Because he’s one of the few people that “get” me–in other words, smart, geeky, and with a terrific sense of humor. I knew I wanted to spend my life with him because we’re extremely compatible and our views, values, and preferred lifestyle are similar. Plus he is a wonderful person, a one in a billion guy.
Oh, and it didn’t hurt that he has fabulous legs. 
Seemed like a good idea at the time. So far so good. (19 years)
It took him about 3 weeks to decide that I was the girl for him and he wanted to get married. Lucky for him, he was too smart to say so. I had a straight-up marriage phobia. It took me months to get to the point of “well,* if* he asks me someday I guess I’ll say yes…” (see all those nice safe qualifiers in there? That was as close as I could get to admitting I wanted to marry him.) He proposed the next day and I freaked out before saying yes. (Actually I said “I guess so.”) I spent the next six months in a state of near-panic, but somewhere under that I knew it was a good idea–otherwise I would have just cut and run for the hills. Once the actual ceremony was safely over I was happy as could be.
It’s us against the world, baby.
Now that I’ve got a few years of perspective, I feel lucky. I have not met a lot of guys that I think I could build a life and family with, who get me that well.
I have heard a rumor that these two things are mutually exclusive.
Tax breaks. Seriously. We married on New Year’s Eve 31 years ago 
Well to be brutally honest about it…it was 1957 and we really wanted to sleep together, and in 1957 good/smart girls didn’t. We loved each other but hormones were upper most. The preacher who married us was a family friend and he also wanted to counsel us before . He said “You think you love each other now but when you have been married a few years you will love each other so much more”. He was right, and I don’t know where all those years went but they went fast and now we are old and will be married 58 years in June.
Because we were both convinced that we’d come upon someone magnificent, and we didn’t want them to get away from us.
Because we wanted to show everyone that yes, this was serious, and this was real, and this was going to be forever.
“And the old despair that was often there
Suddenly ceases to be
When you wake one day, look around and say
Somebody wonderful married me.”
I didn’t want to live without her.
Because he asked. I was at that point in my life where I thought it was time to get married. I was dating him, I guess we fell in love, and he asked. We are now divorced.
The man I loved asked me to marry him. This August will be our silver anniversary.
Bonus: Any time I want a science fiction book/novel identified, he’s right there! I don’t have to start a thread! (I’m married to Andy L.)
I wanted to be with her. I realized when talking about marriage I was only talking to people that were happy in their marriage. I realized I wanted to marry Becky because I enjoyed being with her and was empty when she was gone. I wanted to wake up in the morning and see her first thing. I would be complete with her. Scared yes but I was unstoppable. I was going to ask her and she said yes April 1971 and we became one October 1971.
I did not marry the woman I could live with. I married the woman I could not live with out.
Hello, sweetie!
“George, George, I have a very important job for you. While I am away, I need you to flush the toilet regularly to exercise the gaskets.”
::unmarried gigi slinks away
River? River SONG? PROFESSOR RIVER SONG?
It’s complicated. We had know each other for over five years, but never lived closer than 600 miles from each other. We alternated periods of intense passion with periods where we almost never talked. We started talking again after AmTrak killed my hamster. I was changing grad schools and moving from Illinois to Louisiana. She got fed up with hers and moved home and got a good job. In the highest level of perception I had ever achieved, I sensed she was ready. After all, we had totally failed at permanently breaking up. So, I invited her to help me move, and proposed, and she said yes. Why? Because I wanted to live with her and thought that asking her to move to Louisiana to live with me without being married would be obnoxious. (This was 37 years ago.) Plus, I never had any objections to marriage.
Our friends probably wouldn’t have given us 5 years, but here we still are. And loving it.
Because I was “in the market” for a mate and I found someone with whom I felt comfortable being around. A LOT (and she, evidently, felt much the same way about me). Simple as that.
Because it’s what you do in this society. You get married, buy a house, and have kids. Like it or not, society respects marriage more than dating relationships. So I got a relationship society respects.
I’m married with kids, but we’re not getting a house unless there’s some huge financial advantage. Not mild: huge. It wouldn’t be good for the marriage.
As for the respect issue: How exactly do you think singles and daters are unduly disrespected?
Something told me the first time I met my husband that he was the guy I was going to marry. It took him a little longer to get around to realizing that, so I just waited for him to catch up.
On a more serious note, he was the first man I’d ever known who ‘got’ that being alone doesn’t mean being lonely. He gave me as much space as I needed and I did the same for him. That might have pushed other people apart, but it did nothing but bring us together.
Because he asked, and I couldn’t think of a single reason to say no.
I was head over heels in love with the guy. It was my first and so far only serious relationship.
We’ve been divorced since 1979.