You know how those sweet old couples still holding hands after 50 years always say you should marry your best friend? Well, should you?
Choosing the person you marry is a big deal. This is the person you’ll spend the rest of your life with. This is someone who will care for you, and you’ll care for. You want someone you can talk to and have fun with. So, should you marry your best friend?
That’s why we spend, well, our entire lives searching for “the one.” The one that will make us happy forever. The one that will be there for us through the rest of our life stages.
So, you want to make sure you actually like them, right? Well, duh! That’s why whenever you talk to an old couple who have been together for decades, they usually say something about their spouse being their best friend.
It isn’t that they were best friends before they got together, but they became best friends. They weren’t just lovers, but friends, and that is what’s so special, right? Is that why they say you should marry your best friend? [Read: 15 signs you’ll never find someone better than your best friend]
Should you really marry your best friend?
Now, I’m not talking about your childhood best friend, but rather someone who has come into your life later and is now your best friend. Oh, and they just so happen to be your preferred gender for a life-long partner.
My best friend and I have an ongoing joke that if we both fail at finding our “true love” in the next ten years, we’ll get married. Our reasoning is we both want kids but don’t want to be too old to have them and that, well, we’re best friends! So what could possibly go wrong?
Of course, this isn’t the goal. We aren’t in love, but it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work. Best friends and partners have a lot in common. Sometimes best friends are more compatible with you, so marrying your best friend makes sense.
And if your partner, the person you love, just so happens to be your best friend, even better. Here are the reasons you should marry your best friend. [Read: 17 clear signs you should be dating your best friend already]
Reasons you should marry your best friend
Whether you are in a relationship with your best friend already or are wondering if you have romantic feelings for your best friend, these signs should point you in the right direction.
Is this the person you should marry? Should you marry your best friend? If you find yourself agreeing with these reasons to marry your best friend, the answer is yes.
1. You love them
Obviously, love is an important factor when it comes to marriage. If they’re truly your best friend, then you love them already! The real question comes when you start to think about if you’re “in love” with them. There is a difference.
Sometimes you can be in love with your best friend without even realizing it. It might just hit you like a truck someday. Or, if you’re in a relationship and your partner is your best friend, even better. Love is one of the most important things you need if you should marry your best friend. [Read: I’m in love with my best friend… what next?!]
2. You trust them with your life
Trust is the most important thing in any relationship, but especially in a marriage. You have to really trust your partner with everything—including your life.
If this person is, in fact, your best friend, the odds are you already trust them with everything. If you know you can trust them this way, you should marry your best friend.
3. You have similar life goals
Futures have to align with the person you could potentially end up marrying. If one of you wants to travel the world for 10 years before settling down and the other is ready to buy a house and start their life, it won’t work.
Make sure you both have similar long-term life goals. If you both want the same things out of life, it’s a good sign you should marry your best friend.
4. You have similar morals
You and your spouse need to have the same or similar morals. You can’t live with someone who disagrees about what is right and wrong in the world. You’ll be fighting all the time and never be able to come to an understanding.
If you are on the same page regarding what’s right and right, maybe you should marry this person. [Read: Do you think alike? 20 questions to ask your best friend]
5. Your religious views are understood
Now, you don’t need to have the same religion or religious views to be married, but you have to be open-minded and accept each other to make a marriage work. You need to respect your differences and understand where the other person gets their beliefs from.
As long as those views are understood and accepted long before the big ceremony, you’re in the clear to marry your best friend.
6. You argue well
And I mean really argue about the important things. If you can get into some deep and heated arguments with your best friend and still respect them and their opinions, you should marry them. That’s not something you find in a lot of people.
If you can fight and fight well while remaining respectful, it is a good sign you could make a marriage work.
7. You both have similar parenting style goals
If you two talk about how you want to raise your kids and agree with about 80% of what they’re saying, that is a good sign. You have to have similar styles of parenting if you’re going to marry someone.
And most importantly, if you both want or don’t want kids, it is a good sign as well. Now, you can’t just get along and want kids and say you’ll get married. But, if you and your best friend keep ticking off the boxes on this list, the odds look good. [Read: 11 ways to know if both of you are ready to have kids]
8. They bring out the best in you
They can bring about the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, and even your weirdest side. You want to be someone that brings out the best in you. Even on a bad day, they can make you smile. You can be yourself and feel your best around them.
