La Femme has won several awards for their designer dresses and they have been featured in a variety of ... Read More »]]> Prom season will be here soon and I can’t wait to see all the beautiful dresses made especially for this unforgettable night. I remember running around all over town trying to find the perfect dress.  La Femme has a huge selection of dresses not only for prom, but for many other occasions as well including wedding, cocktail, evening, and even mother-of-the-bride dresses. Styles range from short and sassy to long and elegant with so many different colors and beautiful prints.

La Femme has won several awards for their designer dresses and they have been featured in a variety of magazines. Looking through their gallery I fell in love with so many of their pieces. I would have a very hard time choosing if I were getting ready for prom. Prices range from $200-$800. Look below for a small taste of what they have to offer and to see more go check out their full collection at http://www.LaFemmeFashion.com/.

Photos by La Femme

Forget waiting for Mr. Right! You can go out and find “The One” yourself when you follow the Get Married This Year plan. Celebrated relationship expert Dr. Janet Blair Page has distilled the very best of her acclaimed dating class at Emory University — the one covered by CNN, FOX, Good Morning America, and The Early Show – into this one-of-a-kind book. She’s helped bring thousands of singles true love — and now it’s your turn!

Your To-Do List This Year: Today: Get to know yourself.  Next Month: Figure out what you really want from your man. Month 3: Learn ... Read More »]]> The Proven Program Trusted by Thousands of Happy Couples — Now in Print!

Forget waiting for Mr. Right! You can go out and find “The One” yourself when you follow the Get Married This Year plan. Celebrated relationship expert Dr. Janet Blair Page has distilled the very best of her acclaimed dating class at Emory University — the one covered by CNN, FOX, Good Morning America, and The Early Show – into this one-of-a-kind book. She’s helped bring thousands of singles true love — and now it’s your turn!

Your To-Do List This Year:
Today: Get to know yourself. 
Next Month: Figure out what you really want from your man.
Month 3: Learn how to get out of your own way. 
Month 6: Take the field and find the right guy. 
Month 10: Make the big decision. 
Month 12: Get Married!

The Power is yours — and with Dr. Page’s guidance, you’ll use that power to meet and marry your Perfect Guy. From designing the ultimate Spouse Shopping List to getting the right guy to commit, this tried-and-true method gives you the blueprint you need to take charge of your love life and find love that can last a lifetime — in only 12 months or less!

Tell us a little more about yourself and your background.

My writing is based on my knowledge of the thousands of students and clients that I’ve known in the last 22 years of teaching and 30 years of private practice in NYC and Atlanta and my own experiences thrown in as well. Having been both widowed and divorced, I’ve re-married and re-married, and stayed mostly very active when I was single with a few deserts in there as well. I believe I’ve heard or lived about every possible variation on the subject of finding a dream mate. I can be terrible at following my own advice and know I’ve broken every rule so am well aware that not following the action plan I’ve proscribed leads to a dead end or worse. But it seems only fair that I am my own guinea pig. It does work.It is tough out there but it can be fun too particularly if you feel you are winning. With this book, I had the opportunity to reach and help far more singles than has been possible through my practice, teaching, and speaking and have been thrilled with it’s reception.

In 1984, I started teaching a course at Emory University in Atlanta called “Before a Year Is Over, I’ll Be Married,” which was a hit from the beginning. The way people meet and date has changed drastically over the last three decades, but the problems haven’t changed at all: single men and women feel like they’re not meeting enough eligible people, or if they are, they keep facing the same relationship love blocks over and over again. As psychotherapist — divorced, widowed, and remarried myself — I was able to empathize. I have personally been on the same path and have my own backlog of bloopers but I’ve also experienced the joys of a good marriage, and it’s the most wonderful way I can think to spend a life. This book offers the experience I have gathered. I wrote it in hopes that more singles can learn from the mistakes my clients, students, and I have made before they make their own and will be able to use it to find a happy, healthy, and lasting relationship with the mate of their dreams.

