Living together before Marriage....

I met and started dating my SO in 2006, as a 10th grader. This December, we will be dating for 6 years. We just started looking at engagement rings and he has been saying that he wants to get married this year or next.

We have been living together for almost a year and a half.
Do you think the saying that a man should not reap the benefits of marriage before marriage? I think now, it's important to see what habits someone has and how you get along living together first. But will it take away the excitement of marriage and all the things marriage comes with?

I know that for those who are relgious the answer would clearly, be not a good idea. I am a believer but of course, we didn't really do the "rite" thing.

i wouldn't marry someone i hadn't lived with.

I think living together before marriage is important. You learn so much more about a person through living together. I would never get married first.

Quoting Máthair Gruaig Gorm:" i wouldn't marry someone i hadn't lived with."

I agree with this.

Quoting Máthair Gruaig Gorm:" i wouldn't marry someone i hadn't lived with."

Agreed. It's good to know if you're able to share the same space as the person you're planning on spending the rest of your life with. I've lived with SO for 2 years now and couldn't be happier so now we're talking marriage.

me and dh lived together for a year and some before we got married but we had dd1 and got married at the courthouse when she was 5 months old.

Me and DH lived together for 3 years before we got married. I don't think it takes away the excitement of marriage away, you just already know what your going to deal with on a daily basis before you commit to someone. Some people would call it "adultry", but if you already know your going to spend the rest of your life with that person I don't think it matters.

My DH and I were together for 3 years before we moved in together (we were 17 when we met). We were living together for a year before we got married.

I think that unless you're a virgin saving yourself for marriage (IE, you're not sleeping with him at all), living with them doesn't take much of the thrill out of it. If you haven't slept together, then getting married is a big thrill, but if you're already doing the deed, living together doesn't change the "thrill" of getting married.

But there's something pretty awesome about doing it with your husband   Even after 7 years married  

Quoting Máthair Gruaig Gorm:" i wouldn't marry someone i hadn't lived with."

This!!!!!! My kids and I have a routine and if they can't fall into our routine then it won't work.

My first husband and I didnt live together till we got married. The day we moved intogether was the worst. His habits where soo bad. Even his personality changed on me. Of course I threw him off as well with my ways.
My husband now we moved in before we got married. It was hard but we made it work because we didnt have anything holding us together but our want to be together. Best choice i ever made. My family was pissed but respected it. Now we are married with the first baby on the way.

It worked out for me but it works out for others the other way as well.

I think you get to know each other on a different level when you live together. I think it could determine if you really want to be with that person or not.

My hubby and I started dating 11 yrs ago when I was 18 and he was 23. We got engaged 4 yrs later and married 2 yrs after that. We only moved in together less than 2 months before out wedding. It was more an important thing to our
parents and we respected it. We've been married 5 happy years.

I think it's a GREAT idea. And I think it should be mandatory. For at LEAST a year.

SO and his ex had NO idea how they would get along living together. They moved in together a month and a half before the wedding. They were incompatible in every sense of the word, and they had no idea.

SO and I have been living together over 2 and a half years now, and we're fine. We spat, who doesn't, but we WORK around it, and we know how each other reacts to stuff. IF we get married, it'll be a long time from now, when we know we're both ready and sure of it. Because if we get married, we were both raised to not do divorce... when you're married and something doesn't work, you fix it unless there's something serious going on. We apply that to our relationship now.

I started dating my Husband when we were 14 years old, we moved in together when we were 21 and married at 22, 3 days after our 8 year anniversary. Our first married night was amazing. We went to a hotel and for some reason it felt like a wonderland. I felt like I was floating on a cloud and it didn't go away for weeks. I think it's a great idea to see how the other person is in a home type setting. The first night we moved in and the first night married were so different for us. I don't think it takes away anything.

My mom & her boyfriend have been & lived together for 16 years, & me and my BD have known eachother for 5 years, been together for almost 3 years, & have lived together for almost 2 years. I don't see why you have to be married to live together or have a family together. Like some of the other ladies said, personally I'd want to live with someone before getting married.