50 Couples Recount The *Exact Moment* They Realized They Wanted To Marry Their Person 

1. When I realized we had fun without having to go anywhere or do anything. It just all came so naturally.

2. When I had my first panic attack in front of him and I thought, thats it, he’s seen my crazy and I’ve blown it. I ran to my car and cried. He came to my car, told me to move to the passenger seat, drove around until I was okay to be in public and took me out for lunch and to a bookstore. Reading calms me.

I never knew what true loving consideration was before then. That feeling of real, unpretentious and unwavering love was just so much for me in that moment.

3. Just the sheer effort. Dropping everything if I had any issue arise. Helping me without being asked when I lost my job. Always being there. Calling to check on my son, building a friendship with him and eventually claiming him as his own/treating him as such. Always responding to messages/phone calls even if all he could say was, “Busy. You ok though?” Reliability is lit, fam. It wasn’t honeymoon phase BS either, this started as friends before dating and has continued on throughout our relationship. It is a beautiful part of who he is as a person and damn it makes me feel so cared for and loved and important. I’m going to marry this guy so hard.

4. When we went to the supermarket to shop for groceries for the first time. It wasn’t anything big or exciting, but we still had the nicest time together. It was so easy to see magic even in the mundane, can’t help but want this for the rest of my life.

5. When he told me that he’d re-arranged plans we’d had with our friends to go out next weekend for a few weekends later instead.

Me, completely clueless, asked him why. His response was that he was fairly sure I’d be on my period then and although I’d not mentioned it he knew that I was really suffering with pain for the last few months.

He didn’t want me to have to try and put a brave face on if I was in pain or feel bad about cancelling on friends at the last moment. That he thought this much about how I’d feel and had been paying attention to the things I didn’t say confirmed it for me.

6. I’m not a talkative person… My wife is a talker. After about a year of dating she asked me a question and then changed her voice and answered her own question word for word with what I would have said. She then proceeded to have an entire conversation between herself and “me” saying exactly what I would have said had I been talking. I realized no one on earth would ever know me and accept me as completely as she did. We just celebrated three years of marriage recently.

7. The first time I had dinner with his family, we had just gotten done with a hike and his dad texted him to invite him and told him he was welcome to bring me. I was hot, sweaty from the hike, dressed like a hooch in a muscle tank and cut off shorts, and was like do I have time to shower or change? And he said no, but if I was uncomfortable at all I should just kick him under the table and we could leave. It was so simple, but I’d never felt so thoroughly supported or accepted and I just knew he was my person. Five years later we’re two months happily married.

8. I already had a feeling, but when my bf met my mom for the first time. She and I are really close. When we got to her apartment and had some wine she started getting really chatty as she is wont to do. She started telling my boyfriend all about her dating problems and failed relationships. He was so patient and really listened to her, asking questions offering input every now and then.

It was slightly embarrassing because she was clearly tipsy, but I loved how natural it felt to be sitting there with my two favorite people in the world just chatting about life. I just remember getting up to go to the bathroom so I could have a small cry in private because I knew he was the one.

We are getting married next fall .

9. She stuck with me through cancer. I knew after the first month of treatment I would marry her.

10. When he told me I was important. Not just to him, but in general. No one else has ever said that to me, or made me feel that way. Showed me that he cared about me as a person, and not just who I was to him.

So, yeah, I’m going to marry that fucker one day.

11.When he dropped everything to get me to my grandmother’s when I was told that she might not live much longer. He refused to let me be alone that night and had me sleep at his place. The next morning he calls out of work, packs a bag, swings by my place to help me get my stuff, and then drives me 450 miles over a mountain in the middle of winter to let me see my grandma one more time. To see the amount of support he gave me told me that I had found the person who would always have my back.

12. When he was reading to his son (my stepson). I was in the lounge so could hear him, and he put did all these zany and goofy voices for all the different characters. Totally unabashed and just wanting to do a good job for his son.

