How long did you know your spouse before you married?

[MaMa2005]

I knew DH for 13 months before we got married. We celebrate 30 years in May :001_wub:

[SailorMom]

We dated for 14 months and were engaged 14 months....

We would have gotten married sooner but I had to graduate high school first!:D

Been married almost 18 years now!

[JeneralMom]

We met in August of 2000. He became one of my best friends, and we became roommates in August 2001. We never really "started" dating, but just slipped into it before we realized (we were best friends, we did everything together, even planned vacations together, etc). We joke that we were married before we dated. We married in March of 2004 and our eldest was 8mos at the wedding, and DS5 came along 9 mos after the wedding (or 36 weeks, but he was early).

[Hen]

we met when we were mid 16-ish, were friends, went out a few times for a year, then began dating. We dated seriously for 4 or 5 years before we married. Dh wanted his bachelors degree before getting married- he almost made it, we actually took our newborn dd to his graduation :)

[Greta]

Together for five years before we married. :toetap05: That is something that I will strongly recommend that my daughter NOT do. It was very painful for me to be so much in love and wanting a commitment and not getting it. (Stupid, stupid, STUPID ME for living with him without being married. I've done some dumb things in my life. That one's pretty high on the list.) I wish that I had said "either marry me or forget it" a lot sooner than I did. Years 3 - 5 were hard. Two would have been perfect.

 

Despite his reluctance, he has been a very committed and wonderful husband. We celebrated our 13th anniversary this summer. So, 18 years together total. That's half of my life! :eek:

[TravelingChris]

I met my future husband and started being with him in October of 1982, and we married in mid September of 1985.

[Audrey]

Wow! There are a lot of long-timers on here. I love that.

 

I'm also kind of loving the beautiful bell curve that the poll is making right now. :001_smile:

[Matryoshka]

A year and a half - met in December, got married in June. It's been 16 years now.

 

My parents were the hasty ones - met on a blind date, pretty much decided to get married the next day. They actually waited a year for the ceremony, but my mom was away at grad school the whole time, so she probably saw him in person for less than a month. Didn't even meet his parents till the wedding. They're still married.

[Ali in OR]

I'm going to suggest that a lot of this depends on the age when you meet. If we had been in our twenties, we would have got married a lot faster. But we met my first weekend in college when I was 18 and dh was 20. We started dating immediately, but didn't get married until almost 7 years later. We sometimes wish we had married a year earlier, but while we were both focused on education and getting our careers going, we were content to wait.

[BigMamaBird]

We dated on and off for six years before we were married. We met in high school and were simply too young to get married right off the bat. I wanted to finish college before I got married and he went off to Marine Corps boot camp so we waited till I was 21. We've been happily married for 10 years now:001_wub:

[amyable]

I knew the weekend we met that we'd be married some day, it took him another 2.5 years to figure that out, then a 1.5 year engagement on top of that. Considering what I know about him now - that it can take him more than 6 month to decide what COUCH to buy, I should be pleased that he thought more of me than that. :lol:

 

We've been married 16 years.

[elise1mds]

We had known each other three months to the day. We met, we dated, we married.

[CourtneyChn]

We knew each other for 8 years before we started dating, dated for one year, and married when we were 19. We've been married for 9 years.

[Scarlett]

This was fun for me to respond to.....:D

 

Met, dated and married in less than 3 months. Been married a week today! :party:

[athena1277]

I met my dh in 1993. We were just teens then. He actually dated one of my very best friends at 2 different times over the years. I had no interest in him other than friendship. Then he joined the AF and disappeared from my radar for over 2 years. The beginning of my last semester of college, he calls out of the blue. We didn't intend to date, but enjoyed the friendship. We were married just over a year later, having officially dated for about a year.

[Storm Bay]

I met him on January 31, 1997 and we were married June 6, 1997.

 

I had a baby on January 7, 1997. If you do the math you'll know why he's a pretty awesome guy. :) Well, that's just one reason he's awesome. We were just talking last night about how so many people said we'd never make it.

 

 

He is awesome!

 

I put down 6-12 months, because that's correct from when we started dating. It was a long distance relationship. I'd met him 3 yeas before we were married when I was going out with someone else, and thought dh was not my type at all. We've been married for over 17 years.

[Storm Bay]

This was fun for me to respond to.....:D

 

Met, dated and married in less than 3 months. Been married a week today! :party:

I haven't been around the right forums lately. Congratulations!!!!!:D

[Scarlett]

I haven't been around the right forums lately. Congratulations!!!!!:D

 

Thank you!

