Love Notions

Budding Romance

Jeff Zelmer, head of marketing operations at Urban Orchid, suggests a bloom to give no matter your Facebook status.

1. It's Complicated ↝ You haven't made it Facebook official yet, but fret not young lover, impress your bae with the birds of paradise. "It gives a cool, contemporary look," says Zelmer.

2. Married ↝ "Ninety percent of people want red roses in their bouquet, but we have noticed a lot of people moving beyond that," says Zelmer. Incorporating flowers from your wedding is a nice touch, but also consider pink or lavender roses instead of red — they stand for gratitude and regal majesty.

3. Dating ↝ If you're committed but not ready to put a ring on it, go big and bold with Gerber daisies. "It's very colorful, it's long-lasting," says Zelmer. "It's a large bloom, so it's impressive."

hearts attack

Two locals make the case for and against celebrating the affection-filled holiday.

FORGET IT!

Valentine's Day is just a day you're supposed to be nice and buy things and go out to dinner, and those "you're supposed to" things never make sense to me anyway. If my husband came home with a necklace or a bracelet for me, I would be like, What are you doing? That's weird. My husband is romantic every day. We cook every night and we cook really well, so going out to a restaurant isn't always better food for us. Every day should be special. — Terra Milo, 37, married

LOVE IT!

We get in such a mindset of that one person and that one meaningful relationship, and then we bypass all of the meaningful relationships we actually have. Valentine's Day is a representation of love and a celebration of that, and love comes in many forms. To be honest, the most important person you're going to date your whole life is yourself. So you should treat yourself. One Valentine's Day I took myself out on a date, and it was all about me.— Brian Schultz, 26, single

Fill your Valentine's Day with small, meaningful gestures, says Kathy Dawson, a licensed relationship coach. Feed the flame with these four steps.

Do: Cook a meal with foods tinted red or leave love notes on the bathroom mirror. "Make a memory," she says.

Buy: Don't stress over what to buy. "Give what you want to give," she says. "Just tell the story behind the gift because that's the real gift."

Eat: Try blindfolding your partner and feed him or her different food with various textures, tastes and smells, which can overload the senses for a sensual experience. "It's very romantic and kind of vulnerable," Dawson says.

Make: Compile a top 10 list of what you love about your partner, and then compare lists with one another. "People don't fall out of love, they forget out of love," she says. "You need to keep what you love about that person near you to look at it on a regular basis."

We check on a few former Cleveland Magazine Sexy Singles.

Tom Kondilas, 34

The 2009 Sexy Single met Liz Conway in 2005 while auditioning at Great Lakes Theater. But it wasn't until they played spouses in Plant Life at Convergence Continuum two years ago that sparks flew. The couple wed last September. "She's this creative ball of energy that works really well with who I am," he says.

Joanne (Montz) Wheeler, 46

In her 2011 Sexy Single story, she said her perfect date was golf and dinner. So Steven Wheeler organized a golf date at Mayfield Sand Ridge Club under the guise of a charity outing and hid a bottle of rose in his golf bag. "Everything I say, he just does it," says Wheeler, who married Steven last June. "He always puts me first."