Losing a loved one can be the hardest thing we go through in life. But now that you’ve decided to move on, where can you find love again? Dating as a widow or widower can be a real challenge. Finding someone to love as much as your departed loved one is difficult enough, but finding someone who can sympathise and respect the experience is next to impossible. Fortunately, there is hope out there for widows and widowers out there. There are several dating apps out there specifically for widow dating. We’ve compiled a list of the best sites and apps out there for you to begin your journey anew.

Widowers Dating Site is part of the dating network, which includes many other general and widow dating sites. As a member of Widowers Dating Site, your profile will automatically be shown on related widow dating sites or to related users in the network at no additional charge. For more information on how this works, click here. Support; FAQ/Help. Widowers Dating Site is part of the dating network, which includes many other general and widow dating sites. As a member of Widowers Dating Site, your profile will automatically be shown on related widow dating sites or to related users in the network at no additional charge.

Coming in at the top of our list, Senior Match is a sight specifically tailored for singles aged 45 and older. Since 2001 it has been helping mature singles find new life partners. In addition to relationships, Senior Match is also known as a good place to meet new friends, travel buddies, activity partners, and more. It offers free sign up, and a decent amount of features for non-premium members. It has about a 60/40 ratio of women to men, and is mostly comprised of widows and widowers or divorcees.

Lds Widows And Widowers Dating Site Over 50

As it is comprised of a more mature community, finding someone interested in a long term serious relationship is much more likely. Most folks on Senior Match know exactly what they want in a partner, and are not interested in dating casually. Most members are also experienced with relationships, meaning they have been in long term commitments before, and likely have also experienced being a widow or widower.

Senior Match boasts a user base of around 260,000 from the United States alone, with about 10,000 of those being active on a regular basis. They have a quick and easy registration process where you can either sign up through Facebook or your email. A quality personal photo is also required during sign up, so have one ready! Senior Match puts customer privacy and honesty as a top priority, and quickly shuts down spam and fake accounts. This means that whomever you speak to on Senior Match is a real person also looking for another chance to love.

Senior Match has released a mobile app on Android and Apple, and has optimized their site for mobile phones. It is easy to use anytime, any place.

Taking the final spot in our top 5 is MillionaireMatch. This site caters specifically to wealthier members who are looking for someone interested in a serious relationship, and not a partner’s wealth. As this service is based on wealth, most of the membership is more mature in age, making it a perfect place for widows to meet widowers.

MillionaireMatch has worked hard since its inception in 2001 to craft and maintain a reputation of trust and genuine interactions. Their staff works hard to maintain the culture equals, avoiding any instances of a sugar daddy/baby relationship. Each profile goes through a strict validation process to ensure every member is real and looking for a long term, equal relationship. The site offers a quick 7-10 minute signup process that can be completed via Facebook or personal email. Profiles are generally approved within 2-24 hours of creation by MillionaireMatch staff to weed out spam and potential fake profiles. Because of this, everyone you meet on the site is real.

To foster genuine interactions, MillionaireMatch limits some communication interaction. For example, each user is limited to 50 winks each day, and only premium members can send messages. Free users can still interact, and respond to messages, but most of the initiation is reserved for those with a subscription. As it is a more exclusive service, membership subscriptions are typically higher than other sites, ranging from $40-$70/month. MillionaireMatch also offers a mobile app available on Android and IOS. However, the app has been reported to be buggy and suffers from less than stellar usability. The actual website, however, has excellent reviews and usability, with high rated profiles and interaction capabilities.

Our 4th place selection is the popular dating site, match.com. Match has been around since 1995, and holds the place as the longest lasting dating site in the United States. It has crafted and maintained a strong international reputation as a safe and trustworthy platform for singles seeking short-term and long-term relationships. Match has a place for just about every type of person looking for a relationship. Their detailed questionnaire helps to establish your preferences and allows for searches and recommendations to narrow the field. This feature is perfect for widows and widowers to find each other and begin the healing process.

Match has one of the largest global user bases with over 15 million active users. The also boast one of the most even gender ratios with a 49/51 ratio of men to women. They offer a simple and free signup process that can be done through Facebook or personal email. The free service allows you to search for other singles based on your preferences. You can also send likes and winks with the free service, as well as utilize their mobile app. To actually message someone though, you have to sign up for a three, six, or twelve month membership plan. Each plan set has a different price point, but none are more than $30/month. They also frequently offer sign on discounts and other incentives.