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Meeting to marriage almost 5 years to the day. 1st date to wedding about 4.5 years.

[lionfamily1999]

This was fun for me to respond to.....:D

 

Met, dated and married in less than 3 months. Been married a week today! :party:

:D Congratulations

[Mejane]

Is it bad that I can't remember exactly? :D

 

I think it was 7... or 8, plus 18 years married. We've been together a looong time. :)

[Flux]

We moved in together within the first week of meeting one another. We had a "shotgun" wedding 2 days after finding out I was pregnant with our first. It was important to my husband that his child's parents be married. I kept on cracking up as we had to repeat the vows. It was all so solemn! I was happy, but the atmosphere really did seem more like a funeral:lol: I just found the whole thing hilarious. I simply could NOT take the minister seriously. I am such a child sometimes!

 

Dated 8 years, married for 6.

[teacalm]

Dated 1.5 years , and within six months husband wants to get married. He did a marvelous job of convincing me that after year and a half, inspite of vehement opposition from his family, we got married. He never left me alone, and defended me every single time, and took my side everytime his family gave me grief. So appreciate this...

 

Been married for 22 years this July 2010. So thankful for the blessing, and still find husband as "delicious" as when I first met him...:))

[Jen+4dc]

I knew dh for 2 years (he became my bf after about a year) then we officially dated for 3 months, then were engaged for less than 2 months. We've now been married for 15 1/2 years and we're still happy together.:001_wub:

[Sparkle]

We knew each other a pretty long time. We met when we were both 18, were friends for several years, dated briefly, broke up, got back together when we were 23 and married when we were 24. We'll have been married 22 years next month.

[herbalgirl]

5 months. :) We'll be married 11 years this December.

[k2bdeutmeyer]

We knew each other/dated for a year before getting engaged, and then planned a 1.5yr engagement (stupid me - I was insistent that I wanted a spring wedding, and the upcoming spring was "too soon", so we pushed it out 1.5yr. I wouldn't do that again!) and were married in May of 2007. Obviously, we've been married for 3.5yr.

[rwjx2khsmj]

Met in fifth grade, began dating in college. We had a lot of growing up to do before we were ready for each other. Then we still had a lot of growing up to do. Married for 21 years.

[SBMama]

DH and I dated for 6.5 years. We have been married for 5.5 years!

[tricia]

We knew each other for a few years. Dated for some of them but didn't decide to marry until the night before our wedding. It was a Friday night and we married the next morning! Now we have 12 kids and have been married for 29 years.

[stripe]

14 months. When you know, you know.

 

We met online.

 

We've been married 21.5 years.

:001_smile:

I didn't know people did anything online 23 years ago! I'm highly impressed.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

So we are coming up on 18 years in March. Love him more every day and he loves me better than I deserve.

[angela in ohio]

We met in January and had a baby the next March :blush:, then we got married in June.

 

So I chose 1-2 years, but it took us just a few months after meeting to plan to spend the rest of our lives together. :001_smile:

[Veritaserum]

We met and became good friends within weeks. We met the third day of class in the physics lab. He asked me for help with his calculus. (He insists it was not a pick-up line. :tongue_smilie:) Eight months later we started dating. 6 months later we got engaged. 3.5 months later we were married. It will be 12 years in Feb.

 

So, I voted 6-12 months since that's the length of time we were in a relationship prior to marriage. :)

[bbsweetpea]

We met, fell in love and started dating (pretty much in that order) at age 15. We got married when we were 21. We have been married almost 12 years.

[hsbaby]

We knew each other 3 months before getting married. No engagement, just a spur if the moment thing:). Married 8 years now!

[SnowWhite]

Well, I knew who he was, but we hadn't really been introduced for 3 years prior to our "getting together". Then we sort of met in Feb, he asked me out on Memorial Day, we went ring shopping mid-July and got married in November. I checked 3-6 months because I was counting from Memorial Day to Veteran's Day (our anniversary). Kinda cool, they fly the flag on both days. Oh, and that was 15 years ago this week.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I met my dh in March and told my mom the next day that I had met the man I was going to marry. :) I didn't see him again until May, when we went on a double date with my best friend and his best friend who were just beginning a relationship. Within about 5 weeks (maybe less) we were discussing marriage, but waited until August before getting officially engaged (3 months). Our best friends were married in December and we got married in February (9 months). We've been married for 14 years. :)