13. When I realized that my time felt more valuable when I was with her.

We often would have multiple conversations where we checked the time and it was 3 or 4 am and it felt like we just started talking. I recognized that the person who I lost track of time talking to, was the one I felt most comfortable around. Security is a huge thing that people talk about, but this overwhelming sense of peace was something I never felt with anyone else before… except her.

14. When I realized her answer didn’t matter.

We would be together for the rest of our lives whether we were married or not. At that point it was an easy and logical question to ask.

15. He bought me a Harry Potter LEGO set I’ve wanted since I was a kid. I talked about it a lot (I missed out on playing w legos as a child) and he just…listens to me. From that moment on I knew he is the one!

16. When I emotionally unleashed years of pent up baggage and expectation that I’ve never ever talked about and he was there waiting with open arms to receive it and try to understand and help me get through it.

17. Watching him get super excited when he was trying to teach me how to play fifa. I have no idea what he was saying, I was watching his face light up.

18. My first date with my husband. He wasn’t into fine dining and fancy cars. He drove a orange Ford Ranger and we went and got a pizza and then went to Walmart. He wasn’t like other guys he actually cared and we were so much alike in our personalities and likes I knew I was going to marry him.

19. She has a smile unlike any other. The first time I told her I loved her in a quiet Starbucks, her eyes turned into crescent moons and I was enchanted.

I knew then that I could spend the rest of my life seeing her smile and still be as enchanted as that evening in Starbucks. Her smile tells me that everything will be okay.

20. I have terrible anxiety where sometimes I’m just unable to do simple tasks, I take medication for it but sometimes it’s not enough, but no matter how anxious I am, one strong hug from him always calms me down to normal, it’s a miracle, 3+ years together and it’s never failed, I’ll never let go of that!

21. He had me move in with him and quit working so I could focus on school. And when I told him that if I wasn’t working full time and JUST in school it meant I totally had time to raise a puppy that I had wanted for years but hadn’t got because of the whole working and school thing.

And that’s how I ended up with a puppy. Who’s now a dog. And i graduate in December and have an awesome job.

And we dropped off the heirloom stones to go into the custom ring he picked last week.

22. He made me laugh so hard that I actually peed myself. And then he wasn’t weird about the fact that I peed myself (which was super gross and embarrassing, he should have made a big deal about that).

23. When we were getting to really know each other when we first started dating. I had some really manipulative exes that destroyed my self esteem and worth and had been ghosted so many times, regardless if it was a 2 month relationship or 2 year relationship.

We had been talking about trust as I was so worried he was gonna get annoyed of me and just ghost me like everyone else- was just having an emotional moment. He told me that he knows I’ve been through some really hard stuff, but that he will wait for as long as it takes for me to learn to trust him, and that he will do whatever it takes to show me that I can trust him and that he’s not running away.

24. We had just started dating near Christmas. I went to her place Christmas morning where we exchanged gifts. She made me a matching pillow and blanket and the effort she put into them so soon in a relationship just blew me away.

She knew I was going to my parents’ house afterwards to spend Christmas with them, and baked me a huge tray of treats to bring over and share with my family. When I eventually left my place and went to see my parents, I gave them the treats, and told them how I had met someone, and that these were from her. They were incredibly touched, and excited, and insisted I invite her to come over.

The way that day felt, from the love found in her handmade gifts in the morning, to the excitement of my parents hearing about her, to how wonderful it felt having everyone together and interacting for the first time on Christmas, made me confident that she was someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

25. After dating for a whole six months, we were forced to spend a week apart (on our way to pretty much live together half a continent away from our families) and decided we couldn’t live without each other. We’ve now been together 12 years and married for 8. It’s all about finding compatible kinds of stupid.

26. When my dad suddenly collapsed. He had been getting updates from my roommate about dad’s condition and when he learned that he died he changed his work schedule, boarded his dog, booked a flight and was at my doorstep within 8 hours. We were living a few states away from each other at the time. Not having to ask him to be by my side was huge.

