Marry Me!... In About Five Years

I would just like to start off by saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinion - that includes you, me, and every other person in the world. What I'm about to discuss is not a reflection on anyone I know at all and I am not trying to judge anyone. I'm just attempting to ask a question because I am curious. Please excuse any sarcastic undertones - I cannot help it.

I would like to know what the purpose of a long engagement is. I was talking to Steph yesterday and she told me a story of someone who got engaged after dating for less than a year. The wedding date? Nearly five years after he proposed marriage and she accepted.

What's the point, I wonder? Is it pressure from the potential bride-to-be? Is it a fear from the potential groom-to-be that he will lose his partner if he does not put his claim into her immediately? Is it financial? Emotional?

I believe that if it is any of the reasons I stated above, then these two kids are just not ready to take the plunge. And if they still need time to get to know each other, then why bother spending so much money on a ring that, after time, might be given up?

Now, maybe I'm missing something. I'm not engaged or married just yet, but when I think about it, I think that a year is probably the perfect amount of time. Of course it does depend on the month you get engaged and when you want to have it - that's just timing. But more than a year-and-a-half is slightly torture isn't it? If I had so much time to plan an event, I think I might go crazy.

I know that it is different for each person and each couple. I know that no two people are the same, but long engagements bother me. Is it a need for attention?

The longer you put something off and procrastinate, the less likely you are to complete the task, right? Why procrastinate unless you don't want to do something? And are we ever really 100 percent ready?

Photo: MichaelBJewelry.com