engaged!!!

I will first start by saying this. I am divorced. The reason that I mentioned this first is to let you know that I have seen both sides of marriage. I dated my wife for mere months before I asked her to marry me, and we got married almost 2 years later (big wedding and all that). We did, however, stay married for seven years, and we divorced on friendly terms. Dating is important. It is the time in which you get to know your other half. Some of the obvious things you want to look for is how well they treat you, and what their habits are, but the big one is "how do they treat their parents". You should have deep conversations about what you want in life, and what your partner wants in life. You see, you need to know that things will change when you are married. Your dating period will end, pretty much, when you have children, but date nights are great. It is going to take a lot of work to keep your sanity and your love alive. Whatever the books say love doesn't keep us alive. It allows us to deal with, tolerate, and forgive our family's faults. Love by itself is not enough. It needs to be tended to, as a child, and as a life-force of its own. I believe also that you needs to have the same religious beliefs (no matter what they may be). The reason for this is so that you have a unified goal when it comes to how you are going to live and raise your family. Marriage is sacred, and I look back on mine with disgust (disgust for me, not her) for not doing it right, and allowing it to fail. Marriage will last if you are both willing to do what needs to be done to get by. Needs are what should drive you, not wants. For example, We NEED to rent a 3bdr, 2bth house is actually a want, whereas we NEED to live in a place that we can afford, and has enough room for our family, is an actual need. Some people forget this and want to "keep up with Mr & Mrs Jones". That will lead to failure. You see, in your marriage, you will come to love, and to hate, the little things your spouse does. They will need to do the same. Stand by your spouse at all times, and when they are wrong, reprieve them later. When you and your spouse make decisions, keep to them. Do not waver when pressured by others. If your decisions are wrong, learn from them, and talk about them, but do not use your them as cannon fodder when you are fighting. Speaking of fighting, don't. Most fights begin with one side yelling, and the other side matching their yelling, and raising them a guilt trip When one of you yells, the other should ask them not to. If they do not stop, then leave the room, or the house, and let them calm down, this applies to you as well. Money problems don't kill a relationship, but the stress over them does. Don't get into debt, and don't buy new cars. These days you need a charge card to get things done, so use a Check Card (visa that money comes out of your checking). New cars are not worth it. The average person doesn't keep their car as long as it could be kept. A good car that is maintained can go for over 200,00 miles, with minor repairs. Wow, that was long, over-dramatically stated, and a bit much. But the bottom line is this: Ask yourself if you are TRULY willing to spend forever with this person, can you accept their shortcomings, and don't go berserk when you guys have no money. Learn to love, learn to forgive, but don't live with abuse, physical or verbal, and you'll have a long wondrous marriage.

i did not date my wife so long before we got married. it was God that showed me my wife in the dream and I believed Him and He led her to me and I asked her hand in marriage she agreed and we got married. we did our wedding last year's march and she is pregnant now.

We were together for about two and half years, our engagment will be two years and one month long, and it's about 6 months until the wedding. We never really "dated" though, we just were together. I believe marriage is very serious, but marriage is not necessary to be seriously committed.

My husband and I had dated for two years when we got married. We will be married for 3 years in February. We both see marriage as a serious thing.

My husband and I went on one date and the next day he had to leave to go out of town for his job and was gone for 2 wks, during that time we talked on the phone everyday for hours @ a time, he came back after the 2 wks and asked me to marry him (we had only gone on one actual date....lol) We got married 4 mths after meeting and we have been married for almost 16 yrs.

My husband and I dated for 3 years, then were engaged for another 4 years. We have been married 11 years. We lived together for about 6 of those first 7 dating/engaged years. We knew what we were doing when we got married. There weren't any doubts as we had pretty much worked through all our problems and differences by the time we were married. Very happy!

