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Deciding to get married is one thing; actually planning for a wedding is another. As a matter of fact, planning for a wedding can be so complex it might seem like the equivalent of a military campaign to some — on a small-scale, that is.

Planning for a wedding can be very, very overwhelming. For this reason, much literature has been written on the subject, the book Amazing Wedding Planning included.

If you’re planning for a wedding, make it simple on yourself by learning to strategize. Here is what you will need for the project.

1. A list
Or more to the point, a series of lists. These will help you keep track of how everything and everyone is progressing.

2. Charts
These will be very handy for making some semblance of sense out of all the tiny details that go into a big wedding.

3. Worksheets
Keep these thorough, and keep these updated. This will be the ultimate tool for wading through locations and weeding through potential suppliers.

4. A little black notebook
The socialite has her little black dress. You have your little black notebook. Write everything you need to remind yourself of in your LBN. That way, you won’t miss out anything.

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Your mother could hardly believe what she’s seeing. “It’s eight weeks before your wedding, Jane. You should be up and about, meeting with suppliers.”

You smile at her without bothering to get up from where you are lounging with a wedding planner book in hand. “I am getting acquainted with suppliers, Mom. Just not physically yet.” You point to the title of the book, Amazing Wedding Planning. “This will save me big bucks and give a direction to my planning.”

Your mom doesn’t believe you, naturally, so you reel off what you had just learned. You tick off the many ways you can cut costs without compromising your perfect wedding.

1. The Dress
Special does not mean expensive - not always anyway. Buy your dress off the Internet or from a vintage dress shop. Better yet, get someone - an aunt, a friend - to make it for you!

2. The Invitations
Stick to simple fonts and simple, elegant cards. Not only are these economical, they will let you save on postage.

3. Flowers
Roses will cost you pretty pennies. Why not get dahlias instead? You may also get daisies, orchids, and lilies as these blooms are as friendly to the pocket as they are on the eyes.

Remember, it’s very difficult to stick to your wedding budget. Rise up to the challenge with a trusty wedding planner book.

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Is she cheating? You wonder for the nth time as she blows you a kiss and drives to work — on a Sunday. Is she cheating or is she putting in much-needed overtime?

Here are red flags that should clue you in what your girlfriend is up to. Is she cheating or is she simply hardworking?

1. She is always doing overtime. She isn’t getting paid for it, however, so you can’t help but wonder.

2. She now enjoys doing the laundry.

3. She showers as soon as she gets home.

4. She turns into a new person in bed and suddenly tries out positions you never even thought possible. The wheelbarrow? What’s that?

5. She makes frequent grocery runs; some take as long as five hours. This is strange considering she used to do the groceries only once a week and no more than an hour each time.
6. She has bruises and scratches she couldn’t have possibly gotten at work. She’s a secretary, after all. When you asked her about them, however, she blamed the cat. You didn’t even know the two of you had gotten a cat.

So, do all six signs mean she’s cheating? If you even bother to ask, then you’ve got to be the biggest idiot in the village. For a more complete listing of signs, though, check out the book How to Catch a Cheating Spouse.

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You’re elated and apprehensive at the same time. In two weeks’ time, you shall be in Paris, pitching an idea to the bigwigs of a very famous, very respectable fashion line. Your boss had already briefed you of everything that’s at stake. Sign the fashion house onto the agency and they would be the firm’s bread and butter for years to come. There’s no ifs and buts about it. You have to get the account. If you do, you’d be given not just a huge raise but also the possibility of being made partner.

What does the impending travel mean? One, you should come up with a fail-safe presentation plan. Two, you need to learn French fast.

Many English speakers harbor the notion that wherever in the world they go to, they can get by speaking nothing but English. They believe that for locals to understand them, all they have to do is enunciate slowly (think "Maaarket? Where is the maaar-ket?") and speak loudly. You can get away with this, too, but only if you stay within major hotels and resorts where at least one person speaks English. But once you venture out of these places - go to a restaurant, maybe, or take the public transport, you will find yourself seriously lost in translation — or lost in the process of getting one.

If your trip to France is to impress and hook, make the language barrier play out to your favor. Show the bigwigs just how hard you are trying to adjust to them, their language, and their culture. Learn French fast. This isn’t difficult to do as there are many online courses, Rocket French for one, that lets you learn the language quickly and well.

Bottomline? Basic ability in a foreign language is always an advantage. After all, as Ludwig Wittgenstein is said to have quoted, the limits of your language define the limits of your universe.

The world can be your oyster if you learn French fast.

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Getting married is as easy as baking pie; staying married is a different story. You can do the former with your eyes closed; you’ll have to do the latter with your eyes open – very, very wide open. After all, it takes two to tango, and it takes two to make a marriage work.

But is saving a marriage even possible in this time and place? The answer is yes; and you might even be surprised at how straightforward and uncomplicated saving a marriage can be, given commitment and some tender loving care.

1. Never have an affair.
Avoid affairs like the plague. Nothing destroys marriages like an affair – be it a one-time thing or a long-term fling.

2. Communicate.
Don’t scream. Don’t nag. Rather, talk. Saving a marriage would never be possible if all you do is speak in deafening volumes.

3. Show love.
What good is love if you don’t show it? Show love. Give presents or a massage. Take her out on a date. These simple things go a long way into saving a marriage.

4. Romance each other.
Never ever stop marveling at the miracle you found in each other. Go out on dates, and make each other feel important and loved.

5. Give each other space.
Never forget to give yourself some me time. You matter, just like she or he does, and just like the kids do.

Oh, and if you believe you need more tips, then maybe you should bring in the experts. Read Bring Back the Love of Your Life and discover more tips that work.