I’ve seen three big changes in the class as the years have gone by. My student population diversified, with larger numbers of gay and lesbian participants, minorities, and newly single students in their fifties and sixties. I find this tremendously rewarding because the principles in my program can definitely be used in gay relationships and you are never too old for love. Also, the men in the class have become more and more open and vocal about their own difficulties in finding a mate. From listening to my male students and clients, I’ve gained a 30-year insider’s view of what men really feel about women, what they like and hate about dating, and what they need from and are willing to put into commitment. By now, I might have more mental locker room time than most men on the street. I’ve concluded that women tend to box men into fear-based stereotypes instead of going for the truth. I tried to help women understand those stereotypes and let them in on what men are really thinking. I tried to re-direct everyone’s thinking toward “hope is not a strategy”, “a date is not a confession booth”, “de-cluttering a love life by getting rid of deadwood is essential”, “flirting is mandatory”, and “whatever bait you used to catch your mate has to be kept on that hook forever”.

The first step is self-assessment, recognizing negative traits — over-analyzing, self-pity, resentment — these attitudes and behaviors make it harder to live with one’s self and can scare off potential partners. A quick return to positivism may be a single’s most important asset. Trading in negativity for positivity is huge and has to happen for someone to believe in themselves as attractive and desirable. The reasoning behind this is simple. Confidence is sexy and if you don’t know who you are, you will have trouble selling yourself as a product. You’ll lack credibility and seem untrustworthy. Lack of confidence also causes an underestimation of your own market value. Attitude and effort are more important than natural good looks because feeling powerful is feeling attractive. And people who feel attractive attract.

Another pressing reason for positive self-regard is that many times people choose someone whose self-esteem matches their own. So if their self-worth isn’t very high, they choose a partner with low self-worth and most people don’t want to marry into a group therapy unit. Another danger is that with low self-worth matches is that they are possible mates now but won’t fit if either one of them gains self-esteem or self-worth in the future!

One of my alumni, Steve, a 37-year-old children’s book author, looked like central casting’s idea of a bad date. He was 6’4″ and so skinny it looked like a high wind could blow him away. He wore a rumpled shirt, garish tie, old jeans and a windbreaker, and exuded the rather frightening notion that he would actually go out on a date dressed that way. Not high market appeal ad he was shy but “good guy” was written all over him. Steve came to class courtesy of his mother who had given him a care package containing my class, as well as enrollment in a dating service, and a gift certificate for a nice department store (specifying that it was only good in the men’s department, not the electronics section). On top of the gift box in large letters, his mother had written, “I WANT GRANDCHILDREN!” Subtle woman, but she got him there.

By the end of the last class Steve had transformed his look and the way he presented himself. He had committed himself to being truly open to meeting new women. Afterwards three women encircled him to talk but a forth cut through and asked him to go have a cup of coffee then and there and now they’re married.

Another alumna, Linda, a lovely 54-year-old widow with a beautiful smile, came to class because her son had put a registration slip in the toe of her Christmas stocking with a note that said, “Now you can take care of this before Valentine’s Day. Dad would have wanted you to give some other lucky guy a chance.” She was still grieving but also afraid to start over. Not having had a date in 30 years, she felt very shaky about her ability to compete or face rejection. Linda worked with me individually to finish the major part of her anger and pain about losing the man who was her life’s center and to re-gain a concept of herself as an individual.

Now married to a widower who blends beautifully with her large family and keeps an even bigger smile on her face, she told me the class was one of the best gifts she’s ever received. I couldn’t ask for a better endorsement!

