How long did you date?

How long did you and your significant other date before you got engaged? Or maybe you skipped the engagement and went straight to getting married? How long would you recommend you be with somebody before you get married?

I met my hubs when I was 14 and he was 15. Eight years later we got engaged and then 5 years after that we got married! Kind of impetuous weren't we?!

But we've had a long and happy marriage, supporting each other through thick and thin.

On rare occasions you do hear of people who fall in love and marry within weeks, and have a long and happy relationship, but on balance I think the better you get to know someone before you commit then the happier and more stable your relationship will be.

There is a natural 'honeymoon' period for any relationship - y'know, when the knees stop knocking at the very mention of his name, but the real test is how you are together during the hum-drummity of life. If you make each other laugh, you've got it made!

It's really amazing to hear those stories about people who have been together since they were very young. I met my boyfriend when I was 14 and he was 16.

It's funny because May 2 is my birthday, May 4 is his birthday, and May 3 is the day that we met. We ended up separated when I had to move to Texas, but when I came back a little more than a year later, I found him on Myspace and we got back together.

Now it's been more than a year and a half that we've actually been together. We don't plan on getting married for at least 3 or 4 years, possibly longer.

I met my husband when we were teenagers, I don't remember the exact age. We became acquaintances and then good friends and then we started dating, which led to courting. So before marriage we knew each other more than 8 years.

I think that it's good to start off as friends with a person, and not be in such a hurry for marriage just yet. I have things I want to do, places I want to go, before being struck with the question of settling down. And unless you've known this person for a long time, seen the good and the bad side of them, it'll be hard to keep a relationship together unless it has good, strong foundations to lean on.

I think that any strong relationship should rely on itself to progress. I don't think that anybody really knows how strong a relationship really is without personally asking one of the parties involved. I think it depends on the maturity of both people. I think that one should rush into marriage anytime before 6 months.

I too met my boo when I was young and in school. I was 14 and he was 18. We never dated seriously until I was 16 and we got engaged when I was 21 and got married a year later. We have survived each other through kick and kin, - I mean thick and thin, too.

My husband and I were together for 5 years before we got hitched. A lot of people said it was too long, but honestly isn't it better to be sure than to just jump into a marriage and ending up divorced 1-2 years later?!

I have been with my partner for three years now. We are thinking about moving in together in the next couple of months and then possibly getting married this winter.

I've known my partner for 5 years we've been together for 3 of them. We did the flatting thing together and we just moved into our own place this year. So far so good but I think we'll hold off on the marriage thing for a few more years. Im quite happy with how things are now. Im 25 as well so theres no rush. The thought actually scares the living shite out of me