Our love story is the kind movies are made of, and considering I am in the love business, it warms my heart to know fairy tales do come true! I am formally from Wilmington, Delaware and moved to Los Angeles over 17 years ago to help people connect in the city of Angels. Just like many other single souls that I now cater to in my Rapid Dating business, I was challenged in the search for my perfect match. I would go on TV and on radio shows and get interrogated about my single status. Men I dated asked why I was “still single” if I was a dating expert? I was never hurt by this question because I knew I would know when I met the right man and I wasn’t uncomfortable remaining single until I met my soul mate! In fact, I was on a mission to change the stigma about being over 35 and still not married.

The story begins with sudden news of my mother’s death right before mothers Day in 2002. I knew my mom was having surgery but I was flying in the following week for my aunt BeBe’s wedding (by the way, she was 60 years old and getting married for the first time). My mom said “Don’t worry I’ll be fine –I’ll see you in 5 days”, after what was supposed to be routine heart surgery. I was scheduled to appear on Dick Clark’s show the same day as her surgery, and she insisted I stay to tape the show. Tragically, we lost her the day of that surgery.

My entire family was devastated by the loss of my mom, and my aunt‘s wedding was delayed until August. (By the way, I was a flower girl for the wedding, and I may have been the oldest flower girl in history!) The happy part of the story is that when I returned to my home town for my Aunt’s wedding, I decided that I would host a Rapid Dating event and contact the media while I was visiting to spread the news that the home town girl returns to spread some love. The wedding was awesome and so was the Rapid Dating event! I then got asked to go to Dewey Beach Delaware to go on a date. I got a ride with my cousin Gina and was staying at her parent’ beach bungalow where I vacationed growing up!

My date was very late and was unwilling to pick me up at my aunts and uncles trailer claiming “he could not believe I was staying in a trailer park” and it was out of his way. I am Italian and you don’t insult an Italians family…EVER! Needless to say, I told him I was insulted by his comment about my family and I cancelled the date.

That night I went to dinner with my family and stopped at one of my old stomping grounds, “The Rusty Rudder“ in Dewey Beach and ran into a handsome man named Joe Campanella, who I had met at a wedding 15 years earlier. He told me that he had seen my picture in the paper but could not attend the Rapid Dating event since he was on vacation with his son. I was playfully flirting, telling him I had had a crush on him since the wedding many years before. Taking the bait, Joe flirted back and we exchanged numbers. It was a chance meeting, but I took the opportunity to express my interest, which is the action that changed my life forever. While I felt “the magic” when we ran into each other, I was leaving for LA the next morning and the reality was that he lived 3000 miles away. I was sad because I knew long distance relationships don’t usually work and I did not want to fall for a man so far away.

From Joe’s perspective, he was surprised by his attraction to me, because he says, “Before meeting Renee, I was not in the frame of mind to meet someone or develop a new relationship; but something unusual happened that night back in Dewey Beach, DE that to this day, I cannot explain... After we met, I stated to her that I needed to get to know her from the 'inside out' and 'date her the old fashioned way', and asked her out for a date the following Thursday, August 14. He worked for a company in Northern California and just so happened to be coming out west 4 days later. Why not have dinner? “I just wanted to get to know her as a person first. After about a month of just dating, I knew I met my 'soul mate'... This epiphany was euphoric! We knew that we were meant to be together, and in January of 2003, he was offered a new position at Oracle in Southern California- 7 blocks from my house! And the rest, as they say, is history! Was it Fate? destiny? I believe my mother orchestrated our meeting from up above!

I always tell people to be grateful for life and even when you don’t have love to act the way you would if you did have love and it will come! That is the secret! I know it is not easy, especially around the holidays..but if you believe before it comes and prepare for it mentally, physically and spiritually, it will come! Who knows, someome from your past may come back into your life, but you must be open, you must be ready, and you have to seize the opportunity! If you met someone and have any inkling of a connection …speak up…LOVE…It can happen any time and anywhere! I have waited my whole life for a man like this and we seize each moment to express our love for life and our families. Joe asked me to marry him at his parents home in front of his entire family on his Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary on Sept 18th 2004.

I share our story to help singles out there to ...BELIEVE in LOVE! I have many more GREAT love stories to share and I’d like to hear yours or any stories you know of to keep those flames of hope blazing!

Renee Piane, President of Rapid Dating