The recent coronavirus pandemic is creating a major disruption for couples looking to tie the knot. For example, rural hospitals are now overflowing with patients seeking care and at least 24 have completely shut down since 2013. As a result, immunocompromised guests are unable to attend any weddings because they can’t risk exposure. Stay at home orders are in place in many areas prohibiting group gatherings, forcing couples to cancel their wedding events.
With the recent events, it may be out of your control to extend your engagement until the pandemic has passed. But there are other reasons why it may be a good idea for you to extend your engagement other than the viral outbreak. Here are a few excellent ones for you to consider.
More Time To Plan And Prepare
Many brides often try to coordinate a wedding within less than a year, which can feel downright impossible much of the time. By extending your engagement, you’ll have more time to plan and prepare for your big day, making the process much less stressful. Plus, it may align with your New Year’s Resolution to focus on your health and wellness like almost 80% of people. You’ll have more time to fit into that fantastic dress you’ve had your eye on for your big day!
Dealing With Relationship Issues
There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship, and chances are there are things you need to work through as a couple even before you tie the knot. Issues in relationships lead to almost 50% of all couples getting divorced because they didn’t deal with them properly. Extending your engagement can give you more time to work through your issues with a professional marriage counselor. This can help you have a strong and happy relationship together for the rest of your lives. Couples who receive premarital counseling have a 30% higher marriage success rate than those who don’t seek it. This is the perfect time to uncover each other’s quirky habits and discover what married life will be like. How will you react when your new spouse leaves the cap off the toothpaste for the umpteenth time? How will they handle any of your quirks that he might find annoying? It’s better to find out what life will really be like together and if you’re okay with it rather than jumping in too soon and regretting it later.
Enjoying Being Engaged
When you’re planning your wedding, it’s too easy to get lost in all the details and you can end up just trying to hurry to get everything done on time. Extending your engagement can allow you to simply enjoy the present moment of being engaged. You can relish every moment of time you may only get to experience once during your life. You can enjoy each other’s company for a while longer without the burden of marital responsibility and take a huge load of stress off planning your wedding.
Time To Get Your Finances Together
Extending your engagement gives you the ability to save more money for your wedding expenses. Close to half of all couples go into debt to pay for their weddings. Why go into debt over a one-day celebration when you can use that money for more important long term goals that you have as a couple? By taking your time, you can pay off your expenses and start your new life financially fresh and unencumbered with unnecessary debt. It will also give you more time to discuss your financial future together as a married couple. It may not be all that romantic, but it’s definitely a wise idea. You can have plenty of time to sit down together to discuss your financial priorities. How will bills and expenses be shared? Do you want to buy a property or have children and how will you pay for these together? If you already own a home together, will you need to replace the 15-year-old carpets or perform any other routine maintenance soon? Hashing out these details is incredibly important before you make your trip down the aisle.
Accomplishing Important Individual Goals
Many couples choose to extend their engagement in order to finish certain goals they want to accomplish first before they get married. Perhaps you may want to finish college or achieve a certain milestone in your career to have better financial footing. Maybe you want to finish paying off your student loans first or fix your credit situation. You may even live far apart from one another and want to make sure you can get a place to live together first before you get married. Extending your engagement can give you the time to accomplish these goals and give your marriage the best start possible.
Extending your engagement can be healthy for a number of reasons. While the recent pandemic may be putting a huge damper on your plans, it may be advantageous for you in the long run. You’ll have more time and money to make your big day even more special and can just relax and enjoy each other knowing everything has been set in place for a firm foundation. Once this crisis clears, your guests will be even more eager to celebrate the love you have for each other. Now is the perfect time to create that perfect wedding you’ve always dreamed of -- make every moment count!
