A lot of these questions and answers are probably due to probably 1 person not being at that point in time to want to get married and looking for a certain/different lifestyle.
We all grow up expecting how our lives should be and if you’re “forced” or “pressured” into getting married when you really don’t want to be married, I would give you guys probably 5 years before a divorce does happen.
One thing I’ve learned in life is that even though you maybe perfect for someone, maybe at this point in time, you guys aren’t really heading in the same journey or looking at the same things from life.
You or whoever wants to know should definitely discuss kids as well and when since kids are a massive sacrifice in terms of lifestyle (you have none for a while) and are insanely expensive…
Kids alone is a deal breaker IMO since your life will change too much if 1 person wants that responsibility and 1 doesn’t. You don’t want a kid stuck in there to parents who don’t want them.
As for the friends, I’d guess you’d know which friend will go where, but it’ll probably be messy and you might have to start over if people “take” the other person’s side. This is pretty tough as making friends are hard to begin with…
Just get married for the right reasons and don’t do it because it’s time. If someone dated for a very long time, maybe it’s not a matter of not wanting to marry, it’s just that they don’t want to marry that person and delay.
It’s REALLY hard to fight all the pressure from her/everyone around you, and you may make it and get on the same page again eventually, but marriage is tough enough without this “marry me or we’re breaking up deal…”
People do make it of course, but if you’re pretty against it, then that’s probably your gut telling you something.