27. The day my husband (then bf) and I brought home our first dog (we now have three) it was like click and we were a family. He proposed to me a year later (we custom designed the ring together so I kinda knew it was coming) and got married 2 years after that,

28. The first instant I laid eyes on her. Literally my first conscious thought was, “I’m going to marry her.” I told her about that a year later when we were engaged and she said she felt the exact same thing.

29. At the time, we had this small 1bed/1bath apartment that was lakeside in the complex we lived. We always loved when the ducks came around because they chose our lake to have and raise ducklings before leaving for the cold weather.

One morning, I woke up and came out to the living room to see her sitting outside on the back patio, in her pj’s, facing the lake, feeding the ducks, and humming to herself.

Maybe it was the way the sunrise hit her and the water, maybe it was her messy but still adorable bed head, but she looked like the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen. Just the whole picture…I knew right then I wanted to marry this woman.

30. I came home from work and my dog and my roommates dog had gotten into a nasty fight. My dog (smaller) got the worst of it and needed immediate attention.

I called him and could barely get any words out between sobs. He drove over, picked us up and took us to the emergency vet. He sat in the vets office with me and held me when the vet said they needed to keep my girl overnight for observation. He also paid half the bill – which was pretty hefty.

My dog is fine, she’s now “our” dog and we call her our “dogter.”

31. Fuck man, so many things:

-The way her face lights up when she sees me for the first time in a while – She studies abroad, so we only see each other once a month or so, but the way she looks at me is indescribable.

-The way she looks at dogs or babies, I can tell she’ll be an amazing mother to my children some day.

-The fact that we can spend countless hours together doing absolutely nothing and still enjoy every second of it.

-That her family welcomed me with open arms straight away, without any hesitation.

-That she’ll surprise me with my favorite drink, or a tray of brownies, or a letter or something out of the blue, she’s so thoughtful.

But probably the actual moment where I realized I would marry her is when we swapped birthday gifts, and we had both gotten each other the same gift, Eat What you Watch, we watch his episodes together and are both huge foodies, and when we realized what had happened we laughed so hard and for so long that my neighbors actually texted me and told me to keep it down (I lived in a house at the time so there wasn’t even a shared wall).

Cannot wait to marry that amazing woman!

32. Boyfriend took me to do donuts in a parking lot. The entire time he has his arm pushed against my chest to make sure my body didn’t fly all over the car. Best night of my life.

33. When he was willing to move all my things to two different houses in two weeks while I was stressing out. He does so much that has made me decide that I’m going to marry him but that was a big one.

34. I am pretty particular about details and when we washed and dried our bedsheets they got those little lint thready balls all over. We tried to pull off the bigger ones but I knew if I slept on those sheets I’d sit there thinking about every little grain I could feel. I didn’t complain or say anything but he knew what would happen. He went and got a razor and “shaved” our sheets. He worries about my comfort no matter how stupid or crazy it seems. No matter how big or small, he looks out for me. I knew how much he loved me because he was willing to shave bedsheets for me. Note: we went and got new sheets later but he wanted me to feel comfortable that night.

35. When I realized I had never met another human being who had understood me or cared for me as much as she does, and the fact I could be with her 24/7 and it still not feel like I have spent enough time with her.

36. Started dating my S/O in college, through a series of uninteresting events, I ended up sleeping on air mattress for a little bit. Anyways, we were getting into some “business” and I hear a slight hissing sound. We both realized it and stopped for a second to confirm that there was in fact a hole in it. After a moment of silence, she says, “So are we just gonna ride it down?”

37. When we were living an hour apart, both had food poisoning but he drove the hour to take care of me (I’m a baby when it comes to being sick).

38. I was living with him for a few days in the very early part of us officially being in a relationship (weird time in between apartments). We were sleeping in a twin bed and I had to work earlier than he did. I woke up in a puddle of my own blood. I panicked, showered, and just quickly left. When I got back to his place I was still super embarrassed and ready to super apologize instead I walked into fresh sheets and zero conversation about it until years later. When you’re 20 and a dude doesn’t freak out about period blood ~ that’s true love. 5 years later and 2 years of marriage and things are still pretty chill.

