When To Get Married

Real talk here – marriage is not something to take lightly. It is a commitment that goes beyond any sort of “committed relationship” that doesn’t involve marriage. Today, we are going to talk about when you and your partner should get married, because there are simply a lot of things to consider before taking this (relatively) permanent step of becoming a married couple.

To start off, you should definitely be in love. Yes, we know that this should be quite obvious, but it is the first hurdle to deciding when to get married. If either party does not love the other one back and does not love them unconditionally in particular, then marriage should be off the table completely. Now, this isn’t to say that marriage won’t ever work out, but simply that in this moment in time, marriage should not be in the cards for you and your partner.

Now, if you and your partner both love each other unconditionally, then it is easy to assume that you should get married right away. But that is not always the case. First of all, you should make sure that both of you are financially stable. This is so often overlooked because couples are often conditioned to believe that money is not a part of marriage, when it fact it most certainly is. Consider that the average wedding cost in the United States in 2017 was over $25,000 and you’ll see just how relevant money is from the day you or your partner say “I do”.

And that is not even getting into the financial implications for after you get married and return from your honeymoon. Getting married is often equated to buying your very own starter home, which is not cheap. Both you and your partner should be sure that you have enough money for a good down payment, as well as solid credit scores if you are expecting to purchase a home during the engagement period or any time after the wedding itself.

If you are looking at starting a new family with the birth of a child, then you should definitely be sure that your finances are in order, even more so than purchasing a home. As soon as you have that child, you need to take care of it and raise it until it is 18 years old. It is not something that you can back out of like a new home purchase that you can ultimately sell if your finances become a wreck over time.

As important as being in love is when it comes to deciding to get married, having both you and your partner’s financials in order is a very close second. There is a reason that so many couples today don’t get married, even though they are in a fully committed relationship. Many of these couples would get married, but simply don’t want to create unnecessary problems that come with the financial obligations that come with marriage. So if you and your partner want to get married, make sure the two of you are truly ready, beyond simply being in love with one another.