One Bit of Crucial Dating Advice

Do not, under any circumstance, forget your wallet. Before you leave for your date double check to make sure you have your wallet. Nothing is more embarrassing than the check arriving, you reaching to pay, but coming back with an empty palm.

While you may think you’d be able to remedy the situation by calling a friend to swing by your place and grab your wallet for you, that’s usually the stuff of romantic comedies and life isn’t so ideal. Honestly, this mistake could be an unforgivable one and guarantee that you never see that particular date again—no matter how great it may have gone up until that point.

Make Time for Dessert on Your Dinner Date

Once the dinner is over, don’t rush your date out the door. Dessert is the sweetest part after all! Be courteous enough to realize that perhaps your date may want to end the meal with dessert and/or coffee, so make sure you put that option out there. Proper meals don’t end at the entrée and another course is more time to get to know the person sitting across from you.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.

Risky Discussion Topics: Politics, Religion, Finances and Sex

They say you can’t argue politics and religion, and it’s true. Politics, religion as well as finances and sex fall under “risky” topics especially if this is your first time going out. Depending on where you and your date fall on the spectrum of these matters, you just might be setting yourself up for a debate of which you were not prepared.

To avoid such pickles, steer clear of discussions that are one-way tickets to controversy. You don’t want to force your date to throw down their napkin dramatically and head for the door, because you thought it might be interesting to talk about your thoughts on the GOP and they didn’t agree with you on Rick Perry’s policies.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.

The Dinner Date is Essential in the Courting Process

Commit to “breaking bread.” Traditionally, the breaking of bread is steeped in a history of celebration and the beginning of relationships. To decide on just drinks or coffee is limiting yourself from perhaps finding someone that just might be a great fit for you.

While both men and women occasionally express a fear of committing to an entire dinner because they don’t want to be “stuck” with someone that’s not working out, it’s important to keep your mind open. Don’t ever think of yourself as stuck. There’s nothing wrong in taking time out of your life to meet someone new; even if you feel “it’s just not there,” in the initial few minutes, those feelings may change by the end of the evening. In passing up dinner and opting for a casual drink, you diminish your chances of getting to really know someone.

Some love coaches blame the fact that people are putting the dinner date off as a reason why there are so many singles out there. They also cite that just a drink lowers the level of enthusiasm and romance. Marriage starts with courtship and the dinner date is essential in that courting process, so do both you and your date a favor and insist on dinner.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.

3 Best Flirting Tips

Flirting is the best way to show you’re interested and having fun; it’s also a difficult task for some. There’s a fine line between flirting and taking the technique to an awkward extreme. Keep these few suggestions in mind:

1. Smile. Smiling shows you’re happy and having a good time, so show off your pearly whites.
2. Laugh (but not at everything). If you laugh at everything that’s being said, especially at your own jokes, you may want to take it down a notch. Excessive giddiness can make you come off too desperate to please your date. Laugh when appropriate, and laugh genuinely. Fake laughs are the worst and, honestly, kind of insulting, too.
3. Make physical contact. While reaching for a knee mid-flirt can be interpreted as inappropriate and definitely over the edge, a light touch on the arm or hand shows comfort and sincerity.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.

Never Ask Too Many Personal Questions When First Dating

Do not pry. Although it may be going well and you’re feeling comfortable, keep in mind that the first few dates are not the place to go looking for skeletons in someone’s closet. We all have our secrets and it’s when we’ve truly reached a level of trust that we let someone into our secret world. Asking your date personal questions that they may not be ready to answer is not only invasive, but also rude.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.

Dating Advice for Men: Women Love a Gentleman

While some my say “chivalry is dead,” prove your date otherwise. Make sure you get the door, walk your date to the subway or a cab, even hail a cab and make sure your date is safely in it and on their way home. It may seem like a foreign concept, but if you want to win points with your date, go so far as to stand up every time she leaves or comes back to the dinner table. Chivalry is a lost art so be a gentleman and practice it.

-Estelle
Get daily dating tips from Estelle in your email in box - Subscribe
Estelle is the president/owner of Estelle Matchmaking, LLC a boutique matchmaking service for selective singles in the NYC area (including Westchester and Fairfield Counties) and South Florida.