When looking at some property the realtor was sort of shocked that my wife and I were “actually married.” Lots of couples are buying homes without marrying.
The couple living in the house next to us, with two teenage sons, no less, invited us to their wedding last year. I had no idea they were just living together. (This is in an upscale single family home neighborhood)
I asked a friend of mine recently, why young people today are doing everything backwards.
First, they have the kid, then, they buy the house, and maybe, then they think about getting married.
Hubby and I had a long distance romance going for about 6 months. Finally, the travelling back and forth started getting old, so I told him that we should either get married, or, stop seeing each other, because I just wasn't the type of person to go for a long period of time in that sort of long distance relationship.
We got married, and next January will be our 35th anniversary. Because we got married so quickly (I remember the looks when I said we were gettig married only 6 months after knowing one another); I decided to wait a bit before having a child -- just to be sure we were going to stick. And, we did -- we have two lovely daughters and everything has turned out okay.
I think that taking marriage seriously maybe part of the problem. It seems like a lot of people get married with the thought that if it doesn't work, I'll just get divorced. Bad way of looking at a very personal relationship.