I'm a rather fast gamer when it comes to how fast I play through a sims life (micromanage age/skills/relations with mods), so I've never been a fan of community lots or other time-consuming things while playing. (well apart from spreedsheets and planning which I love toying around with), I guess it's similare to the way you watch a drama or read a comic, I get bored if it progress too slow.

Particularly now that my hood probably will have 100 households to go through (majority lives on mini lots and rather small numbers tho) due I love megahoods except mine is custom one. Normally I just use my spreedsheets which is organized by household and family tree and then basic characteristcs of each sim (age, aspiration, hobby, skills, main personality, career etc), which I browse through quickly and then summon them via the scrub teleporter, but sometimes I find this process a bit boring because I start to like adding more random-ness (less micromanaging) when play, i.e. using a list where I randomize occurrence to happen to each household, but Im not so keen of doing this with every relations.

I DO use mods that allow you to have more visitors and more frequently, but in a very large hood (over 500 playables), the process is rather slow, as I am still picky which who they romance with as I'm a bit more picky with huge age gaps (ACR2 to blame for this!). The age is not related with the actual topic (the spoilers are why i don't like age gaps), but it does make it harder to for them to meet a love interest. My own hood is more time period specific (late medieval-ish) so not everyone are allowed to go to school and jobs are a bit limited as well.

So I am wondering, beside community lots and a teleporter, what do you think a good way for sims to socialize (and eventually find a spouse from)?
I'm consider trying the manage group method, which I never played with, but I don't think this works for strangers or for non-social community lots, so I'm not sure if their other alternatives, when you don't want to choose who they will met.

1. Open a home business. Your lot is now kind of..community and lots of different sims will visit.
2. Stand outside..tend garden, watch clouds, find bugs, catch butterflies etc, until some sims pass by...then greet them.

If you don't mind hacks:
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=387604

Use the find the mate crystal ball. On Simbology I think.

Joandsarah.
I've that object, and well, probably not a good idea if you want to find your sim larger group of friends, though.
Ironically, for some reason my sims always end up with a widower as best suitors from it and even if they are same age group- if excluding teens, I use 40-ish (8+29) years for Ya+Adult which can be a large gap. I usually look for marriage when they are Y.A (18-22) though, but the teens/ya rarely have parties as my sims don't have much non-family friends right now.

Ihatemandatoryregister: Actually, I like mods that make socializing easier (more visitors, inviting etc), as long its not one of those let's say instant friend hacks.

Someone needs to make a "MeetUp" program for our Sims, where the Sim can schedule an "outing" at their home with other Sims of similar interests, traits, hobbies, etc. I have no idea how one would do that. Even less of an idea how to make something that would work in a medieval game.

Oh wait ... remember the wishing well they can earn from the gardening club? Sims can make wishes for friends! It's been ages since I used it but if I recall, it brought in friends whom the Sims previously did not know. Townies? Not sure.

Another possibility .... just remember NOT to invite non-playable NPCs.

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=293793

But on a non-cheaty basis ... you can up the friendship with a walk-by Sim that actually lives on a lot, then try inviting the family or significant other over. Be really friendly with the SO or rest of the family. Then go to that SO/family, have them throw a party, and invite your Sim. Note if your Sim seems to be friendly with others there. Then up THAT friendship, invite the SO/family, etc.

I've noticed that inviting the household/family is more likely to be accepted than just inviting the Sim themselves. Though....you can just select that one Sim in the menu that subsequently pops up!

If it's for get togethers you could also use Phae's phone book to get the sims in the known panel then use the simlogical meeting controller to 'enroll' a group of sims and then use 'start meeting' they will all show up controllable. Doesn't matter that the relationships are 0 they will all show up and won't leave until you click 'end meeting'.

If the neighborhood is historical, does your society have corvee or perhaps another form of organized service for a lord (or the church)? Opportunities for a pilgrimage maybe? Or military service? You could create a lot for that purpose and move in the sims that meet the requirements. That way you'd have everyone of compareable social standing in one place and they'd meet even if they wouldn't otherwise.

This will take a bit longer, but is fun and challenging too, something I carried over from the vanilla game (no mods needed).

Some of your sims will meet others walking by and become friends. As you go through the hood, different friendships will be formed.

The trick now is to find mutual friends for sims who do not know each other. Then an invite to a lunch, a dinner, a birthday party. Make sure the host introduce the sims who have not met before.

Well, there is the meeting controller at Simlogical which does more or less that. Same page as the teleporters: http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2P...Teleporters.htm