Ashley Madison: Be Careful What You Put Online

Here at RSVP Dating Agency and Singles club, our team of expert matchmakers likes to keep up-to-date with all the recent developments in the world of dating and research into the psychology of looking for love. It was therefore hard to miss the collective sharp intake of breath as hackers threatened to release details of users of Ashley Madison affairs website, including ‘profiles ... secret sexual fantasies ... real names and addresses’.

Whilst we’re unlikely to be condoning affairs as a way to a long and happy relationship, the whole episode provides a salutary reminder of what not to share online. It’s at moments like these that the privacy and protection of offline dating agencies comes to the fore.

RSVP offers members a completely confidential service. Thanks to RSVP's interview and selection process, you can rely on RSVP members being genuinely single. Members can also rely on us keeping their details to ourselves; they’re not published on any websites. We believe that looking for a relationship should be a private, reflective experience, and not something to be shared with all and sundry.

Our message to the millions of genuinely single internet daters out there is simple: if you want to be sure your dating journey will be kept private, trust it to RSVP. Ashley Madison users, regrettably, we’re unlikely to be able to help.

Men: How to make a first impression that gets you noticed

Preparing for a first date can be nerve-racking, but when you join Dating Agency and Singles Club RSVP, there is lots of help at hand. Whilst it’s what's on the inside that counts, first impressions are paramount when meeting a potential partner for the first time and it can be a challenge deciding what to wear! If you really want to wow a lovely lady, taking care about your appearance also shows that you respect her enough to make an effort. As this handy article emphasises, it is important to put some thought into how you present yourself to the woman who very well might turn out to be your life partner. If you expect the lady to make an effort then you should also be willing to do so in return.

Our friendly team of matchmaking experts are always willing to help with advice and tips about how best to impress the lady of your dreams but we also have our Image Coach, Sue Donnelly, on hand if you are after some more professional assistance.

For now, here are a couple of helpful pointers:

• Dress for the occasion – Depending on the choice of date scenario, consider where you’ll be meeting and what you’ll be doing. If you are just meeting for drinks, as a lot of our RSVP Gold and Platinum members do then dressing casually but smart is the way to go. If you are doing something more active like a walk or a cycle ride, then it is best to wear something you can move easily in.
• Be clean and comfortable – You don’t have to wear a DJ for a first date and it is definitely confidence-boosting to wear something that you feel comfortable in but do make sure that your clothes fit well, do not show signs of wear (such as loose frays or marks) and that both you and your clothes are squeaky clean.
• Groom to go – On top of being nice and fresh, it is worth considering being clean-shaven and making sure your hair is neat and trimmed. Statistics show that women prefer clean-shaven men even if TV and films show otherwise. Also, make sure you don’t swim in after-shave as anything too overpowering may keep the lady at a distance – the opposite of what you want!

Now remember, dressing for a first date is important but don’t forget our RSVP Exclusive Singles Events too! You should treat every event you attend like a possible first date, as you never know, the lady of your dreams may also be attending!

A taste of RSVP Summer Singles Events

RSVP's Exclusive Summer Singles Ball on 13 June marked the beginning of a summer filled with lots of brilliant singles events and singles activities to keep RSVP Singles Club members happy and meeting many new single people in relaxed informal situations. With a plethora of lovely country singles walks to take in the sunshine and a host of singles lunches and singles dinners to keep everyone well-fed and watered, we've also included some RSVP Exclusive events - not generally available to the public - to make sure all our singles have lots to keep them entertained this summer.

• If you’re an outdoorsy person who likes to enjoy the warmer weather doing something active and adventurous, then you should become a Tree Ninja for a day! Combining lovely countryside and beautiful views, this event takes in both low and high ropes through the trees and promises to be a lot of fun!
  
• Things are heating up for history buffs, with a guided tour of the War, Plague and Fire exhibition at the Museum of London. Everybody needs a day out of the sun somewhere stimulating, so you can take in this interesting tour, which will surely give everyone who attends lots to talk about (and maybe a topic for Mastermind!)
  
• If the way to your heart is through your stomach or you’re just someone who loves to cook, then check out our Bread and Pizza Cookery course! You will get to try some useful cooking techniques and hopefully woo some taste buds, including your own!
  
• RSVP members looking for singles events in London can also enjoy the last of the longer days as well as a couple of interesting beverages on our Historical Pub Tour. Sate your thirst for knowledge and a cold drink at the same time, as well as making some nice friends in some of the most interesting pubs in London!

If you are interested in booking on to any of these great occasions, call us on 01572 774882 to get started – places won’t be free for long!

The power of positivity

At RSVP Singles Club and dating agency, we know how much time and effort people invest in finding a suitable partner. One big reason people join the RSVP dating agency is to save all that time and effort and have our savvy team of matchmakers do the hard work for them. But some people put all their focus on specifying this yet-to-be-found future partner at the expense of what they might do themselves to improve their chances.

