By BEVERLY BEAL
Beverly@newsroom.byu.edu
Short engagements seem to be a part of the norm around BYU campus and in the state of Utah.
'The fastest that I have ever seen was when a girl came in and bought a dress at 11:30 a.m. and got married at 6:30 p.m. the very same day,' said Pamela Dew, owner of Danielle's Bridal Shop in Salt Lake City.
According to Conde Nast Publications research and Bride's magazine, wedding engagements have a national average of 12.1 months.
'Three months is the average engagement period of the girls that come into my store, and that is not long enough,' Dew said.
Many people forget that in preparing for marriage, the important thing is to choose your spouse wisely and that takes time, said Brent Barlow, associate professor of marriage, family and human development.
'I think that you need to know the other person at least 12 months and be engaged four to six months,' he said.
At BYU, the national length for an engagement is considered too long, said Lindsey Taylor, 19, a sophomore from Las Vegas, majoring in elementary education.
'When you start planning a wedding, it is fun for the first week, but after that, you just want it to happen,' she said.
In Provo, it is more convenient to be married, said Steve Stancliff, 23, a junior from Anchorage, Alaska, majoring in international development.
'This community caters to students that are married and there are other couples to support them,' he said.
Stress doesn't seem like a factor to many of these students who have such a short engagement.
'I was engaged three months, and it didn't stress me or my parents out. They supported us completely and stayed up on everything regarding the wedding,' said Annjeanette Martinez, 20, a junior from Roseburg, Ore., majoring in elementary education.
The overall dating scene is different here than the rest of the country, Stancliff said.
'Other people might be engaged for 12 months, but they might be living together for nine months. The moral integrity here is not to try and imitate marriage when you are not married,' he said.
Although some students seem to think three to four months is the perfect engagement length, others seem to have a different opinion.
'I have a friend that is only going to be engaged for two months and that is too short because they really don't know each other very well,' said Gina Hutchinson, 20, a junior from Simi Valley, Calif., majoring in nursing.
Engagement is a time to prepare, but it is also a testing time to see if you really want to get married, Barlow said.
'You also want to see that person in a variety of settings and how they treat different situations. BYU is like a zoo, a great place to meet people, but you don't see them in their natural habitat, so get off campus and meet their family and friends,' he said.