wedding season

Nightmares churning with confetti; stacks of invitation cards by the doormat… yes, fellow singletons, wedding season is here again, and we understand your predicament. We know that you may be happy for the couples in your orbit, but kinda sad and wistful too: when are you going to meet that fabled life partner, and finally discover for yourself what warrants a £300 cake?

Well, take comfort from the following guidelines to making the most of your bachelorhood. By indulging in this behaviour, you can survive any mention of undying love this summer….

Binge to high heaven

Compromise is often touted as the key to a successful marriage, which essentially means not indulging selfishness to the nth degree. But you’re different – even casually seeing someone means you can take a few liberties with your time.

Make a ridiculous pile of nachos at three in the morning. Load up your favourite TV boxset, and sink into your sofa for the rest of the day. Having no-one around to check your habits is a gift that newlyweds have to return forever.

Get a new wardrobe

You may be sick to death of being asked to review a dozen bridal dresses, or accompanying a groom-to-be on a clueless tuxedo hunt. Show them how true elegance isn’t confined to the altar by investing in even one knock-out garment. Paired with a slick haircut, you’ll feel like the belle (or gent) of the ball at that next wedding party. Who needs a white dress, anyway?

Take a holiday

No, this isn’t an escape clause, although you could make it one if you’re really desperate to avoid a wedding planner. We’re talking about giving yourself permission to go on a trip that’s better than any honeymoon.

You can do things differently: a backpacking holiday, for instance, will result in a glut of great stories that couples will fawn over enviously. You might even meet The One on a meditation retreat in Cambodia, which would be a thrilling story to tell your future grandkids.

Be the life of the party

Aside from all of this, when it comes to crunch time (again) and you’re sitting with cool eyes at the wedding reception, just remember to have a laugh. Plenty of people aren’t married – hey, at least you’ve been invited to drink free booze, dance to ABBA, and capitalise on the frivolities! And if you’re enjoying every minute, you’ll attract your opposite number in no time, who won’t be able to ignore your magnanimous smile at the mother-in-law moonwalking by the punch bowl.

While it’s occasionally crushing to have nuptials slapping you round the face in summertime, please remember that everyone gets what’s coming to them. A wedding, after all, is mostly an expensive way to say “I love you”, and there are many more spins on those three words, some of which you’ll find when it’s your turn in the spotlight.

To meet singles in your local area, give FreeAndSingle a go – sign up for free today. Just keep the wedding talk to a minimum on that first date…

Free Dating

As much as we like to proselytize about the joy of the dating game, every player has a goal in sight – to find the man or woman they’ve been waiting for, sometimes without knowing it. There comes a point when casual meetups evolve into a genuine connection, and you can hang up the dating stripes for good, like a war veteran or ageing sports star with glory in their eyes.

But how to decode those decisive signals? Let us guide you through some signs that it’s getting serious…

You touch each other, a lot

Instinctively, you reach over and brush a stray hair from her lip. She snakes her fingers into yours when you’re peering into a shop window. Bodily contact is the surest sign of chemistry; first dates tend to limit it, but subsequent meetings may blossom into an unconscious parade of light touches. Kissing, of course, comes into play, but it can feel arbitrary if you only do it when you’re saying goodbye. Regular hugs do just as much for intimacy.

You share what makes you happy

Be it random posts on Buzzfeed, musical Spotify nuggets, or social media posts that make you cringe… A couple that’s meant to tango will spontaneously send their partner various things to lighten up their day. The internet has recalibrated age-old symbols of devotion, but that doesn’t make them any less endearing. If you find yourself desperate to show your bae a video of juggling dog, you’re falling for them in a big way.

Staying over is second nature

Deep breaths are mandatory when a partner first spends the night. Even suggesting it can give you goose-bumps and heart murmurs that shake your voice a little. Once you’ve shared a bed together, though, you might slip into a natural rhythm of weekends at one another’s houses. If you feel at ease staying over, you may have found The One.

Conversations never stop

This applies to talking face-to-face, but specifically the amount of contact you have when you aren’t together. Random texts at 3 in the morning, coupled with the odd phone call to ask how their day has been, suggests you’re as addicted to their presence as a dog-lover is to walks with their pooch (which, it turns out, isn’t bad for relationships either).

You might want to exercise some restraint – constant attention can tread the line into being annoying and neurotic – but the important thing is you think about their voice, their messages, how their idiosyncrasies drive you mad with desire.

We all want to take our dating hats off eventually, and just relax into an amazing match. While we can’t promise it’ll be an easy journey, when your efforts pay off the rewards will be sweet. So discover free dating today; don’t wait for someone to come to you, and stay positive, because you never know what you’ll find out there!

Lessons Learned in Dating

We love giving dating advice on this blog, to share the wisdom we’ve gleaned from hundreds of couples that have found love on our site. All of our powers are focused on Cupid’s arrow, and we like to strike people unawares, making them think about what they want from a partner, and how they might achieve it.

However, we’re people too and, like everyone else, we’ve had our share of good, bad and ugly dating experiences. It’s about time we divulged what we’ve learned over the many dates, big and small, that’ve come the way of the FreeAndSingle team:

Don’t Force It

Perhaps the most difficult feeling you’ll have when you and your beau part after first meeting is – that was just okay… but it could be better next time, right? Yes, it very well could. Physical attraction, especially, can morph and mould into something more.

Yet forcing something to happen when it clearly isn’t going to? That’s madness. Only you can recognise it, deep in your gut. Even if your partner thinks the world of you, don’t string them along just to fill your schedule. Be rational about calling it quits when the sparks don’t fly.

‘Types’ Are Bad

We all have a ‘type,’ which is great when you’re looking for no strings attached fun. The problem is when people fix an idea of their dream lover so strongly in their mind that it becomes a ball and chain, dragging them down to an abyss they may never crawl out of.

If you go in with prescriptive qualities on the brain, you’re likely to miss what could be the seeds of a stonking relationship. Let people surprise you. Be open to their oddness or, relatively speaking, their normality. There’s always more to a stranger than meets the eye, and opposites can balance each other out, like an electrical current.

There Are No Rules

We’ve never proclaimed to know the great commandments of dating, because there are none. Subjectivity is part of the game. What works for one couple might be antithetical to the next, and so on. However, let us eat our words a bit and say that every couple should be open to simply doing what they feel like.

Should you let afternoon drinks slip into the early hours of the morning? Go for it. Would they like to meet up the next day too? If it’s going well, don’t be shy. Love is boundless – that’s the key to its success. A date is a blank canvas waiting for a spontaneous, painterly touch to turn into a masterpiece.

Ideally, this post will give you some confidence: now you know that we put our money where our mouth is, that we’ve been through the wringer more times than most. Every lesson, whether it makes you sing or sob, is worth having, and gets you closer to that magical meeting where your eyes light up, and everything in the future becomes possible.

It’s up to you now. Join FreeAndSingle today and get chatting to singles in your local area, free of charge.