My girlfriend and I have been together for nearly two years now and living together for about a year or so. In the last six months, we've been having serious conversations about our futures together and our long-term goals. I've just recently started a fairly stressful post-graduate program and she is in her second year of a professional career. We are both financially stable and very much in love.
The last couple of months I've been tossing around the "big question" in my mind. I've never wanted to be married before (in fact, I was a pretty staunch advocate against marriage in my undergrad days) but she's changed all that, and now, I'm really thinking of popping the question. There's a couple of problems though - I am not a citizen of the country in which we live and study, I'm only on a student visa. The good news is that we can apply for a de facto visa which grants me several civil rights and can be transferred to permanent residency or citizenship at a later date. My current student visa is active until 2014 so I'm not in a rush position there. Secondly, her parents are very traditional, catholic and would (more than likely) be against such a thing in some capacity. I realise that a commitment ceremony would be for us, and no one else, but I'd like to know that her family, at the very least, recognises our love and commitment to each other, even if they don't agree with it. My family loves her and would be happy to see us do such a thing. Additionally, I sometimes wonder that perhaps we're too young to be doing such a thing - I'm 26 and she's 23.
I tend to think too much on things and am afraid that I'll become too overcautious and never do anything. At the same time, I know that this is a big deal and needs to be treated as such.
Any advice or stories from people who have been in the same boat?
The last couple of months I've been tossing around the "big question" in my mind. I've never wanted to be married before (in fact, I was a pretty staunch advocate against marriage in my undergrad days) but she's changed all that, and now, I'm really thinking of popping the question. There's a couple of problems though - I am not a citizen of the country in which we live and study, I'm only on a student visa. The good news is that we can apply for a de facto visa which grants me several civil rights and can be transferred to permanent residency or citizenship at a later date. My current student visa is active until 2014 so I'm not in a rush position there. Secondly, her parents are very traditional, catholic and would (more than likely) be against such a thing in some capacity. I realise that a commitment ceremony would be for us, and no one else, but I'd like to know that her family, at the very least, recognises our love and commitment to each other, even if they don't agree with it. My family loves her and would be happy to see us do such a thing. Additionally, I sometimes wonder that perhaps we're too young to be doing such a thing - I'm 26 and she's 23.
I tend to think too much on things and am afraid that I'll become too overcautious and never do anything. At the same time, I know that this is a big deal and needs to be treated as such.
Any advice or stories from people who have been in the same boat?