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In our Love App-tually series, Mashable shines a light into the foggy world of online dating. It is cuffing season after all.

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It’s almost become unusual for people to not meet their partner online. That wasn’t always the case. 

Twenty-nine percent of heterosexual and 65 percent of same-sex couples meet online. Over 20 billion matches have been made since Tinder launched in 2012.

But when Match.com, one of the first mainstream dating sites, was founded in 1993, it was taboo to talk about online dating. And that stigma, which we’ve since shorn as a dating public, lasted for years. 

We took a trip through time and spoke to couples who met on Match roughly two decades ago. They opened up about the stigma, their love stories, and challenges they had to overcome. Here are their stories. 

Photo-less spark

When Brian and Christina Stanton each created their online dating accounts, neither had a photo on their profiles. Today, not having a photo on your dating profile would lead many to automatically skip. Online dating etiquette was very different in 1999. They emailed back and forth for a while before deciding to meet up in New York. Before their first date, Christina was nervously waiting for Brian to show with her old friend Tony Hale, aka Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. When she saw Brian, she knew he was the one and then kicked Tony out! The two have spent 20 happy years together. 

Crushing the stigma

Eric and Christine Puente met back in 1999. Although the two were worried about the stigma around online dating, they decided to own how they met and eventually got married. The two were even featured in the Match.com “Happily Ever After Games” in 2001 where they competed in silly matrimony-themed games against other couples to win money for their upcoming wedding. The Puentes now have two kids who think it’s awesome that they met online. 

Missed connection

Leigh and Steve Greathouse met through Match.com in 1999 despite going to the same large church at the time. About a year into their relationship, Leigh was diagnosed with stage 4 uterine cancer and was told she had only a short time to live. After beating cancer, Leigh got her Ph.D. in cancer biology and now has her own cancer research lab. Through it all, they’ve had each other’s backs and have learned to embrace the ups and downs. 

Read more from Love App-tually:

• Just a Jim looking for his Pam: Fictional couples dominate dating apps

• What the hell is Ghost Exorcism Day?

• Fine break up with me, but let me keep Instagramming your dog