Does marriage change anything?

It’s my second marriage. Took me about 5 years to feel married. Changed nowt.

@HisNotHes I was screwed over big time by a man I had kids with. I was also married to him.

Marriage won’t fix a poor relationship but for an already good relationship it’s the icing on the cake. I love being married and married my best friend.

I've been married twice. The first time - nothing but regret. I was 24 and very, very naive.
The second time I was 40 and I am so pleased we did. Can't give a "concrete" reason really as to why I feel that way. We already had a daughter, I retained my family name and Ms title, and neither of us have any savings to speak of, no assets or wills. So financial reasons don't come into play. We don't have a joint bank account, nor would we want one.
I don't feel "proud" of being a wife or anything like that, but I do like it and wouldn't change it for the world.

Ok, but I was replying to a question about why a woman would want to get married before having children…

When I married in the late 1980's I can, hand on heart say financial reasons really weren't something at the forefront of my mind. Neither did I hear any of my friends/family talk about it.

It was always seen as a legal contract, I think. I think that's its primary purpose.

Marriage is a personal and public comittment that you are a unit, a team and support one another. If you want the really old-fashioned reasons for marrying, read the Church of England marriage vows.
In this day and age as well as because marriage has been downgraded by politicians, it is now seen more as a legal contract.
Sadly even legal contracts do not always do what they were supposed to.

Been married twice. It changed our relationships for the worse. They both had a sense of ownership which I hadn’t expected.

@Jigglywigglypuff "Why did you feel the need to marry to have children though?"

I can't speak for the poster who you asked this question of, but many women marry because the contract gives their children legal/financial protection should everything goes tits up - which it often does.

We've done 57 years and we are still happy...

Marriage didn’t change my name. That was one of the things I loved about him. We discussed it and his response was “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”.

The only thing it changed was my name. We had been living 'as married' for years already; joint account, bought house together etc.

It's important not to conflate loving someone with deciding to marry them.

Love my current partner, was happy to marry him because I know she will benhis only child, he is financially secure and he will 100% act in our child's best interests.

Loved my ex, but that man lived on credit cards and there is no way on this planet I'd have tied myself to him legally in any way, shape or form or put him in a position to care for our hypothetical child's future.

How did it change things is a hard one to answer because my initial thought, besides the fact we wanted children and to be married before said children and of course, the legal protections marriage offers, is that it just felt more secure, which is a funny one because I obviously had a good degree of faith that we’d go the distance or I’d never have married him. But so it is. We both stood there in front of all our loved ones to make that massive commitment to each other and sure, people can argue marriage doesn’t matter or that it isn’t needed but I disagree. For us, it was incredibly important, and remains so. I think he’s as wonderful today as the day I married him, I feel very lucky.

Mostly the legal and financial benefits for me, especially as we wanted children. I don’t think I’d have had children outside of marriage (nothing to do with God or anything; just that I think it’s more secure for women and children).

However, I obviously do retain some slightly traditional values even if I’m not really aware of them, because there have been times where I think I might have walked away if we hadn’t been married. The marriage made me determined to stick it out and try harder through the rough patches.

Not anything awful like abuse or infidelity- just the regular ups and downs of relationships.

Unfortunately.

Otherwise many elderly friends or siblings could enjoy the legal benefits.

If it’s something you want to do and believe in it’s great.

if it’s not then it’s not for you.

happily married for 22 years

We’re getting married in the next couple of months so that I won’t get deported.

That’s it.

It won’t make any difference to our lives otherwise.

I got married at 40. I feel like 10 years is enough for me. I wish it was contract renewal rather than a contract I have to get out of… Happy I tried it, but I feel like another life is out there. Not another man. MY life!

Same. We’ve been married for 26 years and marriage has made this relationship feel different to any unmarried one.

I am very shallow and loved the big day and attention
Also loved my DH and thankfully it has lasted 30 years
Financially it is fairly neutral and we earn the same
Also I would not have had kids if I hadn’t been married

Just financially and legally.
Shouldn’t make any real difference to the relationship, unless the individuals have attached meaning to it.