A beautifully lettered scroll is a welcome invitation to any party. There are numerous computer fonts that mimic the art of calligraphy. Read the rest of this entry »

Ways to cut wedding costs include:

• Holding a late afternoon ceremony. Not only does this give you both plenty of time to get ready, it also means you save money by only having to feed your guests once during the day. Read the rest of this entry »

This can be a small or a massive job depending on the style of your venue and wedding. If you are marrying in a stately home, chances are your surroundings will already be fairly salubrious. Alternatively, a church hall or marquee may need a bit of extra work to liven it up. Read the rest of this entry »

Along with a vat of sun cream and far too many clothes for just seven days, make sure you take the following: Read the rest of this entry »

As with other principles of surrender, I wasn’t perfect when it came to shutting down my mind-reading habit. Initially, I just rechanneled it. I had a habit of “interpreting” my husband for other people. He would say something, and I would pipe up and tell them what he meant. Read the rest of this entry »

I am not bald — my head is just a solar panel for a sex machine.

If women dressed for men, the clothes stores wouldn’t sell much — just an occasional sun visor.

Anyone who calls it sexual intercourse can’t possibly be interested in doing it.You might as well announce you’re ready for lunch by proclaiming,”I’d like to do some masticating and enzyme secreting.”

Sex is a bad thing because it crumples the bedclothes. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at someone first is a dead giveaway of interest. Let him look at you! If he doesn’t notice you first, he’s probably not interested. Keep walking, someone else will notice you.

Did you know that there are workshops designed to teach women how to make eye contact with men they find attractive? Save your money. It is never necessary to make eye contact. What about letting men know you’re receptive? We suggest simply smiling at the room (or the universe, if you will), and looking relaxed and approachable. That’s how to acknowledge a man’s attention, not by staring at him. Don’t look anxiously around for “The One.” That is certain to make anyone look the other way. There is nothing attractive about anxiety. Read the rest of this entry »

Fitzgerald first created this situation in This Side Of Paradise, a book to fall in love by, if ever there was one. As Rosalind and Amory fall in love . . .

. . . they were together constantly, for lunch, for dinner, and nearly every evening — always in a sort of breathless hush, as if they feared that any minute the spell would break and drop them out of this paradise of rose and flame. But the spell became a trance, seemed to increase from day to day; they began to talk of marrying in July — in June. All life was transmitted into terms of their love, all experience, all desires, all ambitions were nullified: ‘She’s life and hope and happiness, my whole world now.’ Read the rest of this entry »

But often when a man makes an ill-considered plunge into wedlock, it is more a question of his falling than being pushed. Such is the case of H. G. Wells’s hero in The History of Mr Polly. Vague feelings of dissatisfaction with his life, ambitions to open a shop, a sunny afternoon in the park and the presence of a girl he has been seeing for some time, all come together in one fatal impulse:

One did ought to be happy in a shop,’ said Miriam, with a note of unusual softness in her voice . . .‘I could be happy in a shop,’ he said.His sense of effect had made him pause. Read the rest of this entry »

The truly modern woman, however, does not just timidly bleat ‘marry me’, with a great big question mark. As imagined by the irreplaceable Joe Orton in his black comedy, Loot, she moves swiftly in on the kill, then goes for the jugular with the grace of a panther.

Fay has been the resident nurse during the last illness of

McLeavy’s wife:

FAY: You’ve been a widower for three days. Have you considered a second marriage yet?

MCLEAVY: A second wife would be a physical impossibility. Read the rest of this entry »