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I did this. Graduated in June, married in December. No regrets, almost 20 years later, even though I still can't get him to do the dishes.
Would I recommend it to my nieces? I don't know. Depends on a lot of things. Are they daydreaming about the dress, the ring, the cake, the first dance? Are they worried because all their friends are hitched? Or did they meet someone and, like us, not even bother with a proposal and acceptance? (Somewhere an engagement ring was given and formalities took place, but we both just kind of assumed six weeks after starting to date that we couldn't live without each other and had to get married as soon as possible.)
Can you see not just growing old, but growing *up* with your spouse? Because that's what you'll do. It's not for everybody. Looking back, though, I would never have spent my twenties without him. And, yes, it is cheaper than maintaining two separate households. Some friends of ours just lived together for a while before eventually marrying, but we figured, why wait, and avoid the stress of scandalizing our parents?
So I read that article with very mixed feelings. I got the sense that he was arguing (and we've all heard this before) that women have a sell-by date. To that I say, Or what? There's no sell-by date for happiness. If the only thing that's keeping you from marrying is principle, you're sacrificing something priceless. Likewise, if you can take or leave the guy, no, don't do it, no matter what some well-meaning paternalistic armchair sociologist tells you, no matter what your biological clock is screaming. If you're not happy marrying at 21, you won't be happy as an old married woman of forty. There's no science involved here; only self-knowledge.
This past spring I observed that I have been with Dr. Trench exactly half my life. It feels like yesterday.
