While surfing on the Internet I found a list of the “scariest marriage proposals” compiled by MSN. Given that this was just before Halloween, I thought they would have a spooky vibe. Well, I was wrong, though they were certainly scary. The four real-life marriage proposals were as follows: 1) A pilot took his girlfriend up for a ride in his small plane, pretended they were crashing, and handed his girlfriend an emergency checklist. His proposal was written on the list: “initiate ring engagement procedure.” 2) A stuntman faked a car crash and his subsequent death. His girlfriend was called … Continue reading →

A friend of ours just got engaged to his girlfriend. We both like her a lot so we’re really happy for them. This past weekend was a big deal for them: the meeting of the families. Both their sets of parents came down to the area for their first official meeting (or possibly their first meeting period; our friends have only been dating for about a year and their families don’t live in the area). “Did you get a chance to ask Rich how it went yet?” I asked Jon. “Nope,” Jon replied with a bit of a grimace. We … Continue reading →

Last time I examined whether or not premarital counseling ought to be a considered option for couples before they marry. Today I’ll look at another part of the question: how much couples should know about each other before they approach the altar. The main reason why premarital counseling might be a good idea is because sometimes people don’t know the sorts of things they ought to know about each other before they get married. The idea was sparked by a girl who called into my local radio station to say that she’d signed herself and her fiance up for counseling. … Continue reading →

When I was a little girl, I was absolutely insistent that I was going to have pink for my wedding color. Then I decided that lavender was really the way to go. Then I thought I’d do burgundy … but with some pink thrown in for good measure. By the time I was actually engaged, I’d been through so many colors of the rainbow, I had no idea what I wanted. I was working in a floral shop at the time, and one day, a shipment came in of the most beautiful flower I’d ever seen. It was alstromeria, which … Continue reading →

If you’ve decided to wait to become sexually active until you’re married, and your wedding date is approaching, you may have questions about birth control. Many couples choose to wait a little while before starting their families. Perhaps they want to finish school, or get settled in their new homes—maybe they want time to get to know each other as husband and wife before they become mother and father. It may be that you aren’t sure if parenthood is right for you. Whatever your reasoning, you have questions, and they need to be answered. But when? The sooner the better. … Continue reading →

Not all marriages are meant to be. Those that discover this before marriage are the lucky ones. While it may seem devastating and even embarrassing at the time, there are reasons that couples should be thankful for engagement break-ups and wedding cancellations. In one of the forum threads a lady comments that her son recently broke off his engagement. She questions how she should handle the situation. Engagement break-ups can be tricky. There are many factors to consider when determining what the next step should be. If a wedding is not underway, then the break-up can be fairly simple. The … Continue reading →

I have addressed weddings in many of my previous articles. I have discussed anything from music to flowers to location. This article will take a little different twist. Here I have dug up a little research and discovered some very surprising, and not so surprising, wedding statistics. I think that you will enjoy them as much as I have. I will begin with the “before” stage. The engagement. When you first begin planning your marriage and your wedding. It has been found that American couples typically stay engaged for about sixteen months before getting married. During this period you begin … Continue reading →

In a previous article I described some leap traditions of women proposing to men and the bad luck that marrying during a leap year can bring. So is it appropriate for a woman to propose to a man? I think if a large group were polled, there would likely be many different and opposing views to this question. Women are becoming much more liberal. Women run businesses, control finances, and even run for president, as we have seen this year. So why could a woman not propose? I think that most women would say that it is completely acceptable and … Continue reading →