How important is marriage before baby?

Question

I'm 28 yo. I never thought I would still be single (unmarried) and without child at this age. Even though things are looking great in my life, marriage is definitely not the first goal for me. I think it's more important to establish my career and build my finances before I get married. The main reason is because I want to be able to afford the wedding of my dreams. As far as the baby thing goes, I feel it would be more convenient to have a baby as soon as possible because I think it's harder to start having children at the peak of your career. I'm not a courthouse type of bride, even though I've thought about it. So I'm torn between the two, even though I want to do it the "socially appealing" way, plus I have lots of young girls looking up to me. What do you think?

Answer

life doesn't have a formula or a recipe to success so just live your life to the fullest with makes you happy cause no matter how much you plan you'll never be fully prepared.

Answer

I think a serious commitment is very important. Perhaps a domestic partnership before baby then a wedding later on?

Answer

I don't think it is very important 😁

Answer

Marriage before babies. I don't think it's that important. I don't know if I'll ever get married. But I really want another baby and if I wait until I get married to have another I'll be too old in my person life to have another. I'm already 31, my baby, well not so much a baby anymore just 7 years old. I also don't want my kids 10 years apart in age either. I know once I hit 33 I'm not gonna even want try to have another one anymore.

Answer

It's a personal decision. I too am a career woman. I'm 24 and really only just starting my career. I've got 4 more years of my residency before I'm officially done with  school (I'll be 28 then). I do have a boyfriend and we are talking about getting married. For us it's important to be married first before kids. So we plan to get married in the next couple years and continue working on our careers. We will have a small, but very traditional and elegant wedding too. It'll hurt the bank, but we both know that with the way our careers are going we'll be ok in the long run and we want the memories of that day and really celebrate the way we want. 
We won't have kids till I'm done residency, so around 28/29 for me (29/30 for him) or possibly a little later. He'll be fairly established in his career at that point as he's already working in the field and not a student anymore. But I'll be just starting out as a surgeon so it'll be harder for me. However, we want to be young parents. We also want multiple kids and likely we'll still be having kids when we're both very well established in our careers as well. We also want to wait to have kids until we're both able to dedicate more time and we'll have good incomes when we have kids. For us we don't mind hurting a bit financially when it's just us, but we want to be more stable for kids. So a wedding makes more sense to us know. Besides we also have strong religious and more traditional values as well. 
This is what we plan to do because we believe it'll work best for us. But that doesn't mean it's best for you. There's nothing wrong with having kids first and then getting married. If you feel that your way is going to be the best for you and your future family then that's what you need to do. However, if you have serious doubts then maybe take more time to work through your decisions. I wouldn't say you'd be setting a bad example for those that look up to you, but if you feel that you are then maybe having a child first isnt something you're truly comfortable with. Whatever you decide is best is the right option for you. Everyone is different so maybe your option might not be the norm, but that doesn't make it bad.

How important is marriage before baby?

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