Palpatine did allow himself to be captured on purpose. Dooku was one of his "kidnappers" but also his apprentice so if Palpatine had truly been captured he could have escaped by ordering Dooku to free him.
The main reason Palpatine allowed himself to be captured was to tempt Anakin into taking revenge against Dooku and execute an unarmed* man against Jedi principles:
Supreme Chancellor: Good, Anakin, good. Kill him.
[Dooku looks at Palpatine in shock]
Supreme Chancellor: Kill him now.
Anakin Skywalker: I shouldn't...
Supreme Chancellor: Do it!
Anakin Skywalker: [Anakin decapitates Dooku] I couldn't stop myself.
Supreme Chancellor: You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive.
Anakin Skywalker: Yes, but he was an unarmed prisoner. I shouldn't have done that. It's not the Jedi way.
Supreme Chancellor: It is only natural. He cut off your arm, and you wanted revenge. It wasn't the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother and the Sand People.
Palpatine used his fake kidnapping to not only tempt Anakin to turn to the dark side, but he also got rid of the aging Dooku so that he could eventually take on Anakin as his apprentice.
Bringing Anakin back from the Outer Rim would also bring Anakin closer to Palpatine himself, where Palpatine would be better positioned to manipulate Anakin. Anakin's proximity to Palpatine himself would be far more useful to turning Anakin to the dark side than bringing Anakin and Padme together. There Palpatine could appoint Anakin as his personal representative on the Jedi Council, teach him about Darth Plagueis and the possibility of resurrecting loved ones, etc.
Putting Anakin closer to Padme was a secondary (or perhaps tertiary) objective at best -- it was more of a bonus. Even so, Anakin already loved Padme and feared losing her so there was little for Palpatine to gain by putting them closer together. Given the far better other reasons for staging his kidnapping, Palpatine did not do it specifically to bring Anakin and Padme together (i.e. he would have done it even if it didn't bring Anakin and Padme together).
*Dooku was almost literally "unarmed"!