Wedding goals will vary between couples, but the general objective, of course, is to marry your soul mate and live happily after.
If some of the stories I hear from many of my single friends are anything to go by, the dating struggle is real out there. The dating game has changed considerably, which means the rules have changed.
Back in the day, it was quite reasonable for couples to meet, fall in love and marry within months. The modern couple is more likely to wait many years – or sometimes decades before considering their own wedding goals.
So, here’s the million-dollar question: how long should you wait before saying I do?
Researchers at Emory University discovered that married couples who dated for one to two years significantly decreased their risk of future divorce by around 20%, whereas dating for three or more years lowered the chances of their divorcing by about 50%.
However, as Psychology Today pointed out, one size can’t possibly fit all. If a couple meets aged 19, that’s significantly different to if they meet aged 30, or even 40.
Instead of putting a timeline on your wedding goals, Psychology Today recommends considering the following:
Are you trying to save your relationship?
Regardless of how beautiful your big day could be, a magical wedding won’t fix your relationship problems.
Do you understand each other completely?
Have you discussed everything that’s important to you like where you’d like to settle down geographically? How you’d like to raise your children? And whether you both even want children? All of these discussions need to happen before you think about saying I do.
How happy do you visualize yourself being married to them?
If you can visualize yourself being sad, lonely or resentful of your future spouse in any way, it’s time to pull up your big girl pants and say I don’t. Life’s way too short to be unhappy.
If you’ve never been as sure about anything else in your life that it’s your time to say I do, congratulations – and I sincerely wish you a lifetime of happiness. Check out this blog for 9 Wedding Must-Haves to Survive the Big Day.