Stop Being Your Own Worst Enemy. Singles sabotage themselves without even knowing it. Humans have an amazing capacity for creative avoidance. I’ve seenamoro-phobics and commitment-phobics dig some really deep holes for themselves using everything from an obnoxious demeanor to homeless person couture for first dates. Then they doubt their ability to find, create and maintain loving relationships and it’s because they’ve been getting in their own way! The most common reason for not getting what you say that you want is simple ambivalence. Many claim they want a lifelong mate but are giving a perfect impersonation of someone actively working hard to stay single. It’s important to determine if you truly want a dream mate or a dead end before you start “trying”.

© 2012 Janet Blair Page, PhD author of Get Married This Year: 365 Days to “I Do”

Janet Blair Page, PhD, author of Get Married This Year: 365 Days to “I Do”, is a psychotherapist with more than thirty years of experience in private practice in New York and Atlanta. She teaches at Emory University and has been in the New York Times, Glamour and on CNN, FOX, Good Morning America, and The Early Show. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
For more information please visit http://drjanetpage.com/

Far from the traditional long wedding gowns, Ilker has produced a ... Read More »]]> “I was born into the fashion world” says Seckin Ilker, Turkish Designer who is presenting her works from Turkey all the way to Nolcha Fashion Week in New York. The fashion genes passed down from Father to Daughter have now become international. Appearing will be her new Fall/ Winter 2012 Collection featuring a romantic color palette, as well as her bridal extension “Silhouette Bride”, which includes contemporary pieces of wedding dresses and evening dresses. Seckin Ilker describes her new collection, inspirations, and her very own style.

Far from the traditional long wedding gowns, Ilker has produced a “mini” wedding dress in her extension. Ilker describes this rare shape of the dress as an “A-line couture fit” and further describes the personality of the dress as “a symbol of freedom and breaking the boundaries.” Ilker does not only design fashionable ready-to-wear clothing, she interprets the emotions fusing through the gowns. When asked how she conveys emotions like “purity” and “innocence” through her new collection she said “I can’t describe it, you have to experience it. When someone walks in these dresses, it looks more like angels are flying. That is pureness, that is innocence.”

Getting to know a fashion designer before her line hits the runway makes the designs more inspiring and fascinating. Ilker uses her own design of “jackets and suit tops” as her signature conservative style. Her favorite colors to wear are “tones of pink, black, blue, and red.” Her advice on making an outfit personalized would be “to have the right head scarves, shoes, purses, and glasses.” All of these items make or break an outfit, but doing it the right way can make your outfit excel!

Seckin Ilker’s collection was shown at Nolcha Fashion Week on Thursday, February 9^th at 9:00 pm in New York. Ilker says “NYC has a lot to see from us, and we have a lot to learn from NYC.” Happy and excited to expand her collection international from Istanbul, Turkey to New York City, and she states that “in time, you will witness the influence of the city on our future collections.”

Turkish Designer Seckin Ilker produces haute couture fashion, as well as wedding and cocktail gowns. Seven years ago, her fashion industry took off when she opened up her own Seckin Ilker Fashion House in Istanbul, Turkey. She is expanding internationally and opening new stores during 2012/ 2013 in New York, Paris, Riyadh, Jeddah and Jakarata in 2012/2013. See her designs at her website http://www.seckinilker.com/ and at Nolcha Fashion Week.

Additionally, attendees will play wedding trivia and watch footage of other famous weddings–both real and fictional. For those who want to go all out, guests are invited to wear old bridesmaid dresses–the one wearing the most unique dress will win a prize.

Best of all, ... Read More »]]> Do you enjoy weddings? Are you fascinated by royalty? Watch a live theater screening of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding with like-minded folks at Manhattan’s Paley Center for Media on Friday, April 29. The event will begin at 5:30 a.m., but you can keep your energy up with the tea and scones that will be provided.

Additionally, attendees will play wedding trivia and watch footage of other famous weddings–both real and fictional. For those who want to go all out, guests are invited to wear old bridesmaid dresses–the one wearing the most unique dress will win a prize.

Best of all, this fun event is free–but make sure you reserve a spot at the Center’s event page.