How long did you know your significant other before getting engaged?
 

How soon did you know you were dating the one you were destined to marry? And how long did ya'll wait to get engaged??

Ahhh, love, gotta love it! ;)

Tara
I have a Phi Mu castle...

We dated a couple of years before making it official.

My husband and I got engaged about 10 months after the day we met.

My boy and I have been dating for 5 years. We're probably going to get engaged in the next year :D

My husband and I were engaged only five months after we met, but then we had a twenty month engagement. We've been married for sixteen months now and couldn't be happier! :D

See that's what we're talking about. We've been dating since July, and possibly getting engaged in 8-9 months. He can't wait, but I'm a little nervous that we're still in that "beginning stage" and it's too early. But I just know we're gonna get married, so why wait for the sake of waiting? You know.

I was just wondering if we were crazy or if others just knew immediately too.

But on the flip side, my best friend from high school just got engaged after dating him for nearly 7 years! So I guess we run the spectrum!

Keep em coming, I love hearing about other people's dating/engagement/marriages. It makes me feel more at ease. :)

Tara
I have a Phi Mu castle...

Here's my timeline best as I can remember...

April 30, 1991 - We met, he'd just returned from Desert Storm, I was with someone I had been dating for the previous 5 1/2 years.

May 27, 1991 - We got engaged (after harrowing phone call when I called my parents back home in Pittsburgh to inform them that I was going to marry a sailor I met a few weeks ago)

June 30, 1991 - Quit my job in NYC and moved down to Virginia

August 22, 1991 - We got married by a Justice of the Peace so that I would be entitled to Navy Dependant benefits (healthcare, etc.) Neither of our parents know about this to this day!

March 14, 1992 - Had our big church wedding.

And two kids and 11 years later, I still don't regret acting on impulse when my heart told me "THIS IS THE ONE!!!"

Tara, only you and your guy know for sure what the right thing to do it. But your point, "why wait for the sake of waiting?" is a good one!

Tracy, that is simply amazing.

KappaStarboy and I dated 1.5 years before I got the ring, but we knew after about 10 months that we would get married. It feels like we've been together longer, though. In the time we've been dating we've done 1 cross-country move and will be doing another next month, he got his Bachelor's, I got my Masters, his grandfather passed away, we started new jobs...all the major life changes are happening at the same time!

Piece of advice for all the ladies: If he makes his own pasta, MARRY HIM!!

We were friends for a while. When me and my boyfriend at the time broke up Mr. AOX81 moved in for the kill. We started dating in September of 1999 and he proposed in December 1999. We got married June 24, 2000.

met the fiance in March 2001
got engaged December 2001
getting married May 2004

That story is awesome! :D

I think it completely depends on the couple. Some people are ready to get married after knowing each other only one week, while some can date for many years without ever being ready to tie the knot. There's a woman that I work with who has been with the same guy for 22 years, and they have no intention of getting married. They're happy just as they are. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. :)

Well my boyfriend and I have known eachother for about 5yrs and have been together going on 3 of those 5 years. He talks about getting married in 4 yrs b/c we need to graduate college (in 2yrs) and then he will go into the academy for like anohter 6months and who knows where they will send him, then we need to get money together :) But I am very happy so I don't care how long it takes as long as it happens:D

ronnie

We dated for 5.5 years. :D

One of my sorority sisters, who is 24 years old, has parents who are not married. They have been together 30 years and said that they don't need a piece of paper to make anything official and they don't want to pay for that little piece of paper.

My fiance and I met about 5 years ago...
We were friends for 3 1/2......
Dated for about a year or so.....
And we got engaged on July 15, 2002 when we were at the beach!

We're planning the wedding for next year, sometime in Sept.!! :D

Tracy,
What an amazing story!! I hope things turn out for me that well. We're talking getting engaged in 8-9 months, and married in june 2004, but who knows. He can't wait, so we'll see!

All these stories are so wonderful!

Tara
I have a Phi Mu castle...

Talk About Cold Feet...
 

I was talking about this thread with my mom and she wanted me to add this...

When she was a little girl, her Aunt Gertie was dating a guy named Kopie and Gertie promised my mom she could be their flower girl when Kopie got around to proposing to her.

Fast forward 50 years or so, and my mom's still waiting!!! Gertie and Kopie are still happily dating. They've got to both be pushing 80. I asked my mom if she thought they've slept together by now and the poor woman almost choked on her salad :D

This is a bittersweet post. I'm happy for all of you, but it is kind of depressing bc I am sitting in my room after being rejected by a guy thinking" I'm so lame, I'm 21 and have never been in a serious relationship.":(
A three month relationship doesn't count to me-- that's my longest relationship.
It's freaky bc I'm a junior in college and still haven't a bf and I'm scared to graduate w/o a bf bc then how am I going to meet anyone? I don't want to date someone I work with or meet at a bar.

Alpha: Don't worry, I'm convinced that there's somebody out there for everyone.... and all good things are worth waiting for!

------------

My boyfriend and I have been dating for a year and a half... we're only 18, but we're both pretty sure we're in love! If we make it through a long-distance relationship, we're going to get married once he finishes graduate school (he'll finish undergrad and grad in 6 years because he's doing an advanced program).

XOXO,
Annie.

My friend never really had a bf in college unless you count a three week kissing partner. ;) A couple of years after college, she went to a bar, met a cute guy, six weeks later was engaged, and one year and a half she married him.

