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Original poster

How long was your engagement?

131 replies

bluebellls · 17/03/2023 20:50

Trying to work out whats normal as we plan.
We don’t want a traditional wedding or to book a venue and invite hundreds of people.
Likely just to elope and spend our money on a fantastic honeymoon.
Do you think a 6-9 month engagement is too short? We are young and the last thing I’d wanna do is rush things and regret not enjoying the fiancé status for longer, even if it is just a stepping stone. How long was your engagement? Thankyou :)

OP posts:
Highlyflavouredgravy · 17/03/2023 21:33

We got engaged in February and married the following June. So..16 months?

QuickNameChangeForMeToday · 17/03/2023 21:34

15 months. Had we not got engaged in December it would have been less but I wanted a spring wedding.

Hopingforno2in2023 · 17/03/2023 21:34

9 months

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Weddings
Grumpsy · 17/03/2023 21:37

4.5 years until we decided to just get married, 5ish months planning the wedding till we tied the knot

Blondbombsite · 17/03/2023 21:37

3 years, but we’d originally planned a wedding for 10mins after our engagement. Covid forced us to cancel 3 times so we decided to have a baby first and both my ILs ended up being very unwell (my FIL passed before the wedding) we got married a week after DS’ 1st birthday.

In ideal circumstances I wouldn’t have wanted to wait more than a year though.

JustJamie5 · 17/03/2023 21:38

@anerki101 me too!!!. Kinda think he wanted to propose, he can organise the thing!

mondaytosunday · 17/03/2023 21:38

Met my (late) husband in September, engaged in November, wanted to get married in June but some delays out of our control snd we were married the following November. So 10 months.
Not sure what you mean about 'enjoying' the engagement status? Once we decided to get married we just wanted it done asap. But then we weren't young (I was 40). 120 guests in London.

AnneLovesGilbert · 17/03/2023 21:40

4 months. But we waited for a family member who was due back in the country to be there. Small family wedding then a picnic with some friends a few weeks later with cake and bubbles.

Wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Justyouwaitandseeagain · 17/03/2023 21:40

18 months (made longer due to close family member illness) but we got engaged less than a year after meeting

YukoandHiro · 17/03/2023 21:41

We had a five month engagement and it was still a bit of a rush to get everything organised, and we only had a small day.

topofbighill · 17/03/2023 21:41

10 months

RosesAndHellebores · 17/03/2023 21:42

He proposed in June. We married 13 months later but didn't announce the engagement until December when all the arrangements were in place. So when people said "ooh, congratulations, when are you getting married, we could say "x of July, at y".

RosesAndHellebores · 17/03/2023 21:42

Oh, and that was 33 years ago :)

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 17/03/2023 21:43

9 years but we moved away to a different city twice and had a baby

WalkAwaySugarbear · 17/03/2023 21:46

Together 3yrs then 3yrs engagement, we were saving for the wedding after we bought our first house. We've been married 19yrs this year.

Slimjimtobe · 17/03/2023 21:48

Six months and we had a wedding for over 200 (though I would do a small wedding in hindsight)

we didn’t live together at all until we came back from honeymoon and married over 12 years

Bumble84 · 17/03/2023 21:49

Was supposed to be 6 months, covid pushed it to 10months

inthekitchensink · 17/03/2023 21:50

7 weeks. Got engaged on holiday after a discussion about what we both wanted and found out the soonest we could get the banns sorted and register office booked- sent out an Facebook invitation to our nearest and dearest, and booked our favourite local restaurant for a lunch reception. Very low key, very easy, but not for everyone I’m sure!

DelurkingAJ · 17/03/2023 21:53

18 months so that overseas family could join us (they needed to save up but were very keen to come…).

Babdoc · 17/03/2023 21:54

Technically, 3 weeks! We wrote off our car, and decided the only way to afford a replacement was to get married before the end of the tax year, which was in 3 weeks time, as in those days you got the whole year’s married tax rebate if you wed in the first few days of April.
Neither of us was at all keen on marriage, so I just got a day off work and we went to the registry office with two witnesses.

WeightoftheWorld · 17/03/2023 21:55

About 15 months. We were also very young and had only been together for a year before we got engaged as well. In hindsight it would have been more sensible to have had a longer engagement. Or not get engaged at all until a lot later. We were actually pushed into marriage by religious family really. Luckily we adored each other so were happy to go along with it. We've been together a decade so it worked out ok so far. However not something I'd really recommend to others as lots of potential for things to go wrong!

I think it depends on how long you've been together mostly. If you've been together a long time then engagement really is just as PP said however long it takes to sort the wedding. If it's a fairly new relationship I think a couple of years of engagement is a good idea.

HotSince82 · 17/03/2023 21:57

Ten years, three months and eighteen days.

Echobelly · 17/03/2023 21:57

6-9 months sounds fine.

Ours was 18 months but only because DH very impromptu proposed to me (he wasn't planning to until the words came out of his mouth) right at the start of the the year and though I wouldn't have cared what time of year we had a wedding, he fancied and outdoorsy one, and 6 months was too soon given we knew we'd be inviting c200 people (Jewish wedding, so will include parents' friends etc), so it had to be the next summer.

DramaAlpaca · 17/03/2023 21:59

Highlyflavouredgravy · 17/03/2023 21:33

We got engaged in February and married the following June. So..16 months?

Exactly the same here Smile

It'll be 33 years this June.

afterdropshock · 17/03/2023 22:00

5 months. I wanted to get on with being married.

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