People Who Had A Deal To Get Married To Their Friends If They Were Single By 30 Share What Happened

It’s unclear if the idea of a “marriage pact” was cooked up by some screenwriter or inspired by a true story, but regardless, it was probably popularized by the 1997 film “My Best Friend's Wedding.” No doubt, upon exiting the theater, a lot of half-serious pacts were made, although no doubt most are lost to time, as even the participants no longer remember them.

Now this act has popped up in the media so often that it has its own TV tropes page and even a rather ingenious dating service named after it. Marriage Pact is a matchmaking service that mostly focuses on American college campuses, where people are “matched” by filling out compatibility forms. 

Many of the stories here actually have a happy ending, although there is no doubt some positive self-selection. People who are friends as young adults, but take time to mature and figure out what they want might actually be very compatible partners later in life. This isn’t to say that dating one’s friends is always a good choice, far from it, but it makes sense that it would have a success rate higher than just attempting to connect to random strangers. 

With the advent of the internet and, to a lesser extent, smartphones, people can both connect with old marriage pacts and also set reminders years in advance. That, and the popularity of threads like this, has possibly made this concept explode in popularity. Which in turn leads to more people developing marriage pacts. 

In fact, once one accepts and reveals that a person could be a potential partner without any pressure at the moment, this idea, like a seed, can take root and develop. So it’s easier to reconnect. Other, common relationship pitfalls are also more easy to avoid, as the marriage pact already sets a goal for the couple, while also taking away the pressure or “risk” that one party has when it comes to initiating a relationship. 

Of course, not all the stories are quite as happy. Life, among other things, happens to us all. Plus, some people might make a pact in desperation and simply do not move on with their lives. Instead of growing, they stagnate, relying on an oral agreement to attempt a relationship. Cases might differ, but most of us simply won’t find a person who is deeply stuck in the past attractive at all.