I've been in love a handful of times. And each time I fell, I fell fast and hard. And after each fallout I swore... SWORE... that next time, I'd take it slow and have a checklist to go through before an "I Love You." Cut to me falling faster each time that follows. Oh well. My heart is a mess. But, love has worked out for plenty of other people.

The Irritated

"I first met my wife when we were dating other people roughly, 11 years ago. She found me annoying. I knew it was meant to be when she confessed this a few years later."

fugly16

Getting Oriented

"Met my wife the first day of orientation week in college. Both of us were in long-term (multi-year) relationships already. Less than 3 hours later, I went back to my dorm room and told my roommate, 'That's the girl I'm going to marry.' Took over a year to start dating, but we've been together ever since (nearly a quarter century later)."

"She's the other half of me I didn't realize was missing until we met. DAMN I love that woman... I'm going to call her now to tell her!"

HellbendingSnototter

It's Easy

"I know this sounds early, but like, a week. I feel exactly the same now as I did about her then. I knew it then and obviously I was right."

BleedingRaindrops

"Same. Husband and I stopped dating on date 3. It was too much effort and we were far too comfortable with each other. You hear about "clicking" but you never think how easy it can be. You find someone that fits perfectly with you."

Shanisasha

A Quick 6...

"We dated for about 6 months before I started thinking about proposing, but we were together for almost a year before I finally popped the question. We were juniors in college and got married before we graduated. We've been married for 40 years."

schnozzberryflop

4 Years! 

"My (now) wife and started talking about marriage pretty early on. I don't have a specific timeframe, but I'd say within the first few months. At that point it wasn't super serious and nothing planned out. Just like, 'oh, when we get married I want to have XYZ at the wedding.' or 'when we have kids let's do XYZ.' That kinda thing."

"We knew it was going to be a while before that happened, though. She was in her final year of college when we started dating, and I was only just starting my career. We both had things we wanted to do before marriage."

"Mostly she wanted to live in a place on her own, without roommates or anyone else supporting her, for a year just to prove to herself she was actually able to fully support herself. I wanted us to live together, just the two of us, for a year just to know that we were really able to cohabitate well."

"So I didn't propose until about 4 years after we started dating, but we pretty much knew at the start."

VVillyD

See that? Love is like a venomous snake that strikes silently and without warning. Once the poison is in you, it's over. So all you can do is succumb. Oh, that's a gloomy analogy. Whatever, y'all know what I mean. And so do a long list of lovers with a movie worthy tale to tell. Read on...

Happy New Year!!

"20 years ago we met in December for lunch after being set up by friends. Talked on the phone for a couple of weeks, went out for New Years. We moved in together a couple of weeks later, middle of January. Married on February 24th, 10 weeks after meeting. Somewhere in the first couple of weeks we just kind of decided to get married. Best casual decision I've ever made."

bustedaxles

Bling Discussion

"After dating for like three months he asked me what kind of engagement ring I wanted and proceeded to show me his favorites. It was so sweet and I realized there's no way in hell I could marry another man."

Schnucksworld

with the seasons...

"We met in June, were in engaged by October, and married by the following July. That was 17 years ago."

rburgundy69

Daddy Knows

"I learned that he can defuse my dad's political rants without my dad catching on to what he's doing. It's very sly. Forget romance, that's a necessary survival skill and I needed him on my team."

"Edit: diffuse vs. defuse..."

"Also it was one of many reasons, but my dad is legendary among my family as the man you don't want to introduce your SO to before they're nailed down. He's a wonderful person and dad but he is kind of a crap-head. My husband gets along with him effortlessly. When you marry someone, you also marry their family. It's important that you're able to maintain peace."

Mannagggia

Smells like Love

"A week or two after we started dating she met my parents and farted in front of them."

SmokedByJesus

I Know You

"I had known this person by acquaintance since 2014. Asked me out in March 2017 - said no for 4 months. In September 2017 dated. In December 2017 he proposed, and in January 2018 I said yes."

"TLDR - 4 months after 1st date, but knew him for a few years before dating."

Jadhar303

Me & My Bestie

"5 months. My now husband planned this amazing road trip for my birthday where we went from Los Angeles —> The Grand Canyon —> Monument Valley —> Las Vegas. We had such an amazing time and he was the first person I spent that much time alone in a car with and didn’t want to kill lol. No fights, no bickering (even when a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas back to Los Angeles took 9 hours due to a massive accident)."

"We just laughed, had great conversations, and enjoyed the same music. I knew then he was the one I was meant to marry. We just meshed too well to not be soulmates; 6.5 years later (2.5 married) we still mesh so well. We’ve had maybe 3 verbal fights total, all of which only lasted a couple hours. Lucky to be married to my best friend. :) "

Smoky-The-Beer

Be Mad

"Probably after about 2 months, We had our first big fight and I remember when she offered to leave and I told her 'I'd rather be mad at you with you here, Rather than you leave.' That is when I realized it was different. 2 Kids a house and beating cancer later and we are still going strong."

Gorcrow

"Engagement Ring"

"I think I knew after two months, but after five months, I opened a separate savings account where I'd deposit an amount off of each paycheque to the account labelled 'Engagement Ring.' We were both still in school and I was working part-time on the weekends, so the deposits were more symbolic than anything, but in the end, they certainly helped out financing a good portion of the ring. That was almost twenty years ago and we'll still together."

BroodingBryanAdams

Immediate

"My wife says she knew on our first date. I'm a bit slower on the uptake. It took me about 6 months."

*ickMorningwood9

3 Year Rule

"I had a 3 year rule. All of my previous relationships ended prior to the 3 year mark. Either I realised they weren’t the one for me or they realised it, either way it always happened before 3 years. With my wife I proposed just after 3 years when I realised I had had no thoughts at all that she wasn’t for me."

Settledforthisone

She was there...

"Before we started dating. She was my best friend for a few years, and I realized it during that time. I just had to wait for her to break up with her boy-friend. Then we dated a couple of years. We've been married 34 years, and counting."

Trid1977

Scared

"5 years; I had a lot of anxiety, undiagnosed depression and OCD. It took a break up and some time apart to realize he was the one I wanted to marry. We've been together for 13 years and I could not be happier."

IsaacNoodles

'Of course she's in those plans.'

"I asked my Dad for advice on if I should propose to my girlfriend or not. We were about 2-3 years in, and I had plans to possibly travel, to leave Pennsylvania where both our families and us live, or get a job overseas. He said do these plans include my girlfriend or not? And that hit me pretty hard because I instantly said, 'Of course she's in those plans.' My Dad told me to marry her. The next day I got the ring."

ClemClementine12

Be Okay...

"Probably about 5 years. I had commitment issues like crazy, and he also had some maturing to do. We broke up for a year, then got back together when I realized that it IS okay to be content in a relationship."

xiaomantoubuns

Listen to your heart, that's not just a great song from the 80s/90s rock band Roxette. (Love them) It's also a mantra we should all embrace more. Just try to embrace it with your brain attached. Pay attention to red flags but don't ignore Cupid's arrow when you feel the sting. Life is too short. But take your time before you share you're bank account information.