Match’s extensive user base allows for anyone to find what they are looking for in a partner. While not specifically geared toward the demographic, Match is an excellent place for widows and widowers to find each other and start dating.

Coming in fourth is Widows or Widowers, a dating service and support community specifically designed for both widows and widowers. Launched in 2004, Widows or Widowers is the longest running dating site specifically for widows and widowers. Founder Annie Hunte originally created the site after she became a widow, and had difficulty finding someone who understood the challenges she was facing. Her goal was to help others like her find love again.

Widows or Widowers has several sister sights across the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. They base their searches on common tastes, hobbies, and location so you’ll never find yourself meeting someone across the world from you. The site is designed for a gentle and easy experience. Everything is designed to help you ease back into dating after losing a loved one. They offer a secure environment for your personal details, an easy to use mobile app, and 24 hour caring customer service to improve the experience.

In addition to typical dating site features, Widows or Widowers produces frequent content on the subject of dating for those who have lost a spouse. They cover subjects like dating tips, how to tell if someone is interested in you, and how long a widow or widower should wait before entering the dating pool. These subjects can be touchy and difficult in this context, but Widows or Widowers does a great job at reminding everyone that we all move forward at a different pace. They work to be gentle and encouraging to hurt souls looking for a chance to move on. The atmosphere is supportive and friendly, and is a safe place for anyone thinking about dipping back in the dating pool.

Sitting in 5th place on our top 5 list, is widow.com. While not a full dating service, widow.com offers honest and caring advice on a wide variety of subjects relating to recently losing a loved one. To improve user experiences, they have split the site into two different areas; dating and socializing, and resources for grief. There is also an associated blog on the site that covers more subjects in depth.

The grief resources is an excellent place for those newly widowed or widowered. Widow.com coves every conceivable issue that may arise during the grieving process. It begins right at the onset of grief, and how to effectively manage the passing of your loved one. They cover how to manage the estate, how to deal with the funeral, and how to begin moving on with your family. Later in the process, they cover the importance of growing and moving on and how to order your life without your spouse. Their focus is to help users move on and grow in a new life of happiness.

The dating and socializing area helps widows and widowers get back on their feet after losing their spouse. Widow.com gently reminds users how to speak to and interact with close family and friends, encouraging them to get out and discover what these relationships will be like without their spouse. Other sections provide dating tips, and advice on how to reenter the dating pool healthily. They go over how to reform relationships, and how to grow to love someone while still loving the lost.

Throughout their site, widow.com does a great job at reminding widows and widowers of the resources they already have at their disposal, and encourages them to take advantage of these.

Hanging in Tammy Hill’s home are three photographs: one of Tammy and Mark Mulford on their wedding day, one of Jeffrey and Juanita Hill on their wedding day, and one of Jeffrey and Tammy with their combined family of 12 children. Written in vinyl lettering on the wall beside the images are the words “All because four people fell in love.”

Lds Widows And Widowers Dating Site Customer Service

Jeffrey and Tammy were both widowed fairly young, Tammy at 37 years old with four children (the youngest only 4 months old) and Jeffrey at 52 with eight children. Five years after Mark’s death and 18 months after Juanita’s, Tammy and Jeff married—a decision they and other young widows and widowers don’t make lightly.

The loss of a spouse introduces widows and widowers into a vastly different world than the one they were in previously, and amidst grieving and adjusting to their new lives, they are faced with the question of whether or not to date again. A question that each person handles differently.

A Variety of Pressures

Pressures to date and remarry start in subtle, early ways for widows and widowers. Even the initial act of purchasing a headstone and a plot of land at the cemetery elicits thoughts about future marriage. Some people tried to convince Erica Means Shemwell, who was 29 when her husband passed away, to buy a single headstone, saying, “You could remarry and spend 60 years with someone. Don’t you want to be buried with that person?” On the other hand, 26-year-old widow Meg Monk-Sproul received some criticism for buying a single headstone.

Meg Monk-Sproul with her late husband, Michael Sproul.

