If we aren't married to other people by ___, we'll marry each other

Has anyone heard of, or been part of, one of these pacts that actually came to fruition? How successful was the marriage?

One of the most successful, stable marriages I know of among my friends started this way. Of course, many, many people had been saying for years that the two of them would make a good couple and should marry each other.

High school friends of my wife’s. My wife suspects that the woman felt more strongly about the man than she let on, though.

I had just such an arrangement. We set in high school, and I had frankly forgotten all about it. He called me on my 30th birthday to remind me. I did actually give it serious consideration, and even flew across the country to visit him. Three days together were all it took to make me realize this was a bad, bad plan. I think it was mutual, although we’ll always have a soft spot for one another.

He is now very happily married to someone else.

Moved to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

Not quite the same, but when I was 13 or so, Interview with a Vampire came out in theaters and my friend and I were really into all those Anne Rice books. So we made a pact, which stands to this day, that if either one of us becomes a vampire, we’ll turn the other one into a vampire so we can both be immortal killers together.

I knew two friends in high school (late 80s) who had a pact to do this by 2000.

A few years after high school he came out as gay. To the best of my knowledge neither of them have married anybody.

I knew a couple that did this as teenagers in camp. They gradually moved the deadline earlier and earlier, then managed to admit to each other that they really liked each other and wanted to get married. We’re only in Facebook contact now, not real, but they seem happy, and have several children.

I know somebody who clearly married her backup, someone who’d been crazy about her for years, with whom she kept going out a few times every few years before deciding that she still didn’t particularly like him. Then she freaked out that she’d be turning 30. She seems happy when I talk to her, but she never mentions her husband, only her kids, whom she adores.

Not quite, but I have a different arrangement (seeing as though I’m happily married). Should anything happen to him in an untimely fashion (or just if he goes before me since he’s 7 1/2 years older), I’ll hook up with an old friend of mine from high school. He’s not necessarily the “marriage and kids” kind of guy, but we could make it work.

I’ve known at least two pairs of heterosexual women who bandied about the idea, only half in jest. I think the idea was also mentioned in a bit of dialogue in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. Didn’t come to anything though, AFAIK – I stole the bride away in one instance. :smiley:

Does your husband know about this arrangement?

So a husband and wife are snuggling down for bed, and the wife turns to her husband and says, “Honey, if I died, do you think you would remarry?”
“I guess so,” he said. “I mean, eventually.”
“Do you think you and your new wife would live together in this house?”
“Sure.”
“Would you–would you sleep with her in this bed?”
“Well, why would I throw this bed out? It’s a fine bed.”
“Would you let her wear my clothes?”
He chuckled. “Now don’t you worry. She’s two sizes smaller than you.”

In high school I had a friend who liked me a little more than I liked her, and after much cajoling I entered into one of these pacts with her. I talked her down from “we should go out” to “if I’m single, not interested in anyone, and not a widower when I turn 30, I’ll marry you.” She reminded me of the deal a few times in college, but she eventually met and married a guy in her mid-twenties.

I just turned 30 a month ago, am single, and don’t have my eye on anyone in particular at the moment. If she just would have held out a few years she could have had her chance!

My girlfriend has a deal like this with a friend of hers. I’m very :dubious: about the whole thing, especially since the friend is constantly pushing to move the deadline earlier (since I started dating my GF, their deal has gone from “when we’re 40” to “when we’re 33”). If she wants to marry her so damn much, she should have asked her out when she was single instead of setting up this increasingly absurd pact.

Back when I was 15, me and my girlfriend made such a pact for age 35. Seemed like a long way off.

Now I’m closer to 35 than 15, and we’re both single. Hmm. I’ll let you know in a few years.