Since its launch in July 2004, Beliefnet's online dating service, Soulmatch, has been responsible for at least 12 marriages and countless other romantic relationships. We invite you read about the courtship and wedding of one of these successes, Ken and Gail Chalfant. Then explore Beliefnet's many other resources for finding your soul mate, assessing compatibility, and choosing the right person to share a wedding with. This profile is one in a forthcoming series of articles about couples that found each other through Soulmatch.

It all started for Ken and Gail Chalfant with a “Spark,” the tool on Soulmatch that lets members express interest in another member. On Soulmatch at her home in El Paso, Texas, Gail, 43, reached out to Ken, 52, and he, in Colorado Springs, answered with a note. Immediately, over much geographic distance, a connection formed. “I saw that he was sincere and genuine,” Gail says, “He really wanted to know me, he wanted to know how I think.” Over the next five months, the couple graduated from emails on Soulmatch to emails on their own, then to talking via webcams, and eventually to a Valentine’s Day visit that began with a proposal of marriage.

Ken, who was married before but who has been single for 15 years, says that he had decided to ask her to marry him before they ever met face-to-face. “I fell in love with her without ever holding her hand, or looking directly into her eyes, or kissing her. I fell in love with the person,” he says. They married last June 26 in Colorado, in a ceremony that combined his French heritage, her Philippine culture, and their unique spiritualities. Gail, a schoolteacher who has never been married before, moved to Colorado Springs to share her home with Ken when they got married.

The “values-based” approach the couple found on Soulmatch helped fuel their passion for each other. Ken, an interfaith minister, says that he looked for a partner who shared his values, not specific religious beliefs. “What kind of human being do you want to be? It’s really important to have that kind of connection and find somebody who’s going to appreciate your position on the world around you,” he said.