Let’s face it: finding the best Matchmaker for your unique needs is unnecessarily difficult. Matchmaking is a deeply personal journey that requires intense care, know-how, and dedication, and unfortunately, many Matchmakers get it wrong.
Matchmaking is expected to grow upwards of 5% through 2025, so to say that this ancient dating method is making a comeback would be an understatement. However, as this industry expands, so does the number of sketchy, scammy “Matchmaking” companies. The LUMA team has noticed that tons of new Matchmakers pop up overnight without any credentials or certifications.
As leaders in our field, we’re on a mission to help as many singles as possible find real, lasting love, and in turn, avoid any fraudulent dating sites that might just be looking for a quick buck. We’re taking the time to review other U.S. Matchmakers to investigate which services can actually deliver their promises.
If you’ve been looking into Matchmaking, I’ll bet that you’ve come across Ambiance. This boutique firm has been around for over 20 years and has established itself in the industry, but are they your best choice? We’ve compiled all of the latest Ambiance reviews 2025 along with the cost, how it works, and their success rate to help you make your decision.
What is Ambiance?
Ambiance is an exclusive, luxury Matchmaking service that aims to help “conscious leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs” find lasting love. On their website, Ambiance actually lists that 70% of their members have a Master’s degree or higher to signal that their clientele is elite and educated. Ambiance is designed to help successful singles find committed relationships, and they veer away from hookup culture and casual flings.
Ambiance applies a personalized, tailored approach to its Matchmaking process, and its founder Leslie Wardman is still available to serve VIP-level clients. Unlike most other major U.S. Matchmakers, Ambiance only serves 11 cities in the U.S., including Tulsa, New York City, and Chicago. Wardman claims to have lived in each city in Ambiance’s scope to understand its unique dating scene.
Who Owns Ambiance?
Founded by Leslie Wardman and Taylor Wade, Ambiance Matchmaking was born from a shared vision to create a new type of Matchmaking service tailored to leaders, creatives, and business owners. Like most Matchmakers, neither Wardman nor Wade started their careers in Matchmaking. Wade got her start in international business and entrepreneurship, and Wardman worked in production and advertising for ESPN.
After working in ads for nearly two decades, Wardman felt the need to redirect her energy toward helping people find meaningful connections. She actually learned about the Matchmaking industry through a magazine article and decided to work in the industry to gain insight into love, connections, and how to make romance. Wardman rose up the ranks and became the director for an international Matchmaking company, but lost steam after a company merger.
It’s unclear when Wade officially started working with Wardman, but they co-launched Ambiance in 2002. Wardman is still serving as the acting CEO, while Wade took a slight step back from the company. It appears that she’s still somewhat involved, but mainly focuses on her blog and podcast.
How Does Ambiance Work?
Like most Matchmaking companies, Ambiance first has prospective members fill out an online membership application. Once their team reviews the application, they’ll reach out to schedule a quick phone interview. If all goes well and they think they can help, the Matchmaker will ask for an in-person consultation to do a deep dive into deal breakers, non-negotiables, and relationship history.
One unique aspect of Ambiance’s application process is that they charge for the in-person consultation. This interview comes with a steep $225 fee, but it is credited to the membership cost if the prospective client decides to join. We get it, and it takes manpower and resources to acquire new clients, but this could be a major turn-off for some people.
Ambiance is known for being very selective about who they take on as clients and claims that 99% of members have a college degree. Once their team reviews the interview answers, they’ll extend an invitation to join if the person meets their qualifications. After joining, the match search begins.
The Matchmaker will look for singles in their database and other third-party networks to find matches for their client. Ambiance claims to be discreet and redacts all revealing personal information about their clients before contacting prospective matches. Interestingly, only VIP members have access to photos of their matches before the official introduction. It’s worth noting that sharing photos of matches is a breach of confidentiality.
Clients can expect to receive one to two introductions per month through Ambiance. They’ll also handle the logistics, including making reservations for each date and arranging virtual meetings if necessary. After each date, the Matchmaker will reach out to both their client and their match to gather feedback about their experiences to learn what worked and what didn’t.
