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How long was your engagement?


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From the time I got engaged to the time I married was 9 months. It would have been 7 months but I got cold feet and postponed the wedding. It was a courthouse affair though, so there was no one to un-invite or anything.

 

Is there such a thing as a normal engagement period?

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I don't know if there is such a thing as a normal engagement period, but like yourselves we had a nine month long engagement. We started planning the wedding almost immediately we were engaged. I think in some respects this is the ideal, in that once you've decided to commit yourself to someone then you may as well get on with it. But, of course, life isn't always ideal, and some people want to commit themselves to each other, but aren't able to do so immediately for all sorts of reasons, often financial.

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Huh. I don't know. I guess the "usual" engagement period would just be the time interval between the decision to marry and the opportunity to do so. Some venues book years in advance, some don't.

 

I honestly can't remember how long it was, but we lived together for 2 years before marrying, and also had a civil ceremony, so there wasn't a wait based on planning details.

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It was about 18 months from when we got engaged until we got married, we knew we would get married for about 3 years before the engagement though, we just made it official 18 months before we got married.

 

One of my sisters was engaged for about a year before getting married, as was my brother. My other sister will be engaged for 2 years before the wedding.

 

That being said we have all had somewhat bigger wedding that did take some planning and work. My sister has been in the planning stages of her wedding for over a year now, and we still have 8 months until the wedding.

 

I really don't think there is such a thing as a normal engagement period, I think it depends on the couple and their circumstances.

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We got engaged at the beginning of May and were married the 28th of December. However, that was after moving the wedding way up. Originally we were planning a 25 month engagement. It wasn't a "shotgun" situation, just that DH went off to start his military obligation (he had done ROTC) and we were absolutely miserable without each other.

 

The norm for our social circle seems to be 6-18 months for an engagement.

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From my experience working at a fancy bakery, I think the usual time (according to bridal magazines) is one year. People in my church are more likely to have an engagement of less than 6 months, though.

 

We dated for 4 months and were engaged for 6. We got engaged in the summer and then married over winter break, since my husband was still in school.

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4.5 months "courting" and 4.5 months engaged. We married 13 years ago. Most people I see marrying these days (young couples in their 20s) are waiting about a year, whereas "older" couple usually marry sooner-6 months approx. We were 20 and 24 and lived 4 hours apart, we didn't want to wait any life than we had to.

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Less than 2 weeks. We had been dating for 2 years, there were family religious differences that would have caused friction and his abusive father was a real problem. So we eloped and had only our brothers there (you needed 2 witnesses). 1 year later we hosted a big wedding party because my mom really wanted me to.

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2 years. Well, technically 729 days. Definitely too long, but it was the most practical decision we could have made ... we were still in school, and moving out on our own would have prolonged that, possibly indefinitely. Sharing a bedroom in my parents' house (in the room next to theirs) was our only alternative (and only an option after the 18 month mark), and that would have been stressful all around.

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My first husband and I were engaged for 22 months. He was still in school when we got engaged, so we waited until he'd found a job to even start planning the wedding.

 

This time, we didn't have a formal engagement, but we started discussing it about 4 months before the wedding.

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Four months. About average for an LDS couple having a temple wedding. Six months would be pushing the outer limit of acceptable. LOL

 

What was so funny was that we were living in Denver at the time, and all the ladies at the bridal salon constantly thought I must be pregnant to have so short of an engagement. All I heard from the seamstress (who was taking IN my dress at the waist) was, "Now there's no point in doing this, because you'll certainly be showing a bit by the time you get married." :lol:

 

Uh, no I won't, because I'm still a virgin. She looked at me like I was from another planet. :D

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28 days. We had been dating 4.5 years when he proposed. About five minutes after we got engaged, I asked him when he wanted to have the wedding. I'll never forget the twinkle in his eyes when he answered, "I'd marry you tomorrow." Yeah, well after 4.5 years... :lol: Our family had no problem with a fast wedding, as they had been squirming for about three years at that point. :tongue_smilie:

 

We lived in a tiny little town at the time and had a truly lovely wedding. :001_wub:

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We started dating in spring of 1996, when I was 16. We were engaged the following January, when I was 17, but had no immediate wedding plans. The summer I was 19, we made plans to elope, but decided our families would be upset, so began planning a wedding that took place the following May. So, over three years or under one year would both be correct, since we had been technically engaged for over three years, but from the time we said "it's time" and started planning was more like nine months.