39. There is no specific moment. Just a lot of little moments.

We have so much in common. We could be doing nothing, yet as long as we are together we are having a good time. He has never judged me for my past. He doesn’t want to hurt me or control me.

Every moment I have to spend without him makes me sad.

40. My husband decided to marry me when I drove a motorcycle up a mountain pass in Colorado.

Context: he’s had bikes since he was 16, and I had always been a passenger. I decided to get my license, and 2 months later we drove across the US for 9 weeks. We drive dual sports, and he wanted to do some trails on the trip. We went up a mountain pass (Engineer Pass near Ouray) which was too difficult for me, to the point where he told me that we were going to turn back. I told him I would make it up that effing mountain if it was the last thing I did, and he realized in that moment I wasn’t doing it for him, rather I’m a badass out there for me. He proposed at the top of the mountain with a ring he fashioned out of wire since he decided half way up that this was it. It was perfect.

41. He was in my kitchen in his underwear, looking through my cabinets. He pulled out a little plastic container of sunflower seeds and shook it like a maraca. I realized just how much and how often he made me laugh.

42. My Grandmother was in the final moments of life from pretty severe lung cancer. Bed ridden, home health care, body getting pretty stiff already. That man changed her diapers. Cleaned her, cared for her. I’ve never seen any one just do the right thing without being asked, without questioning it, without hesitation. Any second thoughts I had about him vanished. Someone so inherently good from the core is so rare.

43. She would massage my arms and hands after a long day’s work, and she made sure I never felt guilty that I fell asleep while she was doing it. She wholly and unconditionally cared for my well-being.

RIP…

44. I took him to meet my parents, and he met my childhood kitty, who was very old by then (19 or 20) and had always been kind of aloof and independent, not a lap cat at all. He sat on the couch and patted it for her to jump up. “She doesn’t do that,” I told him, “and anyway she’s too old to do it now.” She jumped up onto his lap and settled down for him to pet her, purring loudly.

We’ve been married for decades.

45. Hard choice between when he immediately wanted to teach me how to play all his video games or 5 years later when I finally fully realized he really does despise cheating as much as I do.

46. After I graduated college I decided to move to another state to pursue my ridiculous dream of becoming a zookeeper. We were high school sweethearts, but in my family everyone is divorced. Even eight years of steady love from him hadn’t convinced me that he wouldn’t just decide to leave me one day. My own family leaves me. I’m not interesting or special.

He told me not to worry. As soon as he was done with school he’d move to be with me. We’d see each other as much as possible until then. Two years later he graduated, and showed up on my door step. I never believed until that moment, ten years into our relationship, that this could end happily.

He’s such a steady rock, even my skittish heart had to admit this was forever. He has always been so wonderful and loving. He’s funny, playful, sexy, nerdy, and can’t keep anything clean to save his life. Fourteen years together, almost three married… and I’m no longer waiting with baited breath for the other shoe to drop. Being married to him is the easiest and most fun thing I’ve ever done.

47. We were doing long distance and chatting on Skype and watching TV together. An add came on the TV with a bridezilla bitching about a super expensive wedding dress not being good enough. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and said ‘when I get married it’ll be in jeans and a white T-shirt’. He said ‘sweet, I’ll find a tuxedo shirt to match.’

After my heart started beating again I put him on hold and yelled at my roommate that I was gonna marry this guy.

Six months later I did. We’re getting close to our 8th anniversary.

48. About 6 months in,I was dealing with some emotional and mental baggage and was crying into her shirt. It wasn’t the first time but every time it happened she comforted me and swore up and down that shed be there for me. Something clicked and I realized that if I couldn’t at least make her smile every day I’d never be able to repay her for her kindness.

Also, she figured out how to mix spinach into my food and make it taste good. I hate spinach. She wins.

49. He was willing to do whatever whenever. He just wanted to hang out with me. We never got bored just hanging out.

50. The moment my dog I had throughout my abusive relationship (ex), who was also abused and had issues with males, jumped onto his lap and gave him kisses without hesitation. It’s like he was giving me the seal of approval. Been 4 years happily married.