of more days here, and then I am back to Houston." --Steve

So, of course, I was tickled to receive such a nice compliment, and I responded thanking him and asking him to phone me when he returned from vacation. I certainly wanted to meet the man that took the time to pay me such a sweet compliment. He, of course, thought I was trying to solicit him for my matchmaking business, so he didn't call initially.

A week or so later, I placed an ad on http://www.craigslist.org/ to find matches for some of my clients. A nice man emailed me, and said that he would love to meet someone for casual dating i.e. dinners, movies, museums etc. He said that he wasn't looking for love just yet as he hadn't really been too lucky in that department. Then he added but who knows how I will feel next month. Instantly, I knew this was a man with a sense of humor and optimism, and I knew that I had to know him. He told me he was 49, gainfully employed, and he sent a picture so I knew he was attractive. Nina the matchmaker is always looking for quality men in their late 40's and 50's, because I have so many quality women that I am seeking matches for in that age range. I was excited about this man.

I responded with my picture and a bit about my services, and I asked for a meeting. He responded that he didn't need a "Matchmaker" but he thought I had a beautiful smile, and he would really like to meet me. We chatted a few times and arranged a dinner date. We made a second date to see each other later that week. But the next day, he called and said he couldn't wait -- he wanted to see me that night. We have been together every day since!

On Wednesday, October 11, 2006 he proposed, and I said YES!! How strange is it that he found me on Myspace and then on Craigslist, and he had no idea that I was the same person! Of course, when he met me, he knew that I was the matchmaker from the website he had read, but he didn't let on to me that he had been the one to send me that compliment. If this is not a case of putting yourself out there, I don't know what is!

I am so glad that I didn't listen to my friends -- and didn't settle for Mr. Okay -- and instead, held out for the right man. I am so glad that I never gave up my optimism, never settled, and never believed that I had missed the love boat!! There is someone out there for everyone. You have to be willing to take risks, do things that are uncomfortable, try new avenues, be optimistic and open to new ideas.