On a first date, you want to be confident, comfortable and show yourself off to the best advantage. A first date is in many ways like going for a job interview. There, you present yourself in the best light possible, dress in an appropriate manner and hope you say the right words and have the answers to get the job. You feel nervous beforehand and don’t know afterwards if the prospective employer finds you acceptable.

So it is the first time you go out with a new love interest. You think carefully about where to go, what to wear and how to behave. You feel nervous beforehand hoping everything goes well. Sometimes you feel like cancelling because the pain or anxiety doesn’t seem worth it. Because there is no intimate history between you, the first date is fraught with awkwardness.

Consider the impact of colour psychology within restaurants. Colour isn’t everything for the first date but it will certainly have a subconscious effect.

• a restaurant decorated in peach or apricot tones, or with terracotta floof tiles having peach/orange tones as a strong feature, or at least the cloths or serviettes in these colours, encourages conversation and closer communication. These colours are warmer and more romantic than blues and greens.

* A restaurant using a lot of yellow, even though it creates a happy friendly atmosphere could also increase the anxiety of both parties on a first date, or in someone who is tired after a busy day. Come back to it as the romance blossoms. (A yellow decorated venue works very well to stimulate ideas and conversation if a relationship becomes stale later on. It can also add some fun to a romance which may be suffering from being too serious and boring.)

• For the first date stay away from a restaurant which is decorated in red, unless your aim is to have a sexual relationship from the very beginning. Red stimulates the senses enormously. Do you want a long-lasting and romantic relationship? Don’t go to bed with your new friend on the first date. Let the relationship develop. Getting to know each other mentally and spiritually before you know each other physically gives you more chance of developing a lasting friendship. Once the flirting reaches a certain level, a red restaurant may be the prelude for your first sexual encounter.

• A restaurant decorated with pinks is not a good idea for the first encounter. It is too romantic. Keep it in mind for later on in the relationship.

• How about blue? No. It’s too cool, too contemplative and not stimulating enough for your first rendezvous unless the restaurant uses some warm tones as decorative touches with the blue. If your relationship later has tension in it, blue will help calm and release animosity and anxiety. Turquoise however, has a light-hearted air. It is more suitable at the beginning of the relationship than blue.

• A restaurant decor based on green is relaxing and rejuvenating after a busy day.

• Neutrals perhaps? Look at the cloths and napkins used to enliven the white, beige, cream or grey walls. Notice the colour of the plates, the flooring and the wall decorations. What you are aiming for is something warm and inviting and most important, conducive to conversation. Is the food and its presentation important? Of course but as is the way with intimacy, food becomes almost secondary to the emotional communication.

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