You need to marry someone who can do this to have a happy marriage, and the odds are, your best friend can.
9. You have a lot in common
Even if you have different interests, it is easier to connect when you have a lot in common. You have a solid basis of friendship based on your love for music or TV or a fandom. It may sound silly, but these things can kick of something much greater.
10. You can be yourself around them
The most important thing in any life partner is to be able to be yourself with them. You can usually be yourself fully around your best friend, so maybe you should marry them. [Read: How to have a good relationship that keeps getting better]
11. You’re physically attracted to them
Oftentimes, when two people are best friends but have never gone that extra step to be a couple, it’s because of a physical attraction barrier. One person might think the other is attractive, but the other person might not be interested.
However, to make a long-lasting, happy marriage, you have to be sexually attracted to them. After all, you will be sleeping with only them for the rest of your life. [Read: 13 lusty signs of sexual attraction to keep an eye on]
12. You are comfortable with their family
If you think of their family as a second family already, then you know you’ll feel right at home if you marry them. If you know your in-laws would make you happy and love you, that is one less hurdle.
This is definitely a sign that you and your best friend should get married!
13. You can’t imagine your life without them
If you can’t imagine being without this person in your life, there is a reason. Sure, maybe they’re meant to be your best friend forever, but if there are also romantic feelings there, then the best way to keep them in your life is to marry them.
14. You’ve always secretly thought about it
Whether you want to admit it or not, you’ve thought about marrying your best friend before. As much as the two of you claim to be “just friends,” there is a tiny part of you that has pictured it before—which means there’s a part of you that actually wants it. [Read: 10 signs you’re dating your best friend already and just don’t know it]
15. They never judge you
You can go to them with anything. If you feel like you can go to them with any issues—big or small—and they’ll listen with the same amount of attention no matter what it is, you should marry them.
That’s a quality you want to have in a future spouse due to them being your go-to person for the rest of your life. If your spouse judges you at every turn, who can you really turn to?
16. You want to be better for them
You feel more confident, happier, more relaxed, and just good whenever you’re around them. Plus, you want to be all those things. It isn’t a struggle to be good when you’re with them.
This is extremely important when finding a partner for life. If you feel naturally better when you’re with them, you should marry your best friend.
17. You talk about them all the time
I mean, seriously, it’s probably annoying how much you talk about your best friend. If the other people in your life comment on how often you talk about them, it might mean you have stronger feelings for them than just friendship.
It likely means you have romantic feelings for them and are thinking about them when they arent around and maybe even trying to come up with reasons to bring them up in every conversation. This is a sign you should marry your best friend. [Read: Are you falling in love with your best friend?]
18. They’ve always been a part of your future
If you’re already planning your long-distance future with them as a part of it, you should marry your best friend. Wanting them there through all of your big life changes and picturing them there means you should marry them.
19. Each other’s happiness is more important
Having a best friend you care about more than yourself is not something to take lightly. If their happiness is more important to you than your own, put a ring on it. [Read: Are you in love? 21 signs to decode that fuzzy feeling]
20. You support each other
You are there for them no matter what, and vice versa. When they call, you drop everything. Whether it is good news or bad news, you are there. You are the first person they call with life changes news, and they’re that person for you.
This is the person you want to be with forever. You should marry your best friend.
21. No one is good enough for them and vice versa
You both have issues with each other’s exes and don’t believe anyone is good enough for them. It isn’t a jealous thing, but you just want what’s best for them and they, you.
This is a huge sign you should marry your best friend. You probably have had feelings for them for a long time if this comes to your mind every time they start dating someone new. [Read: 15 signs your best friend loves you]
22. You know each other better than anyone else
If you can tell someone else their entire life story better than they can, you’ve found someone you should spend your life with. Sometimes these things feel so natural you barely notice. You know them so well, and things flow so well that you haven’t even picked up on the signs you should marry your best friend.
It’s one thing to know all of the big parts, but it’s another to know all the small details no one else would ever guess.
[Read: The tricky pros and cons of dating a best friend you HAVE to know about]
“You should marry your best friend” is a common piece of advice, and for a good reason. The person you share the rest of your life with should have all the qualities of your best friend.