Writer, Anne-Marie Wiesman has suggested a number of ways that you can attract healthier relationships. Her first four points are all about looking internally to make sure that you are ready for a new relationship; she feels that maintaining a positive self-image is key to a happy relationship and this can be nurtured by being prepared to treat yourself well and starting a kind inner-dialogue. Just by linking your idea of self-worth with positives and, most of all, letting go of any mistakes you have made in the past and not blaming yourself for them, you can open up to a new and positive relationship.

The matching team here at RSVP are all experienced in talking about relationships and happy to discuss any worries you might have, to help you build that necessary positive self-image. Platinum Dating PAs are able to really give some insight into romantic scenarios through their extensive knowledge about dating and from their nurturing of their personal relationships with their Platinum members. Additionally, if low self-confidence stems from a lack of self-belief regarding physical appearance, we can also refer you to our, Dating Image Coach Sue Donnelly, author of several books about personal image and how to improve it. Together, we can help you prepare yourself so that you’re ready for when that special someone comes along.

The soul mate quest

Here at dating agency and soulmate finders RSVP, we think everyone deserves that chance to find someone special. Our dedicated matching team and Platinum Dating PAs work night and day providing opportunities for RSVP members to meet other eligible singles, with the hope that one of them may be what is classically called ‘the one’.

Now, we realise that a lot of people have a very specific idea of what they’re looking for in a partner and sometimes find it hard to stay open-minded. We have learned through our many years of accumulated match-making experience that “the one” is rarely a carbon copy of the person someone has in their mind; instead, he/she is a living, breathing person with strengths and weaknesses, just like their own.

An article at The Power of Positivity says that the main signs you have found your soul mate are that they are supportive and share similar values and morals. Sharing those fundamental values – such as attitudes on family and finances – are much more important predictors of having found your soul mate than having a couple of hobbies in common. You may find that if your partner enjoys watching Rugby while you are more of a Wimbledon fan, you end up supporting each other and enjoying two different activities. One of the aspects of dating that some people find equally daunting and enjoyable is that you are often exposed to different interests; you never know, you may find that you start to enjoy something new!

The RSVP matching team are always on hand to offer advice about dating and a supportive word when our members need it. The quest for a soul mate can be a difficult one, but if positivity and open-mindedness are at the fore-front, it’s a quest with a high success rate. 

Being different is good for your dating life

At RSVP singles club and introductions agency, many of our members have busy professional lives and are successful in the respective fields. To climb to the top of the career ladder, you have to be a forward thinking individual but does being non-conformist do anything for your love life?

A study recently published by the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin was designed to test the assumption that women like non-conformist men while men like conformist women. In actual fact, it was found that both genders prefer partners who stick out a bit and voice their opinions rather than following the crowd. Mic commented on these findings in a recent article by illustrating how it is better to be like Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice than her complacent sister Jane.

Elizabeth is feisty and not afraid to speak her mind and is attractive in her happiness to do her own thing. Unlike other ladies of the time, Elizabeth was happy to trample through muddy fields by foot instead of taking a carriage.

In our modern times, muddy walking might not be seen as the height of individuality but it is a lot of fun! The 30 RSVP singles events every month feature a variety of activities, including a different Sunday walk every week, rain or shine where there is plenty of opportunity to get your boots muddy like Elizabeth Bennet! If that’s not your thing, we also have a range of adrenaline-boosting events from Helicopter Lessons to Indoor Skydiving, which surely give you the chance to stick out from the crowd, whilst being great fun at the same time. Request a sample RSVP singles events calendar today. 

Voicemails and dating

As a responsible dating agency and singles club, at RSVP we always aim to equip our members with what it takes to get the best from dating. And, at some point in many dating scenarios, you’re likely to have to make contact with your potential date by phone.

If you type into your favourite search engine anything connected with “dating” and “voicemails”, you will find a multitude of self-help articles, forums and postings ranging from expressing anxiety to the simple how-tos. In this communication-savvy age of social media, it’s surprising that there is still so much worry about leaving voicemails, technology that has been around since the 1970s.

Perhaps due to the surplus of different methods of communication, the need to leave voicemails has declined, and this is even true in the business world, with many like Michael Brandenburg writing blog posts about the waning moon of voicemails and how phone calls are normally anticipated due to a preliminary form of communication coming first.

At RSVP we advise our members to manage that first contact with their matches. Once the RSVP matching team has selected the match and gained permission from both parties to give one of them a phone number, some of our new members may be baffled as to how to proceed, until they read our members guide. The advice we give is to always send a nice friendly text to the other person to introduce yourself and to arrange a good time to call. After all, many of our members are busy working professionals, and it is considerate to find a time when both people are able to give their attention to the phone call, which ideally would be the first of many. The other upside of this is that by texting first, you can avoid the dreaded voicemail!