12 people who married their "marriage pact" partner
Choosing a safety marriage partner - making a marriage pact with a friend when you're younger that you'll get married by a certain age - might seem like something that only happens in the movies or you only joke about with friends. But, it turns out lots of IRL people actually make marriage pacts with pals - and stick to them. Even Prince William and Kate Middleton had one.
These 12 people share what happened when they wound up marrying their "safety" partner, whether it's a friend from school or an old flame. Obviously, nobody has to get married, and there definitely isn't a certain age to get married by, though lots of these people opted to tie the knot at a young age like 30 or 40. And while marrying somebody just because you've hit a certain age definitely isn't for everybody, there are plenty of reasons why people do it, like companionship, financial security or wanting to start a family.
1. "We were friends through high school and went to university apart. When we were both 20, we were chatting on IM one night and she’d just had a bad break up. I said let’s get married if we’re single at 30. Years later, she posted on Facebook that she was single one week after her 30th birthday. My birthday was a week later so I messaged her saying “Gee, we’re supposed to get married soon. We better go on a date.” We've been married seven years and have one kid so far." [via]
2. "I dated a woman on and off in high school, and we agreed to get married to each other if we were still single at 30 years old. When we were both 29 we got engaged to other people. We've always been friends and kept in touch so my fiancée and I went to her wedding and she went to mine. We'd run into each other from time to time and our kids attended the same school. Fast forward 20 years and I run into her at a coffee shop. I asked how her husband is doing and she said they've been separated for a while. She asks me how my wife is and I tell her we've been separated for a while. We are now dating and have been for close to a year. She's a wonderful person and we both feel very fortunate to be with each other." [via]
3. "We had dated in high school and into college for four years. Life just kind of made us go separate ways (like, countries apart). Would occasionally keep in touch throughout our early 20s. Both of us went through multiple bad relationships and made a joke that if we were both single by 30, we would get married. He came home for Easter one year and asked me to go on a date for old times sake. We made it about five minutes into the date before we remembered how much we were missing out on with each other and what we had had. Got married the following year! Now we're five years in with a three year old." [via]
4. "A friend made this proposition to me several years ago. I said, 'No, even if I'm still alone I will only marry for love.' About a decade later we got married. Things are good and we didn't even have to wait until we turned 40." [via]
5. "I was casual with a guy who I was really close friends with. We were drinking one night and being silly and made a deal that if we were both single in five years we'd get married. He got in a relationship with someone else soon after, I dated around and when him and his girlfriend broke up we got together properly. Our wedding was five years to the month after we had made the joke. We're currently four and a half years married with a seven month-old" [via]
6. "I had this agreement with a good friend who lived across the country (to be each other's fall back plan when I turned 30). Whenever we were both single, we would be on the phone basically all day. However, when one or both of us was dating someone we would fall out of close contact. This went on for a few years. After a bad breakup for me, he said that he was coming to my part of the country for Christmas to visit family and that maybe we should not date other people between now (September) and then. After that, there was no question of not being together even before he actually arrived at Christmas. That was almost 15 years ago. This year is our tenth wedding anniversary and we have two boys." [via]
7. "30 was our agreement, but we found ourselves both single in our 20s and thought, what the heck, let’s give it a shot. Dated for nearly five years, and we’re about to celebrate our 13th anniversary of marriage." [via]
8. "In my senior year of high school I made a deal like that with a friend of mine. If we were single by 30 we would get married. We ended up getting married three years later." [via]
9. "My wife and I went to high school together and never dated. We were movie buddies and I had a little crush on her. I was a year ahead of her, and right before I graduated we made a pact to marry each other if we were single in the distant future, I can't remember what that date was, but fast forward 20 years, we reconnected on social media and two years later we were married. Tomorrow is our 12th anniversary." [via]
10. "When I was a teenager this girl and I said we’d get married at 40 if we were still single and, well, we were both still single so we got married. 20 years later we're still together." [via]
11. "The age we set was 35 but we kept bumping it down to 27. It took us a long time before we got the courage to tell each other that we wanted more than being friends. We were so afraid of the other one not feeling the same way, but life has worked out better than I imagined. We celebrate nine years together next month." [via]
12. "I made the deal with a friend jokingly. We said when I turn 30 (he was about 10 years older) we'd get married. I never found him even remotely attractive, just funny. I totally forgot about that until I turned 29 and he brought it up. He took it seriously, I didn't. I lied and said I was dating someone seriously and after that he stopped talking to me." [via]
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
You Might Also Like
