Dating for Generation Boomers I and II was a straight-up foreign concept. We may now view with feigned disdain, communities that still have that arranged marriage thingie, but it is likely that your parents, or grandparents, are products of it.
In a lot of cases, the betrothed couple had nothing to do with choosing each other - it was the parents' duty. With Gen-X, where I fall under, came the era of dating several people who your parents knew not of.