Time to take to get engaged

[Rhea]

I wonder what the breakdown is according to age. We got engaged and married very early (damn immigration!) and most of DH''s friends have only been dating a year less than us. At early-mid 20s with girlfriends about 1-3 years younger I don''t think any of them are thinking of getting engaged soon. I wouldn''t be surprised if some of them get to at least 10 years before getting engaged, assuming that they stay with the same person.

We got engaged after about 1 year, 6 months.

 

[CNYHopeful]

Good point, Addy. I''d also be curious to see if there is a different between second marriages versus first. Anyways, SO and I (being our first marriage and mid-late 20s) are near 2 years dating if he sticks to his plan of proposing before the spring.

 

[musey]

I guess it makes sense, but I was still surprised that we weren't on the longer side... we got engaged after 3 years and 15 days (no I did not just know, I had to go count on my iCal

). I really thought that we'd had a longer than average dating period!

Addy, I also agree that the age(s) of the couple probably has quite a bit of impact on the length of the courtship. For instance, my husband and I met when we were 19 (and not even THINKING about marriage), and took about 3 years to get engaged... where my brother, who met his fiance at 26 (and was ready to be married ASAP before he even met her) was engaged a little over a year into the relationship. Probably a lot of it is to do with general readiness for marriage as an individual, not just the relationship's stage of progression.

 

[cbs102]

I got engaged after a little over a year.. and that has been the pattern with all my friends... we are 29

 

[sugary]

I have no idea how long we have been dating. I met my FI when I was 16. He was my brother''s roommate in college. I went to the same college as my brother 2 yrs later and my brother and him started to hang with my roommate and me. We still were not dating, but my brother and roommate were and now they are married. I started dating my FI when I was a junior and he was in his last year (Architecture is a 5 yr program) when he signed up for the wrong studio course and I had to help him just to pass the course. I think it happened then. He kept asking me out and we would go out together and i think it was 6 months later when I asked " Are we dating?" and he laughed and said "I thought so" and he actually kissed me on the lips for the first time. I was just so comfortable with him and have been ever since. So I guess we have been dating for around 5 - 6 years. I went on to grad school and he had to do internship so we both thought it was important to get that out of the way first and we have.

By the way...sometimes I am so dense!!! But he knows it and loves me in spite of it. Like my Mimi says " Love is finding an imperfect person, perfect."

 

[IloveAsschers13]

By the time we get engaged- we will be dating for about 7 years... we missed that by about 4 years too- and this is just if it works out with my timeline!!!

 

[katamari]

We dated just shy of 10 years before the proposal happened. You have to love being an outlier.

 

[SailorsSweet<3]

I dont think John Tesh took into consideration girlfriends! I know of couples who did the 1 year mark or close to it engagement - how come those men are so far away from the 3.5 year average? LIW syndrome, thats why haha!

 

[mayachel]

Ha! I am at 3 years 6 months and 21 days today...I''ll keep my eyes peeled

 

[EveryWakingMoment]

Hi. I''m in my early 20s, FF is in his early-mid 30s. We have been together for about 6 months, but have known each other for a good 2.5 years or so, as he worked for me and was also in my friend circle but i was with another guy.

He knew within a month & i knew within 2 months that I''d found the one. He''s currently saving for a ring, and that will put us at about the 10mo- 1y timeline for him to propose comfortably with a ring he''s proud of. I''d rather be engaged sooner with a simple silver band, but this is his part of the ''wedding planning'' so am learning patience and compromise.

this is the first engagement-> marriage for both of us if that makes a difference. I''d like a longish engagement, but he''d like to be married a year- 18mo after the proposal.