Ambiance Reviews 2025
Unfortunately, Ambiance hasn’t garnered many reviews on trusted sites like the BBB, Sitejabber, or Trustpilot, so it’s very difficult to paint an accurate picture of how their previous clients felt about their membership. They do list reviews and testimonials on their website with photos of their clients, but of course, none of the reviews they share are negative and thus lack perspective.
Although it’s fairly common for newer Matchmaking companies to not have a ton of reviews, Ambiance has been in business since 2002 and they are established in the industry, so we find it odd that they do not have many reviews on 3rd-party sites. For example, they’ve had a profile with the BBB for 22 years, but there are no reviews and they have yet to actually claim the page.
Ambiance Reviews on Reddit
Unsurprisingly, Ambiance doesn’t have many mentions on Reddit, either. We were able to locate only one user comment about their Matchmaking experience and they seemed overall satisfied with their experience.
The Reddit user mentions that Ambiance has saved them tons of time finding dates and that they’ve enjoyed their matches so far, but they had only received one match at the time of their comment. The commenter goes on to say that Ambiance membership is certainly expensive, but worth it if you’re looking to save time.
Ambiance Reviews on Google
Ambiance certainly has an interesting strategy for their reviews. They do not have a central Google page for their business and instead have a Google page for each city they serve. Because their reviews are spread out between 9 Google business pages, we had to do the math to determine their average Google rating.
Currently, Ambiance has 27 total reviews spread between their 9 business pages. We found their average rating to be 4.04 stars out of 5. Their most positive reviews mention how professional their Matchmaker was and how they enjoyed meeting with all of their matches. The most negative reviews talk about being misled by their contract terms and not receiving a refund after fighting with the company for months.
Ambiance Reviews on Yelp
As of 2025, Ambiance has a 3.8 out of 5-star rating on its main Yelp page, However, we noticed a discretion in Yelp’s ratings. The page claims that Ambiance has 10 total reviews, but we counted 19 reviews listed. When we did the new rating calculation based on their 19 total reviews, we found their average rating was actually 3.53 out of 5 stars.
Their most positive reviews discuss feeling truly supported by the Matchmakers and their attention to detail. Their most negative reviews discuss being harassed by their Matchmakers, and that someone was banned from joining their program after asking about their pricing structure.
Ambiance Reviews on Glassdoor
Again, Ambiance doesn’t have much of a presence on most trusted review sites. We were able to locate one review on Glassdoor that gave a 2-star rating. Ambiance has not claimed its Glassdoor business profile, so although it seems legitimate, we can’t entirely verify this review.
The reviewer mentions liking the flexibility of working remotely, decent pay structure, and most clients were a pleasure to work with. They also talk about the unethical business practices Ambiance engages in, and go on to say that upper management is misleading and aggressive.
Ambiance Reviews on Bon Jour
While researching the latest Ambiance reviews, we came across an interesting thread they were featured in by another Matchmaking service, Bon Jour Matchmaking. The article is a scathing piece about Ambiance’s Matchmaking practices, in which their competitor details being contacted by an Ambiance representative asking for help with matching a client.
Bon Jour claims that Ambiance didn’t want to vet any matches for their client and essentially wanted to “buy” their client a match from Bon Jour’s database. Bon Jour later updated the article to include their correspondence with the Ambiance client. The Ambiance client, Dr. Don Deems, detailed how they were “duped” by their Ambiance Matchmaker. He said he was matched with someone outside their database who did not meet his expectations at all.
However, we include this review with a caveat: although the Bon Jour article does seemingly verify these events, Bon Jour is Ambiance’s competitor and not a trusted review site. We’ve included this in our article for transparency, but it’s important to note that Bon Jour’s article is biased as they are in direct competition with Ambiance.
Ambiance Complaints and Lawsuits
During our research, we noticed a few inconsistencies with Ambiance’s reviews, like the correct number of total reviews not being accurately attributed on third-party sites like Yelp. We faced the same issues when investigating Ambiance’s complaints and lawsuits.
As we mentioned, they do have a BBB page, but we found no complaints or reviews listed. However, we did find multiple reviewers on other third-party sites who say they opened a claim against Ambiance with the BBB. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to tell if these customers ever actually filed a complaint, or if Ambiance deleted the BBB page that housed their complaints.
