ready for marriage?

I finally watched Grey's on my TiVO and wondered how common it was for one person to be more ready for marriage than the other. Have you ever seen two friends getting married and one was just going along with it because it is what you're "supposed" to do?

One of my friends was in that situation. In his situation, his GF really wanted to get married because she wanted kids. He was ok with it and they got married, have kids, and as far as I know everyone's very happy. =)

Nope, haven't seen that. Well, maybe with Lillian since they were together for 11 years before getting married and everyone felt like they were "supposed" to get married. But I guess that could be common with more pressure from society to marry as you get older. I would like to think though, that both people are committed to each other to take that big step. But people are different, so whatever works for them, that's cool.

I've seen it happen a few times.

Unfortunately yes...I have been there, done that. Dated 3 years and it was "time" to make the next step. I was just 23 and he was 30 when we were married. TOO young, in retrospect, for me. Anyway, the marriage lasted 4 years.

I have seen a lot of couples go this route...dated for 2 or 3 years, maybe lived together for a year or so and decided that marriage was the logical next step. I think in several cases either staying where they were or breaking up was a better idea than getting married.

Now that I am in my 30's I have a lot different view point and am on no one's time schedule but my own. My FI will have been together 6 years by our wedding day.

My FI was in that situation with his ex, but for cohabitation rather than marriage. She wanted the next step, he didn't really want to - but he didn't want to break up either. Obviously, in the end, they things didn't work out.

If your heart's not in it, it'll have an effect eventually.