Sparks fly online

A little over a year ago, Katie Moore, sick of hitting dating dead ends in Baton Rouge, decided she was going to give online dating a whirl.

“I had never tried anything out of the box,” she said. “I just wanted a clean slate.”

Moore, 35, tried Match.com. Sure, there were the oddballs, like the guy holding an iguana in his profile picture who peeked at her profile day after day.

But then there was Fred Shumate, who works for a local political polling firm. And he looked nice.

By the end of their first date, Moore knew he could be the one.

This past November, on a misty night in a deserted Jackson Square, Shumate got on one knee and asked Moore to be his bride. They will be married later this spring.

“You have to have a good gut to try online dating,” Moore says.

It also helps if you are honest when building your profile. And be sure to use an up-to-date photograph.

Sometimes people kid her about how she met her fiancé. Moore laughs it off.

“It’s not like we met in some obscure chat room in 1998.”