Judging by viral content shared on Facebook, it seems that everyone has an opinion on the most important questions to ask before marriage, or top things to consider before marriage. It’s somewhat amusing that the number of questions one is supposed to ask varies wildly from seven to 1001, but here’s an overview of some of the most popular opinions as to what questions to ask before marriage:
- Beth Sharb suggests seven questions in her piece on Bustle, “7 Unexpected Questions To Ask Your Partner Before Getting Engaged Or Walking Down The Aisle” (July 21, 2015).
- New York Times columnist Eleanor Stanford suggests thirteen questions in her piece titled, “13 Questions to Ask Before Getting Married” (March 24, 2016). Interestingly enough, the New York Times previously ran an article ten years ago suggesting that there were fifteen important questions.
- Writer Paul Hudson apparently still believes in the power of fifteen and authored a piece on Elite Daily titled, “15 Honest Questions The Person You Marry Should Be Able To Answer” (November 4, 2014).
- Many people gravitate towards the number 100 when making lists, so it’s no surprise that Board Certified Coach Marcelina Hardy, MSEd, BCC published a list of, “100 Questions Before Marriage” (original date of publication unknown).
- For those couples that really want to take things up a notch, an unknown author published a list of 276 questions to ask before marriage on a blog that appears quite popular in Google searches. The blog appears to be broken or to have been abandoned several years ago, but the questions remain, and many are quite good.
- And for those champion couples who are serious about compatibility and intellectual intimacy, and willing to brew a pot of coffee and have an have an all-night discussion, author Monica Mendez Leahy has authored a 2004 paperback book which details a whopping 1001 Questions to Ask Before You Get Married. Mercy.
Perhaps the take-away from all these lists, articles, and books is that no one really knows what the magic questions are, but the more partners know about each other, the better.