That said, we found plenty of information regarding their 2016 lawsuit. A previous client, Jane Woods, took Ambiance to small claims court for allegedly breaching the terms of her contract. According to Woods, she was promised one to two matches per month as outlined in the terms of her membership. We are able to corroborate that claim as Ambiance clearly lists this on their website.
Woods waited for several months, but never received a single match. She initially contacted Ambiance and asked for a refund, but they refused, and Woods turned to her legal team. Unfortunately, the outcome of this case remains ambiguous. We cannot find any sources that prove whether Ambiance eventually paid Woods or not.
Is Ambiance Legit or a Scam?
According to their industry credibility, lawsuits, client reviews, testimonials, and overall brand reputation, Ambiance has a few scars on its image, but they are a legitimate company. With fairly mixed reviews, Ambiance has some clients who love their membership and others who feel their services are lackluster at best.
It’s truly disappointing that there are no credible articles that show the outcome of their major lawsuit. There’s no way to verify whether Ambiance did pay Woods for the suit. That information would have a huge impact on our opinion about Ambiance and allow us to provide a better answer on whether or not Ambiance is legit.
Ambiance Cost
According to their website, Ambiance has many tiered membership options. Their least expensive option, local membership, includes a match search in the client’s home state. Their regional membership allows clients to receive matches in their geographic region. Their national membership includes a nationwide search and two monthly meetings with a Matchmaker.
Their international membership also contains two monthly meetings, but the match search is global. Finally, their most expensive membership option is VIP, which provides clients with a worldwide search and 30 total private consultations. The price of membership ranges from $25,000 – $100,000 depending on which membership tier you choose.
Ambiance memberships are about a year long, and they allow clients to pause their membership for up to twelve total months. Singles can also join their free database, but they aren’t assigned a Matchmaker and there’s no tailored match search conducted on their behalf.
Ambiance Success Rate
Based on their website information, Ambiance claims to have successfully matched more than 100,000 couples since their business was launched in 2002. We do want to point out that Ambiance does not list their data analysis methods nor do they provide actual proof of this statistic. The Matchmaking industry is ripe with fake statistics and data, which is why it’s so important to provide some sort of factual or social proof for success metrics.
We’d also like to mention that Ambiance does not clarify what a “successful match” means to them. It could be the number of clients who found a relationship or marriage through Ambiance, or it could be the number of clients who were simply satisfied with their matches. The ambiguity of their language negates the impact of their statistic: because they’re so vague about how they define success, the data isn’t trustworthy and is essentially useless.
Is Ambiance Worth It?
With full transparency, it’s not our decision whether Ambiance is the best Matchmaker for you. We strongly suggest that you take into account all of their reviews, price, Matchmaking system, and their lawsuit before making a final call and joining them.
If you’re working with a fixed budget, Ambiance likely isn’t the best option for you. Even their starting membership comes with a hefty price tag, so it’s worthwhile to look into other Matchmakers if your budget is tight. That said, if you don’t have a set budget and you’re seeking a luxury, personalized Matchmaking experience, Ambiance could be a good choice for you.
Need More Help Finding Your Best Matchmaker?
Deciding if Ambiance is the right Matchmaking service for you ultimately depends on your budget, expectations, and relationship goals. Ambiance is geared toward highly accomplished singles who are looking for meaningful connections, not just hookups. They appear to be focused on exclusivity and selectivity like most luxury Matchmakers. We urge you to weigh their high costs, selective membership process, and mixed client reviews before committing.
Although Ambiance does have a strong industry reputation and has tons of success stories, the limited third-party reviews, lack of proof around their success data, and their past legal issues warrant a bit of caution. Ambiance might be worth it for singles ready to invest in a premium Matchmaking service that has a personalized approach.
As always, our best advice is to explore all Matchmaking options to ensure you find the best fit for your love story. If you’re looking for a trusted, established Matchmaker with a proven commitment to helping clients find lasting relationships, LUMA is here to help.
Start your journey with LUMA today by completing your profile and scheduling a call with one of our certified Matchmakers to embark on your LUMA Love Story.