Backstory: The cupid index

Nonetheless, no shortage of places exists to get your Ghirardelli and See's. More than 3,500 candy stores dot the US. Some 1,270 places make chocolate and cocoa products. Even Godiva, high-end chocolatier of Belgium (1 pound box of 36 nuggets: $40 ), has been in the US since 1966. It is owned by Campbells.

For the well-heeled romantic, diamonds and pearls still draw attention. Americans bought $2.4 billion worth of jewelry in February 2005. "There's a definite increase in activity in the two weeks prior to Valentine's Day," says Richard Finn, CEO of E.B. Horn Company, a family-run jewelry store based in Boston.

Far more bling is bought at Christmas than Valentine's Day, though. Jewelry sales in November and December 2004 accounted for 32 percent of industry sales, versus 14 percent in January and February. "It is a good segment of sales for jewelers," says Matt Kramer, managing editor of Modern Jeweler, a trade magazine. "But it's not as popular as Christmas."

In an age when Americans are working longer hours and multiple jobs, many consider the workplace the "new tavern" for striking up relationships. One recent survey found that 30 percent of working adults have dated a co-worker.

Despite the dangers of office romances - impact on the morale of other workers and sexual harassment complaints - nontraditional workplace partnerships are increasing. According to John Challenger, CEO of the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, that means such things as more romances between people of disparate age groups and more "office spousing" (relationships in which two workers share a close friendship but are not romantically or physically involved).

If people aren't meeting on the job, many are meeting online. Some 14 percent of American Internet users - more than 22 million people - browsed personal ads in 2005, according to JupiterResearch. The biggest spin women put in their profiles about themselves: that they're 10 to 20 pounds thinner, and blond. The main spin among men: that they're two inches taller, a few years younger, and make more money.

Some 2.2 million people marry in the US each year, more than 6,000 a day. The average age of a bride in the US is 25.8 years and 27.4 for a groom, both of which have been rising, according to the Census Bureau. One third of those who get married each year have been married before.

Las Vegas remains the nation's wedding capital with 114,000 a year. (Istanbul, Turkey, is the top wedding city in the world with 166,000 annual nuptials.) If a "normal" ceremony isn't what you're looking for, you can get married in Vegas in a helicopter, while bungee-jumping, or by an Elvis impersonator. Craig Luell, owner of A Las Vegas Garden of Love (five chapels, one location), expects to book about 150 couples for V-Day. "We do about 1,000 to 1,500 a month," he says. "Elvis," for the record, conducts about 5 percent of them.

• Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report.

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