Dakota Johnson<\/a> is one such professional cupid in Materialists<\/a>, the naturalistic new romcom from Past Lives director Celine Song, released in UK cinemas this week<\/a>. Her character Lucy\u2019s slew of high-net-worth New York clients bombard her with demands for a match with the perfect height, weight, age \u2013 even salary. Essentially, it all comes down to numbers. Song was inspired to make the film<\/a> by her own six-month experience working as a matchmaker. \u201cI learnt more about people and what’s in their hearts than I did in any other period of my life,\u201d she has said \u2013 and the search for \u201cthe one\u201d has become even more unusual since Song had the job in the late 2010s.<\/p>\n Inga Verbeeck, 45, is one of the leading matchmaking specialists in the world. The Belgian businesswoman studied finance and worked in the steel industry before opening her elite matchmaking service, Ivy Relations, in 2015. Her client base includes everyone from tech bros and entrepreneurs to biochemists, bankers, politicians and celebrities. Her fee? Upwards of \u00a3100,000. Verbeeck doesn\u2019t work with strict deadlines but says that, on average, it takes her between a year and 18 months to match her carefully selected singletons with the person they\u2019re looking for. \u201cIf you\u2019re lucky, it can be three months, and the longest I\u2019ve worked with a client is seven years,\u201d she says. \u201cBut that was very much an exception.\u201d If Verbeeck never manages to find a match, none of the money is returned. She guarantees introductions \u2013 not success. <\/p>\n Those looking to enlist Verbeeck\u2019s services go through an application process that consists of a handful of phone calls and a few days spent alongside Verbeeck and her team. \u201cI try to get a glimpse into their actual life,\u201d she says. \u201cWork, where they live, all of that.\u201d On these outings, the matchmaker asks each client about their past, politics and religion \u2013 topics many of us might avoid mentioning on a first date out of politeness or for fear of incompatibility. \u201cYou know, anything that could be helpful for the search,\u201d she says of the scrupulous fact-finding mission. Verbeeck is as chic as you\u2019d expect for a high-flying matchmaker; well put-together with cascading blonde hair and a minimalist wardrobe that could easily be intimidating, were it not for her sense of humour and lack of judgemental glare. It\u2019s easy to see why clients feel comfortable letting her into even the messiest corners of their lives. <\/p>\n Matches are found by the Ivy Relations recruitment team, who work remotely from different cities as well as out of their Antwerp-based HQ. They reach out to hundreds of eligible singles each day, roughly 20 per cent of whom respond to say they\u2019re interested. Prospective dates then undergo a multi-step profiling process and the most compatible of them are kept on file. The clients\u2019 demands range from the classic \u2013 height, sense of humour, positivity \u2013 to the extraordinary: \u201cA young German tech entrepreneur really wanted a good-looking, tall, blonde girl with a degree in aerospace engineering,\u201d Verbeeck says. Did she find said perfect woman? \u201cYes, absolutely.\u201d <\/p>\n Verbeeck\u2019s true gift, though, is knowing what will make her clients happy long before they do. The matchmaker had been working with a French entrepreneur for more than a year, and introduced him to 15 different women, but none of them were a match \u2013 despite the fact he\u2019d enjoyed their company and they ticked every box on his list. So, Verbeeck went to meet a woman in Switzerland with whom the Frenchman also appeared compatible, listened to her speak, watched how she liked to spend her day, and suddenly realised what had been missing: \u201cHow she would go about certain things suggested a very, very small amount of autism,\u201d Verbeeck says. The pair went on a date and three months later they were married. \u201cIt just clicked together,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Johnson as matchmaker Lucy and Pedro Pascal as bachelor Harry in ‘Materialists’ (Sony\/A24)<\/p>\n Another French client was single after 20 years of marriage and was figuring out the type of man she actually wanted to be with. Verbeeck knew her client wouldn\u2019t be attracted to her latest suggestion on the first introduction, and convinced her to give the man three chances before she rejected him entirely, as she sensed they had great potential. \u201cWe met six months later in Paris,\u201d Verbeeck says. \u201cShe\u2019d restyled him \u2013 introduced him into a new world and vice versa \u2013 but intrinsically they had the same values and views on life. They opened up a whole new universe together, got married a couple of years after, and are still very happy today. It was a great match.\u201d Despite being responsible for numerous marriages, Verbeeck says she\u2019s \u201cvery rarely\u201d invited to her client\u2019s weddings \u2013 mostly, she thinks, because there still \u201cseems to be a taboo\u201d about using such dating services. <\/p>\n As Materialists explores, it can be hard for matchmakers to manage the dismal \u2013 or sometimes even dangerous \u2013 side of dating, from getting ghosted to much darker behaviour such as sexual assault. \u201cWe communicate a lot about dating etiquette; what we feel is right and how people should behave,\u201d says Verbeeck. \u201cIf we have the feeling that somebody isn\u2019t up to par on that level, we will drop them. I think that\u2019s really important.\u201d If a match simply isn\u2019t interested in their client, Verbeeck and her team can help break the news \u2013 or they\u2019ll leave it to the person, depending on which they prefer. \u201cWe\u2019ll help manage the situation,\u201d she says. \u201cBut because of the detail of our homework and the preparation we do, just about every introduction is positive\u2026 I\u2019ve had very few disaster scenarios,\u201d she says of her 15-year career. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n \u2018I personally got married too young\u2019: Millionaire matchmaker Inga Verbeeck (Ivy Relations)<\/p>\n Verbeeck married young, at 21, and was divorced by 29 \u2013 with a two-year-old son in tow. She started her business after friends registered her for a dating service in London, only for the matchmaker to tell her she worked too much and had too much baggage for them to find her love. She is now dating someone. \u201cI didn\u2019t matchmake myself, it sort of just happened,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot in my romantic and personal life; quite a few ups and downs.\u201d But she\u2019s confident that her personal history doesn\u2019t tarnish her credentials: \u201cI think that makes me a better matchmaker,\u201d Verbeeck says. \u201cIf I\u2019d had the perfect relationship forever, it wouldn\u2019t have given me the depth that I need to do my job today.\u201d <\/p>\n Considering today\u2019s dating landscape \u2013 Hinge likes for ego boosts, Tinder swipes for something (or someone) to do on a Friday night \u2013 those who can afford to hire Ivy Relations are blatantly lucky. The cynical view here could be that finding love has become a luxury afforded only by those who can stretch to the apps\u2019 monthly subscription fees or employ the services of a professional. But Verbeeck has advice for those feeling jaded: \u201cApps create opportunity, but they are a nightmare,\u201d she says. \u201cTake off the headphones. Just say \u2018hello\u2019. You never know what\u2019s going to happen. People have long checklists. They want soul connection. They want chemistry. But it\u2019s possible. Let\u2019s just say that. I see it all the time. So, nobody should give up hope, because it\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Materialists\u2019 is in UK cinemas now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-68956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Johnson](\"https:\/\/static.the-independent.com\/2025\/08\/14\/10\/54\/JAJLRMKYXJGV7LQC62C4PXUQPE.avif\")
<\/p>\n![\"\u2018I](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Inga-Verbeeck-Ivy-Relations-1.jpg\")
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