Why do people choose to get married?

Peater

Marriage, to me, is a bit of an archaic and out-dated inheritance. It's a far bigger 'actual' commitment to have joint names on a mortgage for example.

I don't get why homosexual's are in such a rush to join the queue to lose half of their belongings either.

Lily-Rose_3

'Le sigh'

NoAngel

Because they want everyone to know their commitment to one another, want to spend their lives together and love each other. My parents weren't married and it always made me wonder why, when everyone else's parents were- I didn't want my children wondering the same thing.

Its important to some and not to others, like most things in life.

lazer

Me and my boyfriend were in love and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together - so we got married.

If you want to spend the rest of your life with someone why not marry them?

166million

I think it would be fun to have a 'husband', I sort of feel weird calling him my boyfriend or partner.

andrewmp

She is a foreigner and without marriage she couldn't live here, we'd have been married by now anyway though.

Angry_Bear

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Wow. What a depressing post. Particularly the bolded bit. Thank goodness not everyone thinks like this.

So marriage will only 'matter' to you if you're getting some financial gain from it. How romantic you sound.

But I don't see anything romantic in an old tradition where a woman is "given" to a man. I don't have the religious side and I don't find the paperwork side "romantic". I also don't see anything romantic about an extremely expensive party.

My OH and I are romantic in many ways, we just don't find marriage to be one of them. I would only get married for financial/legal reasons, because I genuinely don't see any other worthwhile ones.

Other people are different of course, it's what makes the world interesting.

ETA: That's not quite true. I wouldn't ONLY get married for financial or legal reasons. I would also get married if it was important to my OH, because I love him and want him to be happy.

duchy

To me marriage is making a public declaration that this is the person you have chosen to be your partner til death and I always wonder if couples who choose not to are simply keeping their options open.

I think it's a bit insulting to say I'll be your partner on the mortgage, have kids with you but I don't want to make a legally biding partnership with you . Why wouldn't you?

I wouldn't have had a child without knowing the father already was prepared to commit to our family 100 percent and that included a legal promise to me.

Tropez

I got married because my now-wife who for the majority of our relationship had made it abundantly clear she never wanted to get married woke me up one night to ask me to marry her.

I don't know but when a belief as strong as that is changed then I guess it made me think how deep she felt for me.

duchy

Angry_Bear wrote: »

But I don't see anything romantic in an old tradition where a woman is "given" to a man. I don't have the religious side and I don't find the paperwork side "romantic". I also don't see anything romantic about an extremely expensive party.

My OH and I are romantic in many ways, we just don't find marriage to be one of them. I would only get married for financial/legal reasons, because I genuinely don't see any other worthwhile ones.

Other people are different of course, it's what makes the world interesting.

ETA: That's not quite true. I wouldn't ONLY get married for financial or legal reasons. I would also get married if it was important to my OH, because I love him and want him to be happy.

I agree with you about expensive parties but we are talking marriage not weddings. A marriage needs two people someone qualified to conduct the ceremony and a couple of witnesses. A wedding is the social froth that can accompany the ceremony. I think a lot of the problem is some people can't separate the two.

Marriage today is a legal and equal partnership. My late Dad did give away but I didn't see it as him handing me over as an asset but as accompanying me to the altar and supporting me as I took a step into a huge commitment.