How Will Your Relationship Change if You Already Lived Together Before You Tied the Knot?

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There's a well known but little discussed fear among couples who live together before they tie the knot: That nothing will change. And while your world may not turn quite upside down, there are definitely still changes that happen before and after "I do." Here, four women reveal what really changed for them after marriage.

"We were just really happy," says one married woman. "The excitement of having tied the knot stayed in our apartment for a long time. For example, when we just lived together and one of us got home from work, it was normal for the other to just nod as we sat on the couch and didn't get up. When we were first married, however, we would leap up and hug each other as soon as we walked through the door."


"There was a feeling that we were really, truly partners," says another woman. "When you live together, sure, you pay bills jointly, you don't swap out the sofa without talking to the other person first, etc. But when you get married, you're not just coexisting together. You're in it together — and that's a weighty thing."

"My husband was good at keeping his, uh, 'man tendencies' to himself when we just lived together, but once we got married, it was as if my husband threw in the good manners towel — and not into the hamper!" says one married woman. "All bets were off once he 'had' me. He farted under the covers. I found his dirty socks in trails to the bedroom. He burped. A lot. Let's just say reality hit a little too hard!"

"Not much changed for us personally," admitted another woman, "but how people regarded us was ever so slightly different. You can tell that people take your relationship way more seriously when you're married, versus just 'shacking up,' as our parents liked to say!"