Once Upon a (long) Time

By the time DJ and I are married, we will have been engaged for 21 months. The reasons were/are:
– Financial
– I thrive on research and anticipation
– We preferred fall to spring or summer

So we are having a long-ish engagement. It’s been fun for us, partly because we already live together and so aren’t in a hurry to get married for that reason.

About two months ago one of my coworkers asked his girlfriend to marry him. They have set a date for the end of August, a full month before the end of my long-ish engagement. ::hilarity ensued:: Just this past weekend they signed their first contract, which makes me want to hire them a wedding planner, STAT.

But they seem totally happy about their timeframe. They’re a few years older and six years into their relationship, so I can understand why they didn’t swan around on wedding blogs for 21 months. I don’t know yet if I’ll rate an invitation, but I hope so. I expect all my feelings of romance to be at a high around then.

My absolute favorite thing about wedding planning has been seeing that there are so many ways to arrive at married. But I wonder.If you weren’t waiting to save money or pacify family members or buy peonies in season, what would be the ideal length of your engagement?