If you are single, you go to weddings with love in your heart and marriage on your mind.

You scan the crowd for prospects. You recall awkward moments from weddings past. With a long sigh, you wonder if you'll ever tie the knot.

Time to maximize your single status by learning how to mix and mingle from Patti Stanger, Bravo's “Millionaire Matchmaker” and author of “Become Your Own Matchmaker: 8 Easy Steps for Attracting Your Perfect Mate.”

A third-generation matchmaker, Stanger was director of marketing for one of the oldest services around before starting the Millionaire's Club. Today, she boasts she has a 99 percent success rate and dances at every wedding she's invited to.

Weddings, Stanger says, are “a perfect place to meet a connection for a mate. Remember the six degrees (of separation). Everyone knows somebody who is single.”

The first rule is to utilize your connections, but don't rely on your family and friends to play matchmaker.

According to Stanger, “You can use your friends and family to find out information, but unless they are an expert matchmaker, I don't recommend it because they will overdo it.”

Arrive at the wedding dressed to impress. Your outfit, Stanger says, should be classy yet sexy. “Just enough to show a little bit of the assets.”

Leave the “plus one” at home. “Go (to the wedding) alone. The posse scares men away.”

How do you let someone know you're available without coming across as desperate or aggressive? Stanger advocates the “5-second flirt.” Catch the man's eye, hold his gaze for five full seconds while offering a radiant smile, and then flip your hair and turn away.

“Do not flirt with his friends. Do not act like you are playing the field,” Stanger says. Just be yourself, charming and engaging.

Don't throw in the towel if you happen to hit it out of the park with an awesome guy after three glasses of wine, two slow dances and 20 minutes of conversation — only to find out that he lives in California while you live in Nebraska.

“Love knows no boundaries,” Stanger says. If the relationship fizzles, it's because it was a bad connection from the start — not because you lived too far apart.

Stanger says that you should never lose hope. “Love is always in the air.”

Theresa Farrage is a freelance writer living in Omaha.

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By Theresa Farrage

Here are Patti Stanger's 10 tips for working your single status at a wedding.

• Look sexy, even if you upstage the bride.

• Make a wonderful toast to the couple that gets on camera. Mention that you would like to find true love just like the couple did.

• Use the “5-second flirt” from “Become Your Own Matchmaker” to get the attention of someone who intrigues you.

• Circulate the room; leave no stone unturned.

• Hang near the bar. That is generally where the men go.

• Dance with the groom and tell him you wish you could meet someone as great as he is.

• Make your way to the back of the pack when the bride throws the bouquet. And wear 7-inch heels so you can catch that bouquet.

• Be a mystery. Leave early as if you have somewhere to go. When you stay until the very end, you are the bitter maid.

• Absolutely do not make advances on a married man, get drunk, or cry during the couple's vows. You'll come across as desperate.