Kiss on the first date, says dating expert

Matchmaking advice in Williamsburg

February 13, 2015 By Dipti Kumar Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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You’d expect hot women at an event like this — but not literally.

It was a sight you wouldn’t expect to witness at a singles event, especially when it’s all about putting your best foot forward. But for one young hopeful, it was her pencil-straight blonde hair that was on fire, and turned heads at the “What Women and Men Want” evening hosted by Match.com’s Stir Events at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg.

For the curious among us, the young woman’s hair caught fire from a tealight candle. A conversation starter right there.

A room full of 150 good-looking single men and women, ahead of the Valentine’s weekend, could mean many things.

How about the search for love, or perhaps a date?

In a culture in which online dating platforms determine relationships by an easy swipe left or right, the value of face time — and no, not the iPhone type — has taken a back seat.

To help make a better first impression, pre-date prep teams provided by SpaChicks were on hand to style, trim, file and brush out every visible sign of exhaustion.

Dare To Be Bold

Dating coach Nancy L. Slotnick, who was also present at the event, was busy offering nuggets of wisdom to hopefuls, gently coaxing men and women to put away false pretenses and stay natural and be bold.

How bold, you ask?

“Kiss on the first date,” Slotnick said to the Eagle, but cautioned to do so only if you have feelings for the person.

Slotnick, who has authored the book “Turn Your Cablight On: Get Your Dream Man in Six Months or Less,” had other tidbits of information to help singles make it through awkward first dates.

Here are her top recommendations:

Make good eye contact.
Smile, not the creepy kind.
Be punctual.
Engage in conversation.

Dating expert Nancy Slotnick Slotnick, who is also founder of the professional matchmaking company Matchmaker Café, also said it’s important to find the right place in a room to be close enough to a person of interest and to engage in conversation.

It seemed to work for Dianne Alphe, who is studying for a Masters in social work at Rutgers University in New Jersey, but still made the trip to Brooklyn to find her kind of man.

“You [have] to search within yourself first and then know who you are and know what kind of person you want to be with,” Alphe said.

While Alphe is open to the idea of meeting different people, Rebecca Corales — who came to the event from Queens — was more focused on being “aggressive” in her search for Mr. Right. She hopes to find a man who can make her laugh unconditionally and engage in conversation.

Perhaps the best piece of advice that Slotnick and other singles at the event offered is one that never goes out of fashion: Be yourself.