how long did it take/has it taken you and your current/previous partners to say I love you?

[BoozeyTuesday]

Not an advice poll as such, I'm more interested in other people's experiences. Been with my boyfriend for three months but I was best mates with him for a few years before that. I drunkenly said it recently over text which was a complete mistake I know and he said he wasn't there yet but was on the way. What's your experiences?

my friend has been living with her partner for 7 years.
he has never told my friend that he loves her.

Oohhh do they seem happy?

He said it to me after 5 months and I said it back. I can still remember the high I felt. I don't remember our proposal (he didn't propose to me we decided to get married) but I remember this moment. That was 25 years ago.

Never said it to any other man. previous serious relationship, he said it to me but I couldn't say it back. writing was on the wall after that although we are still friends.

I wonder what it would be like dating now after having children. I say I love you so often and so regularly to them, it is possible the phrase would just come out of my mouth at the end of the first date!

OP, stay cool. He sounds dead keen. Maybe (like me) he sees the words as definite absolute commitment so doesn't want to say them as a reaction iykwim.

Maybe that was my trouble canyou ? Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

We've been married 10yrs, together 15...he has said it once or twice and i've said it once or none. Is that very strange?

4 fucking years before he said "I love you"

I loved him pretty quickly and told him after a few months I think.
He didn't say anything at first then eventually he started saying "you too"

It wasn't until I had a "if you aren't willing to tell me how you feel then what are we doing here?" Meltdown that he said it.

Sometimes I think that he is incapable of love and I'm wasting my time.

After a couple of weeks. We'd been in contact for ages online through online dating and when we finally met we hit it off so well. He told me he could totally fall for me after a couple of weeks and about ten minutes later he said it to me. I don't know if we said it again and lots straight after but it was enough.

I tell him or he tells me daily that we love each other. On the phone as he usually calls before he leaves work or to say he'll be late, or when one of us leaves for work in the morning. Just makes me happy. I have never loved anyone so much and I feel so lucky :)

I got drunk about three months in, and didn't say it at first but asked him how how he felt - he'd had two crappy marriages and was protecting himself but it was knocking my confidence. He'd be really romantic and we would spend amazing times and weekends away with each other but there seemed to be this massive barrier. I then drunkenly say on the floor at two am outside and told him I loved him and he didn't need to say it back but know he had to stop putting barriers up. Two weeks later or so he said it to me.

We've been together nearly two years and say it matter of fact in ending phone calls a bit more now, but every time he says it is makes me melt a little. He picks moments to say it as a proper I love you too.

I don't regret getting drunk and having it out with him - he and I have a relationship which means we can be honest with each other and never row. He admitted a few months later he knew he loved me after only a few weeks but didn't want to admit it after two failed marriages to a girl he's originally set out to have a bit of fun with.

And it was a deal breaker to me as my ex husband never said it. Three times in six years did he ever say I love you. It killed me a little bit, I kept fighting for reassurance and attention. Now I don't need to.

I ended up discussing it with him. He said he feels he means it but was scared of saying it. Problem is now if he says it I'll only feel he's saying it to please me! argh! I'm not normally this forward but because we already knew each Other so well as friends it feels a lot further forward.

I was going to say 3 weeks but my mitigating circumstances are we were close before dating.
You need to trust that he knows how he feels

He told me after 6 months but I did not say it back straight away- maybe another week or 2 later. To be fair I was only 18 and not sure what I felt. Will have been together 13 years in August. Have 2 children and are engaged so all going well

Me to him: about 6 months
Him to me: 27 years

(We were on a long break though :o)

We were coworkers who were FWB for a year. We both said we didn't want anything, one of us was lying. after a year I quit my job to quit him. leaving do I drunkenly said it,he kicked me out of his house but instantly regretted that. a few days later came to his senses and decided he wanted to be with me and then took him another 5ish months.

we are now engaged and have recently had our first beautiful boy.

About 8 months. I wanted to say it after about 5 months and almost did, and I think he did too; we used lots of euphemisms like 'you mean so much to me'. After about 2 or 3 months we were spending every weekend together, had met each other's friends and families etc but the words took longer. He had separated from his wife about a year before he met me after a pretty hellish couple of years, and I was worn down by 5 years of dating so we were both quite wary I think.
Hang in there OP, 3 months isn't that long! Also he may well feel that because you have been mates for so long that you both have more to lose, if that makes sense...?