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14 months from the time we got engaged until we got married. I was 17 when we got engaged, so I had to wait anyway lol, but we planned to marry after college. That would have been a 4 year engagement. I got a full time job and free tuition for both of us at the college we attended, so we got married early to take advantage of that, needless to say our parents were not thrilled lol.

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All I heard from the seamstress (who was taking IN my dress at the waist) was, "Now there's no point in doing this, because you'll certainly be showing a bit by the time you get married." :lol:

 

Uh, no I won't, because I'm still a virgin. She looked at me like I was from another planet. :D

 

Haha, I got the same thing from my seamstress, but it was because I was getting married at 19. I got the same look when I gave the same answer lol. She was shocked when I came in months after the fitting to check just before the wedding that everything still fit right, and she did appologize for jumping to conclusions.

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7 months. We wanted to wait for me to graduate, and then have the summer to buckle down and plan the wedding.

 

I don't like long engagements. For myself, once we knew that we would be married, it was agonizing to not be married. It wasn't just physical (though that was hard)--it was a driving need just to be together.

 

The other thought is that weddings are ugly to plan and a relief when finished. Why extend the process?

 

The one exception I can think of is very young engaged couples. On the one hand, I do have a dear friend from high school who married at 18yo and is still quite happy in her marriage. It was right for her. I am not opposed to young people marrying under the right circumstances.

 

On the other hand, I have known a few young people who dated in high school and then broke up in college. It makes me think that they should try college for a little while first????

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6 months.

 

We met in Jan, got engaged in May, married in November. I turned 21 in October.

 

My mom was less than thrilled, to say the least.

 

We've been married almost 11 years!

 

We did the same. Almost.

 

Met in Jan, engaged in May, married in Jan - 10 days after I turned 21.

 

This past year we celebrated our 20th. And yes, my mother was less than thrilled as well, especially since we got married in Vegas.

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From the time I got engaged to the time I married was 9 months. It would have been 7 months but I got cold feet and postponed the wedding. It was a courthouse affair though, so there was no one to un-invite or anything.

 

Is there such a thing as a normal engagement period?

 

About a week:D

We decided on Sunday ( 2 pink lines) ....got our license on Monday....Got married on Friday....:lol:

 

We had been together for over 4 years at that point....we have been married almost 27 years. He is the love of my life....and I would do it again in a minute.

 

JFTR:, HE wanted to get married....I thought it was no biggie either way. I was committed to him and a piece of paper wasn't going to change it for me. He is much more conservative than I am.....

Edited by Mommyfaithe
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Officially? (As in "he gave me a ring, it was announced from the pulpit at church, and we set a date.") Just under 7 months. (He proposed in January; we graduated from college in May, and he had to do a summer internship, so we got married in early August.)

 

Unofficially? About six years. I think he first asked me to marry him when I was about fifteen, and he was seventeen. We'd been together almost seven years when we finally got married. We just celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary and will have been together twenty-one years this fall.

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Just under 5 days. DH was in the service at the time. We hadn't seen each other in over a year and had only dated off and on when he had been home on leave. We decided over the phone to get married on Thursday night and were married on Tuesday. It might have been sooner if he hadn't been on duty at the time. It's been nineteen and a half years, and no I wasn't pregnant. ;)

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I'm surprised you people remember all these details?! I have no idea. A year or something? I don't really remember the specifics about getting engaged, but it was roughly a year. But I wasn't proposed to or anything so maybe that's why it was not particularly memorable. We just agreed to get married.

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