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Anniversaries & vows

Anniversaries & Vows are much the same.  They are both a sign of commitment to each other which is celebrated in various ways.  By saying vows to one another you are celebrating that commitment with a wedding or ceremony.  A wedding is not about how much money you spend, where you have it or who to invite.  It is about showing all your friends and family the commitment you have for each other. Stop stressing about who to invite and how you can’t not invite that person for f...

What is marriage?

We all have different ideals, different needs, different dreams about what marriage is.  Sometimes I wonder if those dreams of ours are founded on what we hope to ‘get out of it’.  What will marriage ‘do for me? or ‘give me’?  Googling “what is marriage” turns up a number of definitions like this one:  the legally or formally recognized union of a man and a woman (or, in some jurisdictions, two people of the same sex) as partners in a relationship.  Then ot...

Time out

I’m asked almost every week at some point why I think I’m still single, and I never know how to answer. Well-meaning friends have dished up every piece of advice they know. I’ve researched the topic over several years, and the conclusion I have come upon, as a determining factor is….time. Being a long term ‘singley’ doesn’t guarantee that I know everything there is to know about being single (contrary to popular belief). Yes, I’m a body language ‘expert’ and yes, I do kn...

Romance statistics

I have always been curious to learn what the Romance statistics are for couples who have added more Romance to their relationship.  What did the statistics show and who are the dominate Romancers?  Are women more likely to be more Romantic than men? I am encouraged by what I discovered and as we promote more Romance in relationships, I believe that we are on the right track to helping couples achieve the same.  I have collected information from two different sites, one of which in...

Yes to Love

I launched my new body language workshop on attraction at the beginning of April in the Bay of Plenty.  It’s called ‘Yes to Love” - with the operative word being ‘LOVE’. I say that, because it is my recent experience from dealing with clients that there is a somewhat ‘jaded’ viewpoint when it comes to the modern day attraction and dating scene.  I teach my clients in this new offering how to recognise the signs of attraction and use it to their advantage, but with a viewp...

Together

In December we had a momentous occasion – we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!  It seemed it might never happen.  You get married and the babies start appearing and suddenly you’re head down in the daily routines and don’t look up for much at all.  We had recently bought a Bach, so the dreams I had carried over the years of a romantic getaway overseas really had to be down-scaled.  And I was at peace with that.  Yet we still wanted to mark this occasion!&...

Love after loss

My husband and I sadly lost our first baby in June 2011, he died at 27 weeks of pregnancy.  We were extremely fortunate to fall pregnant after we got married at the end of November 2010.  We planned to start our family after we were married, so things changed very quickly. The day we discovered our son no longer had a heartbeat, the first person I looked at was my husband, Ryan.  He had tears in his eyes, I knew from looking at him that the words I had just heard were tr...

Love Language

Do you know what your love language is, or that of your significant other or of your children's?  Once you have ascertained which one it is, your relationships with others will improve exponentially.  Dr. Gary Chapman, internationally respected marriage and family life expert and author of ‘The Five Love Languages’ talks about how happiness in a marriage is the by-product of feeling loved.  When we [sic] are dating and in that euphoric state commonly referred to as “being in...

Romantic movies

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Cheap and nasty

The definition of cheap involves words such as inexpensive, economical, reasonable, of little worth, shabby, bargain, budget and discounted.  Is that how you want your Wedding to be remembered as?  Bargains are great if received in the right context.When shopping for clothes I am more than happy to receive a bargain at a discounted rate as clothes are worn for the purpose to cover my body.  There are no long term lasting effects unless I am photographed in public wearing my pajama...

Romantic Quiz

Take this quiz to determine whether you are a Regular Casanova, a Creative Genius or a Work in Progress and in need of assistance in adding more Romance to your relationship....

Not mind readers

I love Romance.  Flowers, little notes left around for me to find, small inexpensive gifts... The works.  He isn't this kind of man.  Don't get me wrong, he loves me, and is romantic, but not conventionally.  And in my earlier days of marriage, it meant I had to change my thinking. In my observations, our gender kind of secretly expects our significant others to be 'mind-readers'.  We want them to 'just know' what we need.  We think they should always desire to unde...

Thank you Ryan

My husband, Ryan and I have been together for nine years now.  This time seems to have flown by, after all doesn't time fly when you are having fun?  I am married to my best friend, he knows me so well and I think I know him pretty well too.  In these nine years, (in no particular order) we have visited England four times, got engaged and married, bought a house and had three children, phew!  Plus we have supported each other through my Post Natal Depression (PND). I wanted t...

