takamamash – Did she charge you $1,500 just to meet her, or was that the fee for actually introducing you to the girl you got engaged to?
I’m a bit hazy on the details (after all, it was over a quarter century ago), but let me see if I can reason this out. It wasn’t just for meeting with her, because I didn’t pay her up-front. IIRC, the deal was that she would set me up on dates for a certain amount of time, maybe 6 months. I would either pay her after 6 months, or after a successful shidduch. I wrote out the check before the wedding, and either gave it to her at the wedding or during the week of sheva brachot.
I should also mention (as I’ve mentioned on other CR threads), the shadchanit did not actually know the girl she set me up with. The girl did not live in Baltimore, but had a friend, and the friend’s sister lived with the shadcahnit’s family while she went to BY. The friend’s sister spoke all the time about her sister’s friend in her hometown . . . and that friend eventually became my wife. The shadchanit didn’t meet her in person until we were engaged.