NATALIE FRIEND, a marketing contractor at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., was 65 and twice divorced when she decided to try online dating. “My daughter met her husband,” she explained, “my friend’s son met his wife, my cousin met her husband — all online.”

She said she was looking for a “playmate” when she joined SeniorPeopleMeet.com, not husband No. 3. But a couple of months and $14.95 later, she met Mr. Right.

Make that Mr. Wright. Frederick Wright, 74, was twice widowed and living in Virginia Beach. He joined SeniorPeopleMeet.com to find a companion who, like him, enjoyed travel and the arts. In October 2009, Ms. Friend met him for dinner. He was a bit older than she desired. But he loved opera. He seemed honest. And he had just sailed his boat around the world. The date lasted six hours.

Ten months later, Ms. Friend and Mr. Wright married at the Boxwood Inn in Newport News, Va.

“At our age,” she said, “you don’t have much time to waste.”