The Pros to Getting Married Young

Before you read….

At first I was hesitant to publish this article mainly because I did NOT want it to seem like I was being exclusive, or especially make someone feel bad just because they didn’t get married young or still are single at whatever age. My heart for this blog post is to hopefully empower that young couple choosing to get married even when it’s not the cultural “norm”, or when all their peers are still just “having fun” and casually seeing people. Contrary to what you’ll hear some people say, marriage is absolutely not “a ball and chain”, and being “tied down” does not not equal the end of having fun. If you’re dating someone, the end goal should be marriage….otherwise, what are you doing? Even if you’re not dating anyone right now, I still believe these are healthy truths to wrap your heart and mind around NOW, before even getting into a relationship!

We had just started dating in the summer of ’17, but like they say…when you know, you know! We had built our relationship with God at the center of it, and knew pretty quickly into dating that our end goal was marriage. So why drag it out? Bryan proposed to me in February 2018, and we got married 8 months later! (Yes, it is totally possible to plan a wedding in under a year!) When I was engaged I would definitely catch the occasional person by surprise when they saw the ring on my finger, and I’ve heard my fair share of questions like, “Are you sure you want to get tied down why you’re still so young?” or “Why would you want to throw your life away that early?”. And then of course there were always the underlying attitude of people thinking of us being too immature for a commitment like marriage. Wellllll guess what y’all. Being married ROCKS. And I wouldn’t change the past 3 years for anything. I wanted to put together a few of my favorite perks to getting married young, and hopefully encourage any other young couple who’s relationship is heading towards marriage!

Bryan & I on our wedding day!

 

You get to “grow up” together.

When a couple gets married in their early 20’s no doubt there is still growing up that has to be done, but it’s SO fun to do together. It’s amazing to get to learn and grow together while forming a closer bond through shared lessons and experiences. Bryan and I met when we were ages 20 and 23, so it’s been such a joy to spend our early 20’s side by side! And news flash- no one is ever going to be 100% ready for marriage. That’s why it’s important to figure it out and grow alongside each other….which *spoiler*, is something that will never end!! A good marriage is supposed to continually challenge an change you both for the better.

 

You can more easily combine your lives together.

It’s usually a bit more difficult to combine two lives together when each person has been living independently for a while. If you’re able to get married at a younger age, most likely you both have only lived independently for a short while (or in my case, I moved right out of my parent’s house and into the house we live in now, right after our wedding), therefore you’re not quite going to be “set in your ways”, and will be more flexible to the inevitable change your life will undergo once you say “I do”! Bryan and I both didn’t have too much of our own, so it was such a fun experience to be able to start fresh together in a new (to us) house, and make it into our home! Since then we’ve adopted our first fur-baby (our kitty Lauren), and also share many of the same friends and community.

You have nothing but time.

Okay this is probably one of my favorite perks. YOU HAVE NOTHING BUT TIME!! Together. There’s definitely way less pressure to start popping out babies right away, and Bryan and I have been selfishly LOVING our time spent however we want together. There’s so much in life to experience, so why not start experiencing it with your forever partner in crime? Plus, it’s great to have this time before children to be intentional with our marriage, and to grow and work on it together. (BUT on a bit of a different note, if it’s you and your spouse’s desire to have a big family, being able to get started on that at a young age is such a blessing! By the time you’re 30, who knows, you could already be done having kids!)

Saving money.

To sort of go along with the above perk, you have more time to start saving money! If you’re not planning on having children for a few years, you both can continue to work and build your savings. Mostly likely two younger people coming into a marriage aren’t going to be starting off with a ton of money to begin with, so combining bank accounts is a nice perk, and learning how to be smart with your fiances and practice a healthy relationship with money right off the bat will for sure help you in the long run.

Sharing milestones and achievements together.

From moving into that first little apartment, to getting that job promotion or starting your small business, to adopting your first pet or having your first child- these are all just a few of the meaningful milestones most married couples are blessed to share together! When you’re growing old together, it must be so special to remember how it was to grow up young together, and to experience all of life’s little and big moments side by side.

A bit of advice before leaving…

There ya go! While these are all fun and positive perks, and I can truly say it’s been a wonderful past couple years of my life, I also just wanted to leave you with a bit of advice as well.

No matter what age you decide to get married at, it’s ALWAYS wise to go through pre-marital counseling together before the wedding. This helps you and your spouse communicate and get on the same page about a number of things you might not have thought to discuss on your own before tying the knot. Always be open to listening and receiving wisdom from older couples in your life that have been married longer, and never be afraid to ask them for advice! Marriage is a daily CHOICE to love and pursue each other, and it definitely takes work (but man is it worth it!) so accept all the wisdom and encouragement you can get!