To say there should be 'pre-marriage tasks' that you have to do before you tie the knot

My ex would have passed all those with flying colours, but he's still an ex.

I agree we should pay attention to earlier signs though. He's was always a workaholic and deeply entrenched in his ways for a young man.

Task Rabbit or Air Tasker. Or if you live in an area that has a facebook page ask on there.

Also if you use task rabbit once typically the person gives you their own card for next time to avoid task rabbit fees. I don’t mind small stuff but moved onto a new place and had to put together a bed, drawers some free standing shelves, TV unit, wall unit all in one go. The guy who did it charged me £120 and was super speedy. I since learned that was at the upper end of what some people charge!

Survive hosting 'Christmas'. The expense, cooking, cleaning, decorating, buying and wrapping gifts, work do's on the same night- who gets to go and who stays home with the Guinea pig?
Attend family trip to a theme park, borrow a couple of children - ideally a pre schooler and an older child for maximum tantrum opportunities.
Both clean identical bathrooms from scratch- if either room us not up to the other persons standards then back to Tinder you go!

Set each other shopping lists to go out and buy - each see what the other comes back with! Right magazine? Right type of san pro or deodorant? Right kind of printer toner?

Pretend you have a small child who has just lost their much-loved cuddly toy/blanket/insert emotional support item here. They absolutely cannot sleep without it. You have 4 hours till bedtime to source an exact replacement. Go!

Get ill for two weeks and see how the other person manages.

Buy something that doesn’t ‘quite’ fit in the car. I think this could be added to the IKEA shopping trip and the flat pack assembly challenge.

Might as well use the 3 as the final test.

The only time I was delayed long enough to get any airport food courtesy of the airline, the vouchers were barely enough for a hot dog and weren't valid for any alcoholic drinks!

Go to Ikea. Take along two children under the age of 4. If the journey is not successful, live with clothing on your floor for 3 weeks. Repeat.
Heh.
Or, easier level: go to Ikea with a hangover and a time limit.

I was also going to say pre marriage counselling.
I can remember gritting my teeth expecting some trite lectures but each session was rooted in the practicalities of living together over decades and the challenges which come through life. It really did give us a lot to think about and there were many occasions when we hit life's rocks that I thought back to those sessions - they did a good job of setting realistic expectations.
Probably also helped that there was no insta-world telling us that everyone else was living the dream life!

There’s an odd job man on my local Facebook group that offers this service among others, I haven’t used it but god I’ve been tempted after the last Ikea delivery

People who pay other people to assemble flat pack furniture - where do you find this wonderful service? Just thinking of flat pack furniture gives me a meltdown

This is a thing in Ireland called a pre marriage course.
Run by the church and usually by people who aren't the best advisors.
Based around money, feelings, and discussing big issues. Generally a good idea.

Had we not decided to give up and get a decorator in for our now adult child's nursery when I was pregnant, we probably wouldn't have still been together at the birth

Nobody would ever get married, surely ?!

I've heard awnings be referred to as a Divorce in a Bag

These are all so funny (and accurate)

Spend a week in a campervan with no air-conditioning in 40 degree heat camping in high season in a foreign country.
That sorts the wheat from the chaff.

Oh God no. I pay people to put together my flat pack furniture. Once I paid I am never going back to doing it myself!

One person drives to an unknown area one person has a upside map in a foreign language

Who's pissing in the living areas?? I insist they use the toilets!

Exactly. That is literally the only reason why I married my (ex) husband. Then the fucker proved to be useless so had to divorce him (and buy furniture from flea markets).

Take a trip to IKEA (everyone argues at IKEA) & see if you still like each other.

IKEA is a strange form of hell. I’ve been there twice, about 20 years apart and I swear I’ll never go again.

Take a trip to IKEA (everyone argues at IKEA) & see if you still like each other.

Spend a week each doing all the washing up & dishwashing stacking whilst the other one puts away/dries/whatever.
If you can cope with the other person doing it all wrong then you'll have a good marriage.

During lockdown, my friend and her then then-fiancé were stuck in a small flat with no outdoor space. They survived that, so I reckon their marriage is likely to last.

I think that at some point before getting married, ideally everyone should spend at least a few months living alone, doing all the housework and life admin. I wouldn’t marry a man who’d only ever lived with his mum (and previous partners), because there’s a high chance he’d have no idea what pulling his weight would actually look like.