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Work, kids, soccer practice, ballet class, paying off the mortgage — these eat up so much of your time you often forget to make room for the one thing should have come first - how to save a marriage.

Given the number of divorces being filed every day, it is not surprising for how to save a marriage to be the subject of so many blogs, magazines, and books. One of them, the book Bring Back the Love of Your Life, provides an insightful look at just how easy it should have been for one to figure out how to save a marriage.

But how do you save a marriage, really? Here are three tips.

1. Give time.
No matter how busy you are, make time for your spouse. Woo her. Take her out to dinner. Talk to her. Spend at least an hour or two a week connecting and reconnecting with each other.

2. Never nag.
There is no justification for nagging, unless of course your house is burning. As a rule of thumb, you should leave the nagging to fishwives.

3. Be affectionate.
Write her a note. Bring her a rose. In little ways, show her just how important she is to you.

Remember, if firemen could rescue a burning building, there’s no reason you can’t rescue your failing marriage.

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You don’t have to be drop-dead gorgeous to make him fall in love. Incredulous? Take a page from history books.

The women men sacrifice entire armies for, start wars over, or swear eternal devotion to are not the type who would make men kneel in worship. They wouldn’t even be cast as extras in a Hollywood flick. They’re not necessarily tall, leggy, or seductive. They might even look barely passable. Still, they have a hold over their men so powerful they could make these men do anything — anything at all. Prince Charles adores Camilla Parker Bowles. Ernest Hemmingway pined away for Martha Gellhorn. Cleopatra fascinated diplomats and kings.

Clearly, while being born with good looks doesn’t hurt, neither do you need it to make him fall in love with you. You can be irresistible to men in many ways, some of which are highlighted in the bestselling guide The Women Men Adore… And Never Want to Leave.

But really, can you make him fall in love with you even though you’re just two pimples removed from Quasimodo? Yes, and here are some tips how.

1. Cultivate your mind.
Men are fascinated by women with something other than wax between their ears. Enthrall him with your mind. In time, he will realize what’s pretty is not always the beauty everyone else can see.

2. Do not be a leech.
Needy women might make men feel important but they can be quite tedious, too. An independent woman is a challenge to men - one that intrigues and fascinates.

3. Be lovable.
Endear yourself to him in every way possible. Don’t nag, and don’t be a bore.

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There are many things Camilla Parker-Bowles can’t teach you. She can’t teach you how to smolder; she doesn’t looking too hot herself. She can’t teach you to be fashionable; she needs help in that department, too. She can’t teach you the secret to timeless beauty; she’s old and it shows in every line on her face. There is one thing she can teach you, however: how to make a man fall in love.

How to make a man fall in love is a question that’s hounded women for generations. Who knew if Camilla read The Women Men Adore… And Never Want To Leave? What is certain is that not only did she get her prince, she got to keep him, too. If you want to know how to make a man fall in love with you even if you’re as old and weather-beaten as Camilla, read on.

1. Be a good conversationalist.
“Desire begins in the mind,” said the great courtesan Veronica Franco. Who are we to doubt her? Men far and wide showered her with money not just to sleep with her but for the opportunity to talk to her.

2. Be ready with a good pick-up line.
Camilla once tried this pick-up on Prince Charles: My great-grandmother was your great-great-grandfather’s mistress. How about it?

Get clever with your pick-up line and watch men go from disinterested to wildly intrigued.

3. Don’t commit; at least not just yet.
This is reverse psychology. Men want what they don’t have. They also treasure what they worked hard to earn.

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You’ve studied French online for a few days now. You don’t find learning French easy but you’d like to think you’ve improved a lot. Your accent may not be that of a native’s but you feel every inch the effortlessly chic Parisienne nonetheless. Had learning French been easy? Not at all! A foreign language is always difficult to master. But thanks to online courses, among them Rocket French, you not only understand French words now, you can even form sentences!

Give yourself an A for effort and top this off with presents that will make you Frenchified to the bone. Here’s what to buy so you could feel every inch the Francophile.

1. Cookbook
What better way to practice the words you learned than by putting them to practice with French cuisine? You have many cookbooks to choose from, such as Bruce Healy’s The French Cookie Book, Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris, and Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking — which comes in two volumes.

2. French perfume
Speak French, act French, and now smell French. Yes, you can smell like a French countryside or a French wine with colognes and perfumes from great fragrance makers like Guy Larouche, Cacharel, Giorgio Armani, and the like.

3. Ticket to Paris
A trip to Paris is the ultimate present for a Francophile. You did not find learning French easy, that’s a given, but time in Paris will show you it had been worth every session.

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Of all sad words in tongue or in pen, the saddest are these: that date could have been. Save yourself unnecessary heartbreak and save your life even by running public criminal background checks on all your dates.

At this time and place, is anyone ever truly safe? There are no guarantees in life and love, and the same holds true for dates. Do not agree to a second date without first running a public criminal background check via Gov-Records. Most of all, never say yes to a date that involves any of the following places.

1. His house
He promises to cook you dinner but are you sure you’re not dinner? You could end up inside the fridge for the next five years.

2. The woods
Picnics are wonderful but he’s not talking of fairytale-ish woods here, is he? For all you know, he might be thinking of the woods that are so out of the way the only people who go there are criminals running away from the law and the officers who are after them.

3. It’s a surprise.
Be very, very suspicious of surprises. After all, coffins, caves, and basements also count as "surprising" places.

Dating is difficult. Take precautions because the least that you could lose is your heart. Without running public criminal background check on dates, you might lose your life, not your heart.

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