Soon to be married's only!

[Troll]

When I got married, we'd been engaged for four years - what was the point in being engaged and not getting married? The reasons for marriage were still as valid as they were when I proposed, and we knew that we were doing what felt right.
No regrets.

aka "drifting into marriage"

[Gonzo]

Personally, I think I'm very realistic. I'm very excited to be married, although not so bothered about the "big day". I think I'd rather just nick off somewhere just the two of us to be honest!

I'm also a bit scared in case married life sucks and we start fighting all the time or something.

Me and my other half know each other very very well, and most of the time get on fantastically, but we've had 2 of our most established, loved up and generally happiest couples split up over the last year (who've both been together about 10 years and seemed solid as rocks)...so it's hard to be on cloud 9 really.

I guess I'm going into it with the attitude of "he's my best mate and I want to be around him for as long as I can possibly see"...but I can't say with any certainty if it'll last. Which kind of sucks really, cause I really want it too.

No reason why being married should make any difference to your relationship. If you think of each other as best mates now then that is a solid foundation for a marriage IMO. Me and Mrs Gonzo are the same, sure we have our moments, but we have fun and there is noone else either of us would want to spend our time with watching cr@p on the TV (and believe me we do spend a lot of time watching cr@p on the TV!)

I think that it is unrealistic expectations that end up being the cause of most marriage failures so if you are fully aware of what to expect up front then you shouldn't have any worries.

Oh, yes. Don't scrimp on the big day! It might seem a lot less hassle just to elope, but do your wedding day well and the memory of it will make you feel warm and fuzzy for many years to come!

[NickFitz]

Ahh you've smelt the wedding cake and nothing is going to put you off!
Most females seem to have been sold the Cinderella story.... everything in life is about finding & marrying Prince Charming

When a man says "Will you marry me?", what a women hears is "Would you like to have a wedding?"

[TheFaQQer]

Oh, yes. Don't scrimp on the big day! It might seem a lot less hassle just to elope, but do your wedding day well and the memory of it will make you feel warm and fuzzy for many years to come!

I'd slightly disagree - make sure that the wedding is the wedding that you want. That's not to say blow millions on it, or scrimp - but get what you want. When I got married, there were less than 30 people at the ceremony, since we didn't want to invite everyone who we hardly ever saw. Much nicer, we decided, to just have the closest family and friends there.

Mind you, the thought of nipping to the Chapel O' Love in Vegas, to get married by Elvis in a gold lame suit was discussed at one stage...