We don’t know if you’ve been together for years and have kids, or if you’re buying a house and have only been together a year. We don’t know if you’ve regularly told him you’d like to get married and he’s been putting it off for years, or these kind of discussions are new to you both.
Assuming he’s not one of those blokes who string the woman along for multiple years, knowing they’d like to get married and suggesting he will propose, but never does or will….….I think things look pretty good.
I’d take last night’s conversation as him being a bit brave to check with you, that you’re on the same page. It sounds like he wants to do it and can now be in doubt that you want to as well. It’s hard to know the timescale….after your conversation, he might be nipping down to the jewellers and planning to ask you next week, or it could happen after you move into the new house. In his mind, it could still be something in the distant future, but I’d hope not.
Personally, if it hasn’t happened in the next 6 months, I’d be bringing it up, as a discussion to check what kind of timescale he’s thinking of. He can say there is no timescale or tell you what he thinks. Some people don’t like to have this conversation, but I don’t see a problem with it. There are people who’ve realised that they and their boyfriend don’t want the same future, and it’s better to know sooner rather than later, if marriage is really important to you. It’s not about pressuring them to propose if they don’t want to get married or are not ready, but a reasonable request for them to think about it and be honest with you….then you both know where you stand. Too many couples don’t know where they stand on this and it’s an unspoken source of tension for years. It’s really important to be able to talk about difficult things, even if you might hear things you do t really want to hear.