Authentic Self

For many people, finding love, someone you want to be with, and share your space, life, and yourself with, is a huge accomplishment.  The temptation to let the time you take for yourself slip away when you’re in a relationship can be very enticing.  So, how do you balance the different aspects of your life, and still have time to be your authentic self? My 'Live and Work in your Element' workshops introduce the idea of putting yourself first as a pivotal point of the journey towards ...

Divorce Statistics

In New Zealand, 42% of marriages end in divorce.  Is this statistic correct?  That means that almost half of all marriages end in divorce.  Surely that can't be right.  I decided to investigate this alarming statistic to find out if this really was the case.  Scrolling through my Facebook news feed on a rather blustery day in January I came upon a post that caught my eye.  "This company will pay for your wedding for FREE, but......", intrigued by this offer I clicke...

​My 40 Year Old Love - Infinity Plus One

Tuesday 10th June.  Today I am studying.  I'm attempting to write 700 words about rites of passage.  With a quick distraction courtesy of FB, I came across a sweet story of a man still loving his wife after 75 years of marriage and he writes a simple song about it one month after she died. While watching the video, I kept thinking how sad that she didn't get to hear his poignant words of love.  The Internet is full of stories like this isn't it?  Mostly we only stop in t...

Post Natal Depression

My husband (Ryan) and I met in February 2007, we got engaged in December 2008 and we were married at the end of November 2010.  Almost nine years together and five years of marriage, during these five years we have had three children.  Sadly our firstborn son was stillborn at 27 weeks of pregnancy in June 2011, the following year we were blessed with our daughter and in April 2014 we had our second son.  Here is my account of how my relationship changed through Post Natal Depressi...

Wedding Consultant

The team here at Romantic Gestures™ NZ would like to take this opportunity to explain what a Wedding Consultant is and how hiring one can save you time, money and stress when planning the most important day of your life. What is a Wedding Consultant?The term ‘Wedding Consultant’ encompasses more narrowly-focused positions, such as consultants who help set up gift registries at retail outlets or those who help with the selection of a gown.  Wedding Planners and Wedding Coordinators...

Perfect Marriage Proposal

Marriage Proposals are a sign of commitment, Love, trust, respect and companionship.  One person has decided they want to spend the rest of their life with their partner and have decided to propose to them thereby confirming their love for each other with a ceremony in front of friends and family.  Unless of course you have chosen to escape from the drama and elope.  "Where marriage was once a process of legitimizing offspring, establishing rights of either party, control over one...

Body Language - Cracking the Code

Did you know that only 7% of what we communicate is verbal?  The other 93% is where the magic really lies in cracking the code to understanding body language and micro-gestures.  I teach people how to recognise and de-code body language.  It’s my way to give back to the world - because people deserve amazing relationships.  Finding, and maintaining love isn’t easy.  Even with the best of intentions, we miss clues that people send out to us, and squander opportunities...

Are you with the right partner?

Late last year I came across this article on the internet (Author Unknown) and felt I had to share it with you.  It resonates exactly what we here at Romantic Gestures™ believe.  Please feel free to share this with your friends and family too. During a seminar, a woman asked, “How do I know if I am with the right partner?”  The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, “It depends.  Is that your partner?”  In all serious...

Making Excuses

Do you work in a fast paced environment and find yourself making excuses? When we started this business I had the dream of it taking off and making a lot of money. What I never factored in was how busy I could be after a year or so. You would think having over 60 Romantic Getaways under your business umbrella would be relaxing and luxurious and one big holiday, I was so wrong. I also have commitments outside of the business as I am in the Defence Force which is also a very fast paced environment...

A Romantic Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a wonderful time to show the person you love how much you truly care.  Flowers, candy and jewellery are always nice, but nothing compares to spending some quality, Romantic time together.  Since Valentine's Day 2016 is on a Sunday, plan a whole day or weekend's worth of activities that you are your love will never forget.  To get you started, thanks to our friends over on RomanticGetawayTravel.com - whom we have written an article for previously, here are 10 Rom...

Valentines Day Statistics

With Valentine's Day fast approaching I wanted to know what gifts were popular choices for people to give their sweethearts and came across some interesting statistics.  These statistics were complied in 2012 across the US and surprisingly the most popular gift choices have remained the most Romantic gifts for the past several decades.Flowers, cards and chocolates remain the most popular Valentine's Day gift choices with evenings out, jewellery and bath products lagging behind.  Flower...

NZ Woman's Weekly Article

In case you missed reading about us in the media in a recent edition of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, here is the article. Special thanks go to Aroha Awarau from NZWW for allowing us to tell our story, to Bernadette Peters for photographing us and to Christiana Cleland for doing Natasha’s makeup. We hope you enjoy reading it just as much as we enjoyed telling it.“My husband Russell (35) and I have been deeply in love with each other ever since we met on an internet da...