Personally, I didn't have a steady boyfriend in college either. I have never been engaged. I have received a few proposals from drunk guys in bars, but I'm still waiting to meet Mr. Right. :D

Don't worry! I know it sounds easy for everyone else to say. But here's my story. I was super depressed when I graduated because everyone was getting engaged and married this year, and I was dating this guy who I cared for greatly, but knew deep down it wasn't going anywhere, and we'd been together for 2 years! Anyway, we finally called it quits just before graduation in May and I was convinced that I was a loser because I didn't meet anyone in college that I would marry, etc. So the night I took my nursing boards, July 18, my friend took me out to the same old bar I'd been going to since I was a Sophomore, and I met this guy I'd had my eye on for a few months (a bouncer). He's NOTHING like the man I envisioned myself every wanting to marry, but he's WONDERFUL! And we're already planning our wedding.

SO, point of the story, you NEVER know when you could meet him or how quickly everything could change for you. I figured I wasn't getting married till I was in my 30's but now we're talking in 2 years!! So don't get down on yourself, he's out there and he'll come to you when the timing's right for BOTH of you. Just because I wanted desperately to meet the man I was supposed to marry while I was in college, if I'd have met Phillip then, we definitely wouldn't have worked out. Everything happens for a reason, especially with timing and relationships. Hang in there, I think there's lots of us that could relate to how you're feeling.

and PS my friend is in the same boat, never had a boyfried in college, and she met a great guy last week where she works, so don't rule out the workplace already. They're much more mature (some of them) and ready to have a decent girlfriend. So you've got plenty of opportunity ahead.

I have to agree with what everyone is saying here. College is, by no means, the only place to meet a future husband. Work, bars, the gym, volunteer activities and clubs all offer great opportunities after school is over. And if none of those sound good, there's always grad. school! :)

According to an article my friend Beth read, only 11% of people marry someone they met in college. Whether it's true or not, that I can't tell you, but out of ALL the people I know from school, very few are still seriously dating their college boyfriend/girlfriend, and even fewer are getting married! I've had 3 weddings this summer, and it seemed like a TON (until I looked at everyone else I know who isn't getting married anytime soon!).

And if you don't meet *the one,* you can join me and my friends in our gated community. We're all going to have big homes, nice cars, and all the pool boys we can handle. :) It's like the one skydiving instructor said to me on Sunday, "I've spent 15 grand skydiving, but if you look at what I've saved by not having a wife and kids, it's not bad at all!" ;) Viva la pool boy!

We knew each other three months before he let it slip that he was thinking about asking me to marry him. He actually proposed after we'd known each other for about five months.

We were engaged for fourteen L-O-N-G months.

AXOLiz-- sounds like fun!!!!
And to all of you wonderfully engaged people-- I hope I didn't rain on your parade!!
I'm having a hard time watching the personal stories of 9-11 though. All these people who lost wives, husbands, fiancees etc. On Lifetime they interviewed some people and played one guy's last message to his gf telling her how wonderful she was and how much he loved her and to be storng. WEll I started crying like crazy. AS much as these stories are emotional I'd much rather listen to them then just the facts of 9-11. :( GOD BLESS AMERICA

Since I am newly engaged :D I'll share my story...I dated a guy my soph year who was an absolute control freak and had visions of us ending up together, but I knew it wasn't to be. My now-fiance would tell me everytime he saw me that I was "the most gorgeous girl the eyes had ever seen." I figured that since he was from a different country, maybe that was his way of being polite to a girl or just teasing. Later I found out that he actually did like me. After I dumped my ex, he asked me out and I said yes. That was in May...fast forward to September and here we are engaged. I found that I could talk to him more and easier than anyone else I've known. I don't feel uptight or self-conscious around him, and I feel completely respected and valued. And he is so freaking romantic I almost don't know how to handle myself sometimes!!!!! In a nutshell, he's all I've ever dreamed of in every aspect.

Here's our little timeline story:

Met January 22/98 at a sorority rush event. He was a Kappa Sigma pledge (a colony) and I was rushing my sorority. The event: Cosmic Bowling

First date: January 29/98: Our first date was meeting up at the Palace...one of the skankiest bars in Halifax. I was on a pub crawl to celebrate a friend's 19th birthday...he met me there, proceeded to buy me tons of shooters, then danced all night long!

First kiss: January 29/98: Yes, drunken me and him kissed that night. I had a ride with a friend, so he walked me to the door of the club and kissed me goodnight.

Promise ring given: December 17/98: My 20th birthday!:)

Moved to Toronto together: April 22/99.

Started the ring search: May 99

Moved to Texas: January 8/00

Moved to Tallahassee: November 10/00

Decided on wedding date 1: November 00 (our original date was July 14 /01

Postponed wedding: March 01 (still note: no proposal!)

Re-set wedding date: July 01 (set date for October 20, 2001)

Proposal: August 29/01 - On his trip back to Halifax to visit me, he proposed on his last night of the trip. I knew it was coming (it was the only reason he came home....so he could propose before the wedding!!!)

Wedding: October 20, 2001

I officially moved to Florida as a legal resident: November 1/01

Honeymoon: November 4-8/01

Almost one year later and still going strong!:) I still can't believe I've been married almost a year!:D

Here's our time line...We originally met Homecoming 1994, but we didn't realize it till we met again in March 1995.

1st date - April 22, 1995

Engaged - February 22, 1997

Married - August 16, 1997

I can't believe we've been married 5 years. It seems like yesterday :)

1st Date-April 2, 1998
Engaged-March 22, 2002
Wedding is October 4, 2003 on the Beach in NC.
:)