I dated my husband for about 3 and a half years before we got married. We have been married for just over 5 years now and going strong! I believe we have a very successful marriage. I wouldn't have married him if I wasn't absolutely sure that it was what I really wanted, and I jumped through a lot of hoops to figure it out. I love him dearly and can't imagine my life without him. Yes I think marriage is a very serious thing, and just like I did, I don't think you should marry someone unless you are absolutely sure that is what you want, and you are ready to make a lifelong committment.

I dated my wife for almost three years before we got engaged, and then another couple of months before we got married after that. We've been married almost a year; matter-of-fact, it will be a year on December 29th. I definitely think that marriage is a very serious thing. It's something that a lot of people don't take seriously anymore but I believe that it's always going to be important for me and my wife.

We dated for 7 months. We have been married for 7.5 years now. My BIL and SIL dated for 3 years, their marriage lasted less than 2 years.

My husband and I never dated. We were best friends for ten months and he asked me to marry him. I said, "YES!" We were engaged for three months and got married. We have been married for just over two years (this past September was our two year anniversary) and going strong! We date now, having fun about three weekends a month.

My husband and I have been together for 2 years and were just recently married. We didnt walk into it lightly and are very serious about overcoming any problems that might arise. However we have a son in common and just built a brand new house. All I have to say is if you can get through building a home together then you can get through anything..lol...and I mean anything. There were more fight in the building of this house than in the rest of our entire relationship. However we are all moved in and things are wonderful. We are planning the actual wedding ceremony in June of this coming year! Congrats and good luck!! :)

i have been happily engaged for over a year now... there is so much going on in our lives right now that we are taking out times and planning out everything to the tee... planning on the summer or in the winter of 08

My husband and I have been married for 5 years now...We hooked up in my first year of university and 6 months later I was prenant...but not before he asked me to marry him. We were engaged for a while about 2 years before we set a date to be married. We love each other and tons of people told us we did it way too soon but we still love each other after 8 years together and we have become closer over the years. Do you mean do you take marriage as a serious thing...We do, alot of people say it is just a piece of paper but it means alot to us. It holds us together, that day will stick in mind forever and when i remember the vows and everything it makes me smile. I got very lucky finding my husband...some people have to do it a few times to get it right i feel like i got it right the first time.

i dated my ex-girlfriend for 5 years,but then break apart.since i take marriage serious.and now i having my another girl friend for 1 year.and i am not sure whether we will be the couples or not god bless.

We never dated before we were engaged. We were friends at work. We had known each other for maybe 6 weeks and he came over to my place one night and we stayed up talking all night. The next night he proposed and moved in, just like that. We never went on an actual date, although I suppose the pizza and movie we watched that night he proposed could have been a date (it was at my apartment, though). We were engaged for 7 months before we were married. January 7, marks our 8th anniversary and we have 4 children together. Our first was born almost 7 months after the wedding. #2 was born 9 months (almost to the day) after our 1st anniversary and #3 was born 9 months after we celebrated our 2nd anniversary (which was a month late because of needing someone to watch the other kids). We kind of stopped celebrating after that, lol. We had our 4th baby last April. She is almost 2 now. The others are 7, 6 and 5. So...friends for 6 weeks, engaged on 1st date, married 7 months later, been together for 8 1/2 years, married for almost 8 years and 4 children. Still together.

Why are you frustrated? Help yourself and get your frustrations out.

we had a funny encounter before we got married. my husband was not my boyfriend. we JUST got married.just a two week-acquaintance and voila I slept with him. but we're still happy now-for five years, so far.

I was never engaged. We were living together and he got a new job which had crappy insurance. My now husband tore his ACL in his knee and needed surgery. His insurance at work only covered 70% of the surgery. I checked into my insurance and it covered all of the surgery minus a few doctors' fees. So we skipped the engagement and got married at the courthouse. We've been together 8 years, married 6.

I'm not married yet,but i have a boyfriend.He 's already have a job, and i'm a post-graduate student. We have been dating for 3 years now.and we have planned to get married as soon as my graduation.that's 2010,maybe.

My husband and I dated for 4 years and 2 months. Right now, we are married for 5 months but the preparation of our wedding was one year since we need to have enough time to save money for the wedding.