WidowsorWidowers.com: A Compassionate Dating Site Gives Renewed Hope to Grieving Hearts

The Short Version: After the death of a loved one, it can be hard to move forward, but grieving singles need not struggle alone. Since 2004, WidowsorWidowers.com has supported an online community of daters who know what it’s like to have loved and lost. Thousands of widows and widowers have signed up to meet empathetic dates in seven countries, including the UK, the US, and Canada. WidowsorWidowers.com is a heartwarming dating site full of resources for grief-stricken individuals seeking advice, friendship, and romance. Whether you desire a fresh start in online dating or an encouraging word from someone who’s been in your shoes, WidowsorWidowers.com helps bereaved singles find solidarity and comfort through their shared experiences.

American novelist Joan Didion described her grief as an incomprehensible hole. It couldn’t be reasoned with or explained away. After the sudden death of her husband, she wrote “The Year of Magical Thinking” to work through the pain of losing her best friend and accept the reality of her life as a widow. “A single person is missing for you,” she wrote in her book, “and the whole world is empty.”

Annie Hunte founded WidowsorWidowers.com to connect bereaved singles worldwide.

Annie Hunte knows what that’s like. After she lost her husband in 1994, she was reluctant to start over again as a single mother. Her friends and family encouraged her to join a dating site, but she couldn’t imagine her dates would be excited to meet a widow. She’d already met her great love and had a full life with him. Who could fill that space? And who would want to?

What Annie needed, she decided, was a dating site designed specifically for bereaved singles. Widowers could understand and appreciate her loss, and maybe sharing their experiences would bring them closer together. So she searched for a widows dating site but found nothing in the UK or anywhere else.

“At that point, I dropped my plans for a boyfriend and started making plans for a website,” she recalled. With the help of her son, Annie put together a homegrown dating platform unlike any other.

Launched in 2004, WidowsorWidowers.com is a compassionate place to start again and connect with people who understand what you’re going through. Now decades later, Annie’s platform has gained recognition for being the longest-running dating site for widows and widowers. The online network cultivates a friendly environment where grieving singles can share, heal, and love again.

“It’s important for widows and widowers to find someone who understands their background and what it’s like to be grieving,” Annie said. “No dating site had that, so I created WidowsorWidowers.com.”

On WidowsorWidowers.com, bereaved singles can feel comfortable telling their stories and starting over with someone new. The empathy that led to the creation of the site binds the community together and supports men and women in some of their darkest hours.

From the beaches of Florida to the plains of Australia, the dating platform has brought a world of possibilities to bereaved daters throughout seven countries. As the UK-based site has grown, Annie has partnered with professional web companies to raise the caliber of the services provided and reach a wider audience. Today, WidowsorWidowers.com has a strong presence in the US, particularly in New York, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

The signup process is easy. After a few basic personality questions and an email verification, you’re ready to browse local date prospects and find your way back into love. Whether you’re a man seeking a woman or a woman seeking a man, you can correspond with thousands of date prospects on the site.

Many WidowsorWidowers.com members are over 35 years old and anxious about dating again.

Basic members can send one message and unlimited winks to their online crushes for free, but opening received messages costs a little extra. You can upgrade your account to unlock messages, instant chats, diaries, and notifications on your profile. Full members can also add more than one photo to their profiles, so that’s a helpful way to indicate you’re the real deal.

Annie has come a long way since those early days waiting for her first registration. WidowsorWidowers.com has an active base in seven countries worldwide. “We’re the go-to space for widow dating,” she said. “Our mission has always stayed the same. We want to help in the process of gaining the confidence to step out and find someone new.”

In addition to the dating site, WidowsorWidowers.com offers a comprehensive online magazine dedicated to discussing love and bereavement. The blog features many knowledgeable voices who shed light on the grieving process by sharing inspirational stories and providing helpful resources for widows and widowers.

“People enjoy reading about strength through adversity,” Annie said. “By hearing these amazing stories, you find out that there is a way forward after losing the person you love.”

“By transforming what was an extremely challenging and testing period of my life, I have been able to create something that truly serves the widows and widowers community.” — Annie Hunte, Founder of WidowsorWidowers.com

Karen Millsap was only 29 when her husband was murdered. After this tragedy, she struggled to hold her business together and take care of her 2-year-old son. “A lot of people would compliment me by saying ‘You’re so strong!'” she recalled in a poignant article. “The truth is I was numb and on autopilot.”

In the WidowsorWidowers Magazine, Karen shared her thoughts about grief and her journey not to move past it but to learn to live with it. Testimonials like hers bring so much insight and comfort to individuals who’ve lost someone and feel alone.

“Hearing from others who are feeling the same heartache helps break through that isolation.” — Karen Millsap, author

After the death of her spouse, author Yvonne Broady wrote “Brave in a New World” to help herself, as well as her readers, navigate grief. “I wanted to share my story so that those who grieve would understand that the pain of grief is normal,” she said in an interview with WidowsorWidowers.com. “In order to get past the pain, one must go through it.”

If you’re wondering how to go about dating as a widow or widower, this online magazine is chock-full of guidance. Sometimes the articles give encouraging advice to widows and widowers thinking about rejoining the dating world. From knowing when it’s time to try dating to realizing it’s OK to love again, the magazine tackles a wide range of topics relevant to bereaved singles. You can find more in-depth stories in the WidowsorWidowers.com bookstore.

“We provide lots of resources for widows and widowers,” Annie said. “We take that part of the business very seriously.”

WidowsorWidowers.com is a family effort. Annie founded the site, her son Edward does marketing work, and her daughter Charlotte helps out on design and social media. They work together to uplift grieving families like theirs and give lonely individuals a path to love and understanding.

WidowsorWidowers.com is a family-run operation on a mission to answer grief with hope.

To help run and market the dating platform, Annie partners with trusted companies that align with the site’s values and mission. “We keep true to our roots,” Annie said. “Our partners believe in what we believe in.” Together, the global team works around the clock to provide attentive customer support.

As a conscientious leader, Annie does what she can to ensure a safe and welcoming place for online daters. WidowsorWidowers.com safeguards its members by working closely with the security-conscious moderators at Online Dating Protector. The team removes duplicate or fake profiles to increase the likelihood of finding friendship and romance with a genuine person on the site.

WidowsorWidowers.com’s overall commitment to quality and authenticity has earned the site a loyal user base. “We have a close connection with our users,” Edward said. “We see a high retention rate as people use our site to find a relationship and then come back in a few years time.”

Once she realized online dating didn’t address the needs of widows like her, Annie turned her personal frustrations into a global sensation by launching WidowsorWidowers.com. In 2004, she created a niche online space to unite singles who have lost a loved one. Instead of feeling isolated in their grief, widows and widowers can find comfort in touching conversations and new connections.

WidowsorWidowers.com sprouted in the UK and took off worldwide as singles flocked to this compassionate dating resource. Today, the dating site supports the renewed hopes of thousands of singles online. Whether you’re ready to re-enter the dating world or in need of advice about how to move forward, WidowsorWidowers.com encourages widows and widowers to get back out there and live life to the fullest.

“I can really feel for the people coming on the site,” Annie said. “You can tell by their profiles that they’re not quite sure. Loads of widows and widowers would like to meet someone but feel awkward about sharing their grief stories on a date. So it’s a great feeling to bring together people who truly understand that aspect of life.”