Guys: How long did you date your girlfriend before marrying her?

[OneMissedPost]

Just curious, how long did you date your girlfriend before marrying her?

[An Arky]

We lived together for nearly 5 years before we got married. 16 years later, we're still happily married and have 3 kids. So there.

[neuroman]

No offense, but the poll options are are pretty darn terrible.

Moi: something like 3 years.

[madmonk28]

We lived together seven years and never would have married except she needed health insurance.

[Suburban Plankton]

Our first date was New Year's Eve of 1990. We got married May 15, 1993, so almost 2 1/2 years.

[Hari Seldon]

I met her at the end of August, 1963 and we were married in mid-March, 1964, so I had to choose between 5 months and 10. Forty seven years later, we are still together. Three kids and 6 grandkids.

[An Arky]

Originally Posted by neuroman

No offense, but the poll options are are pretty darn terrible.

Moi: something like 3 years.

Yeah; I'm picturing folded arms and foot-tapping.

[Skammer]

Are you measuring from first date to engagement, or first date to wedding? Once you're engaged you're not really dating anymore, I guess, although you can still go on dates.

Me:
First date to engagement: just under 2 months
First date to wedding: 9 months

Edit: no option for less than five months?

[Dread Pirate Jimbo]

I proposed on our one-year anniversary and we got married jusy shy of a year-and-a-half later, so I went with "about two years."

[GilaB]

Firstly, neuroman's right - the poll options for this sort of thing ought to be ranges, something like, <6 months, 6 months - 1 year, 1-1.5 years, 1.5-2 years, >2 years. (I'd give a longer time horizon, with options at least out to 5+ years, but these kinda reflect the choices you gave in your poll.)

Secondly, why are you interested in only how often Doper guys dated their girlfriends? A more general question (ie any heterosexual relationship, to exclude the fact that until recently, homosexual relationships could not result in marriage) would give you basically the same information, unless you have reason to believe that Doper guys averaged a significantly different amount of time than Doper gals.

Thirdly, do you mean dating, or all time in a relationship until the point of marriage? I do not generally include my engagement in the period I think of as 'dating' Mr. GilaB.

FWIW, we dated for 7 months and were engaged for 3.5 more. But I haven't voted, 'cause I'm not a guy.

[Beadalin]

These poll options are cracking me up. Why 5 months and 10 months? But then again I am a girl so I don't get to answer this poll.

[Shodan]

Originally Posted by Beadalin

These poll options are cracking me up. Why 5 months and 10 months?

Into the third trimester, or after delivery. Duh.

Our first date was Star Trek: The Movie and our twenty ninth anniversary was a few months back. So a bit more than two years.

Regards,
Shodan

[kunilou]

First date to engagement: six weeks
Adding the engagement in pulls it up to about five months, but I don't think you're "dating" once you've actually set a wedding date.

[ShibbOleth]

About four years. We lived together for about half of that time. Our 21st anniversary is the week after next.

[jjimm]

Lived together for 5.5 years* before getting married. First date to engagement: 3.5 years. Engagement: 2 years. So 5.5 years.

*We moved in together the day of our first date.

[silenus]

Met in 2002, proposed in 2003, married in 2004.

[woodstockbirdybird]

I've been "dating" my girlfriend for 12 years, and we have no plans to get married.

[Asimovian]

First time around, my ex and I dated for about 2.5 years before getting married.

This time, it will be exactly two years from our first date (although the first date lasted five days, so we get to fudge that a little).

[minlokwat]

Let’s see, first date June 26, 1990.

Proposal = January, 2005.

Knot tied on June 4, 2005.

So what are we looking at,...a skosh under 15 years.

You didn't ask but one beautiful daughter later and still going strong today.

[XT]

We dated off and on since high school, and lived together for several years after I got out of college before we got married...about 7 years if memory serves. Been married over 25 years now. Try before you buy is my motto...

-XT

[Apollyon]

First date: a Bastille Day party 1984.
Engaged: 10 year anniversary of that day.
Married: July 13th (couldn't quite manage Bastille Day again) 1996.

We're pretty relaxed about whether we celebrate the 13th or 14th of July as our anniversary.

[Ferret Herder]

Originally Posted by Shodan

Into the third trimester, or after delivery. Duh.

Ugh, I think you may be right!

I'm female but I'll answer in a post anyway. 8 years before we had the wedding.

[Leaffan]

Not long enough, apparently.

[Crown Prince of Irony]

7 years and 2 kids.

ETA: Met in 1994, started dating in 1995, moved in quickly, had first child in February of 2000, second in August of 2002, married two months after.

[Siam Sam]

The wife and I were an official couple for exactly two years, three weeks and two days before we were married.

EDIT: I suppose that qualifies as "about two years," but I ticked "more than two years."

[TreacherousCretin]

Exactly ten months of exclusive dating, followed by 41.2 years of marriage. So far.

.

[pulykamell]

Yeah, odd choices. I was 5 years; my brother was 12. I think the median in my peer group would be about 2.5-3 years.

[Happy Lendervedder]

Met in the late 90s, re-connected when we were in a wedding party together in summer of 2005, started dating immediately, were engaged by fall of 2006, married in summer 2007.

So, just over a year of dating til we were engaged, and two years from first date to wedding.

[The Flying Dutchman]

The wife and I never dated. It was a discrete adulterous office romance that culminated in her following me to a new job in an other province where we immediately shacked up.

[Dangerosa]

Originally Posted by The Flying Dutchman

The wife and I never dated. It was a discrete adulterous office romance that culminated in her following me to a new job in an other province where we immediately shacked up.

That sounds kind of familiar. We were friends for eleven years and one day he moved in. We got married about two years later. "Date?" Yeah, we really never did that.

[bengangmo]

First date aug 16. Wedding oct 8. This oct is 14 years. Two kids.

[RTFirefly]

31 months between first date and wedding. <12 months from first date to engagement, >19 months from engagement to wedding. We picked out the date over a year in advance, and one of my stepbrothers called up to wish us a happy -1st anniversary.

[ducati]

5 years.
Concurrently with another GF for 3 years.
Plus others.

Men are pigs.

[markdash]

First date in November 2002, engaged March 2006, married July 2007. We did have a ~5 month hiatus in 2004 but even if you exclude that period you get about 4 years of total dating time.

[astorian]

My wife and I started going out in the Spring of 1995 and got married in October of 1999.

So, why did it take 4+ years? Fear of commitment? No- almost 2 years into our relationship, I was ready to propose... but then her Mom got cancer, and that put everything on hold for quite a while. I finally proposed after her Mom was in remission.

[Tranquilis]

Well more than two. Would've been less than two, but more than one, excepting we saw a WestPac comming, and decided to wait until afterwards, so we would be able to deploy together.

[bup]

It's tough to say. We dated for about eight months, then broke up and she married someone else, then got divorced and we got back together but lived with each other from early on in that situation (because she had a baby and we thought it'd be best if she didn't work for a while), but it took us a little more than two years after that to get married.

Does living together with a baby count as dating? It didn't feel like it.

[Spavined Gelding]

Susie and I met and dated steady in high school. We dated in college and were engaged in our junior year undergraduate. I went to law school and she went to grad school. We married at Christmas break my first year of law school. For two years we lived on my paltry $110 per month as a library attendant and research assistant and her princely salary of $350 a month as a grad asst and non-tenured instructor. We will have been married 47 years this coming December and together for 52.

[BrotherCadfael]

Knew each other seven years, dated four years, married. Celebrated 25 years last June.