<p>We were dating for a little over two years before we got engaged, and it was another 14 months to the wedding. We had been living together basically since we started dating, and first discussed marriage (accidentally*) after about a month together. </p>
<p>We’ve had people judge us because we got married young for Northeasterners in the present-day (I was 22, he was 21), but after two years, we couldn’t be happier with the choice we made to get married. We like being married to each other.</p>
<p>*I asked him if I could be his Nobel Prize-winning trophy wife, then realized what I’d said and turned beet red. He said I could be.</p>
<p>Dated 1 1/2 years before getting engaged, but never lived in the same state until after we were married. People told me we were making a mistake. </p>
<p>Our first date was on a Friday, I moved into his apt. on Saturday, and on Sunday I told him I knew we would marry (he told me I was crazy). We got engaged about 2 1/2 yrs. after that, and married about 6 months later. I’ve had 31 1/2 years of getting to say “I told you so!”</p>
<p>You might not guess from this story that both my husband and I were real goody-two-shoes apart from the way our relationship began. As I’m fond of saying, sometimes you just know… Still, I’d kill my kids if they did this!</p>
<p>First met at 17 and 19, a couple of (weird) dates, next met again at 21, some sparks but there were other parties involved, a year later we got together, lived tog. a year, then got married. H says it’s been 27 years but I don’t believe him.</p>
<p>Went on an accidental date in September 2000. Engaged October 2006. Married January 2008. Celebrating our second anniversary on Tuesday (in Belize!). =)</p>
<p>Six weeks after we met DH proposed. Due to my dad’s chemo we were engaged for 13 months before we married. It will be 24 years of marriage in May, and my dad is still on Chemo, though he did have a 22 year hiatus.</p>
<p>Met H when I was a freshman in HS and he was a sophomore, dated on and off, dated others in college, he asked me out again the week after I graduated. Engaged two years later, married a year after that. 20 years and counting…only lived together the six months before the wedding to save money and survive our first Rochester winter together (!)</p>
<p>Dated for 14 months, engaged for about 14 months, and married 25 years. We were married the week after we both received our undergrad degrees. Like someone else said, I would probably kill my kids if they tried this.</p>
<p>Met sometime after I moved to town, dated one year to the day he proposed, 5 months engagement, coming up on 25 years- we were in our 30’s so I grabbed him when I could! If we were younger with less life experience we would have spent more time before committing. First date nearly didn’t happen- he got to my apt just before I returned from getting end of the week rounding done. It also was months later than could have been as I talked about some guys visiting (they were both old college friends who came to our wedding). Telephone proposal- he was on call, I double checked if he meant it. Wedding plans based on convenience for vacations- ours and others. As with all marriages there have been highs and lows- H once said he was too lazy to ever get a divorce (not at a low point).</p>
<p>Thought I would just throw this story out while the subject is not wanting your kids to do what you did.</p>
<p>H & I met in a bar. Two of my good friends also met their H’s in bars. One day in church we were listening to a sermon (we all attend the same church) and one of the things mentioned was that bars were not the best place to find the person you might want to marry. Well, we all looked at each other and tried not to laugh. All 3 marriages have lasted 20+ years.</p>
<p>engaged after 4 mos./lived together 1 year/married 26 years</p>
<p>d (college senior) has been dating a guy (same college senior also) for 2 1/2 years, and isn’t talking future with him at all (actually not talking about it either way). It seems we make more rash decisions than she does, fwiw!</p>
<p>Dated 10 months, engaged 9 months, married 28 years. Did not live together. He was 23, I was 22.</p>
<p>I tease my oldest a lot “By the time I was your age I was married with children…” (he’s 26 and unattached.) At Christmas this year, my H did some shopping for his gifts. He told me, “You know, by the time I was his age, I had Power Tools!”</p>