At some point in your 20s and 30s, you'll notice a change within your friendship group. One moment, your friends are just boyfriend and girlfriend and the next, they're getting engaged and walking down the aisle.
There'll always be the couple who stay way ahead of the game and get married before anyone else. However, by the time you reach 30, everyone who's been going out since uni and living together for over a year will be on the verge of announcing their engagement.
How can you tell? Here are five sure signs:
1. The topic of bridesmaids comes up every time you meet for a drink. "How many is too many?" and "who should pay for the dresses?" are the questions that keep this conversation going. In fact, your friend has already implied you'll be a bridesmaid at her future wedding - way before he's even popped the question.
2. Long weekends away in romantic destinations are suddenly really popular. And before every city break or trip of a lifetime, you have the "he's so going to ask you to marry him" debate with your friend who's not-so-secretly thinking the same thing.
3. Your friends keeping talking about 'the long term.' Instead of moaning about finding another next flat-share, the chat turns to suitable places to move to in five years time, how many children you'd like to have and the baby names you'd like to claim before anyone else gets there first.
4. Rings keep going missing. When your friend tells you one of her rings has "got lost" (because she thinks her boyfriend has borrowed it to check her finger size), it's tells you two things. One - sparkly rings are definitely on this girl's mind and two - the boy is trying really hard to get things right in the lead up to getting down on one knee.
5. They're saving up (for the big day.) He's putting money aside for the ring, she's curbing her spending because she wants to buy an amazing wedding dress. Sensible yes, but not so fun for you when you want a fun night out down the pub.
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