Survey Says - Did You Live With Your Fiance First?

Did you live with your fiancé before you got married? If so, do you think this helped into the transition as newlyweds? If not, did you have any surprises as you moved into together that you’d share with another future bride?

Yes, I think it helped with the transition of the day to day living together stuff, but I think it also takes away from all the "new" things our parents/grandparent experienced. I think that's why so many newlyweds are so upset over the excitement”of the wedding being gone because life is back to normal for those of us who have already experienced cohabitating with your husband.
- Lauren, married May 2007

We did live to together before the wedding and I firmly believe that it helped with the transition as newlyweds. It would have been more difficult sharing a living space while adjusting to sharing everything else as a married couple had we not had some practice beforehand.
- Amanda, married October 2007

I did live with my fiancé before the wedding; however we also had a roommate up until a month before the wedding. I think it was helpful in that it was one less thing to stress us - we didn’t have to deal with moving on top of the wedding. And having our roommate move out close to the wedding made it different enough that we could feel like were starting our own life together.
- Julie, married September 2007

No we didn't live together. The surprise to me has been that this man who was so self sufficient before we got married is suddenly not! Weird. Also I didn't realize what a neat freak I was until I moved in with my messy hubby.
- Bree, married November 2007

Photo courtesy of The Memory Journalists