🛡️ Get a glimpse at trust in a healthy marriage.

🤗 Here are some awesome ways to celebrate Father’s Day!

👨‍👧‍👦 Positive male role models are important, here’s why.

💛 Show your fiancé you value their emotions with these tips.

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Apologies matter in marriage, even when you don’t want to.

should you break off your engagement?

It’s normal to get nervous about important decisions. Asking yourself, “Am I marrying the right person?” is one of those nervy decisions because marriage is a lifelong commitment, not something that will come out easily in the wash if you’ve not made the right choice. So you weigh the odds, make a list of pros and cons, mull over some what-ifs. But at some point, when the doubt overshadows the confidence in the relationship, you may find yourself asking a new question: “Should I break off my engagement?”

Here are 5 signs the answer to that question may be “yes.”

💔 Isolation from family or friends.

💔 Can’t compromise on “big-ticket” items.

💔 Marrying because you’ve been together forever and it’s just the logical next step.

💔 It’s just not a healthy relationship.

💔 Your fiancé is abusive.

talk about your expectations

Almost everyone comes to marriage with some pretty specific ideas about how things will be. These expectations might be based on what people have experienced in their own family (things they liked or didn’t like and don’t want to repeat), a romantic movie, a previous relationship… or even the Hallmark Channel.

Here’s the thing: Whether it’s how you plan to handle money, accepting support from family and in-laws, how often you will make love, being on time, handling conflict, career aspirations, helping with chores or cleanliness, if you don’t talk about your expectations ahead of time, there’s a good chance it could lead to some disappointing and frustrating moments in the future.

People often don’t voice their expectations when they’re engaged. Sometimes they fear the other person won’t live up to them.

If you do talk about them and your spouse-to-be doesn’t see these expectations as a big deal or doesn’t plan to change their approach to these issues, you may try to convince yourself that things will change once you have a ring on your finger and things are more final. Don’t let that idea fool you, though. Lots of studies indicate that the best time to look for behavior change is before the wedding, not after.

Unspoken expectations can silently kill relationships. Do yourself and your fiancé a favor: Be honest about what you expect.