Cohabitation Before Marriage

If you are facing a dilemma about whether cohabitation before marriage is a good idea, then its worth discussing the pros and cons of it before going forward. A little more thinking will never hurt. A relationship passes through various stages, finally culminating into marriage, hopefully, for many.

Some prefer a live in relationship, that is a relationship with no strings attached as in marriage. Whether you go for live in or a marriage, according to me, compatibility issues are the same in both. Living together before marriage is a phase that many couples decide to go through before actually plunging into married life.

For many, this is made out of convenience and for many it is something of a trial run before marriage. Opinions about it are divided. However, people who have never really gone through this experience before marriage, can only give an opinion which is theoretical in nature, rather than practical experience. Its entirely your decision.

Pros

Being in a relationship, in the initial phase, both people wonder, what it would be like living together with the other person. Being with a person all the time or dating him or her and living with the person are two very different things.

So the best thing about living together before marriage is that you know what the other person is really like. His or her true nature will be revealed to you. You will get to know the realities of living together and the hard questions it poses. You will know, how good your partner is at sharing responsibilities and how enthusiastic he is about making this thing work.

It is a sort of preview of what kind of married life you can really expect. The couple will get to know each other's idiosyncrasies, insecurities, plus and minus points in more detail. This experience will either strengthen and affirm your decision to marry or force you to rethink. Either way, its good to have this preview before taking the wedding vows.

It can solve a lot of practical problems. The couple can save rent costs and conveyance costs if they live together. As you can see, I am for living together before marriage. If there is understanding between you and your partner, things will definitely work out.

Cons

The major con is that it may kill the excitement of getting married. Marriage may seem like a mere formality after that. Statistics show that couples who go through cohabitation before marriage, are more prone to divorce. However, statistics can be misleading as there may be a variety of reasons for a couple reaching a divorce decision.

Society frowns upon people living together without marriage. The extent to which this fact bothers you is directly proportional to how much you care about what the society thinks! Whether you live together after marriage or before marriage, problems are always going to be there in both cases.

To sum it all up, statistics and opinions are out there, but what you feel is right, you should go for it as it's your life after all ! What matters ultimately is how much you understand and care for each other. If there is tolerance about each other's shortcomings and respect for each other along with that important ingredient called unconditional love, you will have a great relationship for sure!