“I have every intention of being buried there someday, but life changes sometimes, and I think if I were remarried I would want that last name also on my headstone. I don’t think that has any effect on how I feel about my husband, but a lot of people thought that made a difference,” she says.

Even just a few weeks after a spouse’s death, some young widows and widowers—especially those without children—have said they were invited to go back to single adult wards or were called to single adult ward callings. But returning to these wards and callings can be difficult for young widows and widowers.

“Single adult wards feel uncomfortable because I'm not exactly single, but I'm also not married, and I'm in a completely different place in life than most young singles,” Monk-Sproul says.

On the other hand, being in a traditional ward as a single individual or parent comes with its own challenges and feelings of displacement that can emphasize the loss.

“In my ward, I am the only single mother. There are older widows, but no solo or single parents with any children at home,” widow Laura Giometta Cleveland says. “Like other single people say, most lessons and talks are geared toward families. You're a family, but . . . your family feels broken, and not because of anything you did.”

Widowers Dating Site Reviews

The subtle pressures from feeling misplaced can be heightened by opinions from family members, friends, acquaintances, and even the widows and widowers themselves. Fortunately for Shemwell, she was able to find comfort in the words her terminally ill husband Tony shared with her before he passed.

“Tony wasn’t a husband who said ‘No, don’t get remarried,’ but he wasn’t a husband that said ‘Yes, definitely get married,’” she recalls. “He just said ‘Erica . . . You need to do what you feel prompted to do, and there’s no one that can tell you what the right answer is, including myself.’”

Erica Means Shemwell with her late husband, Tony Means, and their six children.

The pressures to date and remarry are there, but ultimately, as Hill says, “We all have our own stories, and I think it’s important to do what feels good for you and not what everyone wants you to do. Let God guide you. Maybe [you] won’t ever want to re-date and remarry, and that’s okay too.”

The Decision to Date

Two years after Mark’s death, Hill still hadn’t gone on a date. As a marriage and family therapist, she was well aware of the struggles that come with blending families, as well as the risks involved with introducing a new man into her children’s lives. Her concerns, coupled with her grief, made it difficult to consider the possibility of dating again.

But one day, while visiting Nauvoo, she was running down Parley Street near the Mississippi River when she thought of the early pioneers who were leaving Nauvoo and how hard it would have been for them to get on boats to cross the Mississippi.

“Across the river is unknown, and it’s pretty frightening,” Hill says, comparing crossing the river to choosing to date again. “Yet I knew in the moment that I needed to face the river and move forward and stop staying back where it was comfortable for me.”

It was that spiritual witness that prompted Hill to date again—one of the hardest decisions she has had to make.

At the beginning of her first date, Hill’s date walked her to her car and helped her inside. When he shut the car door, “I started bawling right there,” she says. “I thought, ‘What am I doing? Am I cheating on Mark?’ It was so weird.”

For 35-year-old widower Ryan Blake Comer, the decision to date came after he stood by his wife’s gravestone praying. “A thought came to me: Shannon’s progression wasn’t stopping just because she passed away, so I needed to find a way to move past her loss and not stay stuck for too long,” he says.

Lds Widows And Widowers Dating Site Reviews

But dating didn’t come easy. Comer compares the process to playing a video game.

“You get to a certain level, and you feel really good about yourself, and then the video game crashes and you have to start all over again,” he explains. “You've done it, so you know it's possible, but you realize how hard it was to get to that point, and so the prospect of trying again is daunting and discouraging.”

► You'll also like: Pregnant and Widowed at 21: A Latter-day Saint Woman's Story

To combat similar feelings of trepidation about dating again, Shemwell decided to take it slow. “I had to make some friends first and get comfortable with the idea of even talking to men first,” she says.

When it comes to deciding to date again, Hill warns from her professional knowledge and personal experience that widows and widowers should avoid feeling rushed or pushed beyond what they feel capable of doing. Instead of dating specifically to remarry, she suggests approaching dating with the idea of “I’m just making a new friend” and as an opportunity to dress up and go somewhere fun.

“Dating should be fun,” she says. “If it’s really something that’s uncomfortable or causing a lot of pain, I think [that person] is not ready to date yet. [They] need to want to do it.”