

I also believe that this recommendation applies with equal force to single men and women in college.
But as we found, these numbers vary based on where you live.
Overall, Americans tend to move pretty quickly: nearly half of all engagements occur two years or less into a relationship.
Here's the thing—you can know a person for years before you get engaged, be happily married for years after that, and then something bad can happen.
It happened to many couples I know—couples who played by all the rules and waited "appropriate" amounts of time before committing. Down the road, someone still might cheat, or fall out of love, or want totally different things.
If we act like we're married before we've made that commitment, we're defrauding (and sinning).
I don't know whether you've noticed this, but people involved in a dating relationship tend to get to know each other better over the course of that relationship.
How long did you date your partner before he or she popped the question?
It may have only been months, or perhaps it felt like an eternity.
know that you're absolutely, positively crazy about someone, faults and all.
Oh, and you can know what those faults are and enter into a marriage with open eyes about who you're really marrying. Here are some things that I think should happen before you decide to get engaged, regardless of how long it's been: I tend to think that achieving all of those things usually takes six months (at the least).