Dating menus: You can change yours

For singles suffering from Goldilocks syndrome -- this person's too beefy, that one's too scrawny; this person's too rich, that one's not rich enough -- niche dating may help you find a match that's just right. Whatever your aim or interest, dating trends such as these go beyond wine tasting events and friend-of-a-friend referrals. Money and beauty matches It's true: Money can't buy you love, but being wealthy might get you a date. "I think through time, hot women and rich men have proven that they are attracted to each other," says Jeremy Abelson -- and yes, he's totally serious.

To test his theory, Abelson, 27, organized the first-ever Natural Selection Speed Date: Rich Guys & Hot Girls event, which took place February 7, in New York City. "I thought this was a liberation for people. Like, you could stop holding it in and say, 'Okay, finally somebody's come out and said it,'" he says. The name of the event was no joke. Men had to make over $200,000 annually if they were under 25 years old; 26- to 29-year-olds had to make $300,000; men 30 and up had to gross half a million. Women, meanwhile, needed to be supermodel-hot, as judged by celebrity matchmaker Janis Spindel. Of the 40 men and 40 women who were selected for the event, Abelson claims it was a smashing success, with over half the attendees having some sort of post-event connection.

Critics have used words like "crass" and "shallow" to describe such events. But that hasn't stopped Abelson, who says he's recently inked a deal to create a reality television show where wealthy men will woo attractive women. Meanwhile, online dating sites like billionairecupid.com allow singles who earn more than $150,000 a year a chance to find true love (and possibly a hefty trust fund to boot). Socially appalling yet brutally honest, these systems are something of a pre-screening process for those who aren't afraid of "sugar daddy" or "gold digger" labels