Living together before marriage - making the decision

Are you ready for the next step in your relationship - living together before marriage. There are a many things to consider before you decide to live together. These are just a few.

Are you old enough?
How soon do you plan to marry?
Can you afford to live together?
Do you want to live together?

The average wedding takes roughly 12 months to plan, and about half of engaged couples live together. Some as soon as they get engaged, some just a few weeks before the big day and others prefer to wait until they are married.

The most important thing is - do the two of you want to live together before marriage? This is a decision that can`t be rushed. You must both want this other wise you may not even get to walk down the aisle.

Research shows that couples who live together before marriage have a much greater chance of getting divorced. The reason is that people willing to live together before marriage usually have commitment issues.

Living together whether married or not can take a few months to get adjusted. A lot of couples find this a stressful and very tough period of adjustment. But this is only to be expected and every couple that live together for the first time go through this. You have to allow time for you both to settle and will need to set some kind of house rules so that you can both settle into a routine.

Remember; Even if you do live together before marriage - married life will be totally different then that of just living together so don`t expect anything it is always best just to let yourself settle naturally and don`t force anything. What happens will happen whether you live together now or wait until you are married.

Just make sure that if you are planning on living together before marriage it is what you both want and don`t try and force the other to do something that they don`t want to do. If you love that person then he/she is worth waiting for.