"Why isn't she married?" That's what people used to say about me. I'll admit it.

Are you someone people say that about? Do you know someone like that? Then you have to read my new book, How to Shop For a Husband, which comes out this week. I spent years crossing guys off my potential dating list because I didn't like the way they ate their yogurt or I hated the shoes they wore. Then I would date all the wrong guys: you know, the cute ones who had no interest in settling down. And I would … Read More

We've all heard of the honeymoon period—that time of sweet relief and excitement just after the wedding when many folks are thrilled just to be newlyweds. But what is the term for the two-year, 11-month mark?

This point in a marriage (or, more specifically, two years, 11 months and eight days after having tied the knot) is reportedly when a couple's happiness reaches its peak. According to a recent survey, "Just under three years emerged as the point when couples feel completely comfortable with each other's bad habits and have a plan for their future." Lemondrop: Is "We" The Key … Read More

Esther Perel, author of Mating in Captivity, answers a question from Ask YourTango, where readers go to seek out advice on love and relationships. In this segment, a YourTango reader asks whether it's normal for sexual frequency to wane when in a committed relationship. Perel assures us that it is, indeed, normal, and tells us why. Newlywed Sex Tips (We All Can Use)

For more on Esther Perel, visit her website. To connect with other relationship experts, visit YourTango.com/ProConnect. Do you disagree with the advice she gave, or just want to weigh in? Click Read More

I'm a brand-spanking newlywed whose single biggest fear about marriage was the word wife.

For me, it conjures up centuries of well-worn stereotypes: Women in bonnets bent over hot stoves, and '60s Stepford-types handing over martinis with tight smiles—nothing resembling the thoroughly-2010 relationship I have with the guy I love. Lemondrop: The Obamas Prove What We Already Knew — Marriage Is Hard Work

I said "I do" to him because he's irreverent but responsible, scary-smart but socially graceful, and the person who never fails to make me guffaw. In fact, one fateful day after a bad breakup, before we were even … Read More

A small-town teacher has created a product he claims will solve all of our marriage problems: The Better Marriage Blanket. (Yes. Subtle. We know.) We were excited when we first saw the press release. After all, the bedroom is pretty much ground zero when it comes to marital spats, what with the unmade bed, the laundry on the floor, couples' wildly divergent sleep schedules, etc. Visions of a product that could solve it all danced in our heads. And then we read on.

The Better Marriage Blanket is apparently only meant to stop "chemical warfare under the sheets," … Read More

Sunday after the Vancouver Olympics closing ceremonies, we got a sneak peek at Jerry Seinfeld's new show, The Marriage Ref. The idea behind the Seinfeld-produced show centers around the fact that, apparently, all married couples fight about absolutely inane topics, and the only way to resolve their issues is to take it to a celebrity expert panel—in this case, Seinfeld, Kelly Ripa, and, ahem, Alec Baldwin.

Regarding Alec Baldwin, as the host and "marriage ref" Tom Papa pointed out, "If you are, been, just got, or are getting out of marriage—we consider you an expert!"

The couples present their … Read More

By Sari Harrar and Rita DeMaria, Ph.D.

The Reality of Married Lovemaking

When writer Miriam Arond and her husband, psychiatrist Samuel L. Pauker, M.D., surveyed hundreds of newlywed couples across the nation, they discovered that 85 percent had made love before tying the knot, yet the frequency and quality of unmarried sex had little to do with the reality of married lovemaking. Nearly half said that after marriage, they didn't have sex as often as they'd like; 20 percent of new wives reported low sexual desire. For a fourth of the wives, sex meant painful intercourse or elusive orgasms, while 1 in … Read More

I love weddings. I stop dead before store windows to gaze at gorgeous dresses and drool over diamond rings. I'm thrilled when I happen upon a noisy banquet in a Chinese restaurant. I read the New York Times wedding announcements every Sunday. I love watching "Say Yes to the Dress."

But I don't want to get married again. The Frisky: Marriage Is Dying

"I knew then it was precisely because I believed in love that I didn't want to get married again. What Alex and I had was at once too precious to foul up with marriage, and strong … Read More

New relationships are always exciting. From the first kiss to the first time you go away together, everything he does always feels sweet and new—but the "honeymoon phase" can only last so long, right?

Not always! That's why we sought out advice from five couples who've definitely kept the flame alive.

On Feb. 12, Brooklyn celebrated New York City couples who have been married 50 years or more, and I dropped by the El Caribe restaurant, where the luncheon was held, to ask the celebrated sweethearts how they breathed life into a relationship after all these years. After all, we were always … Read More

A 2006 Pew Research study found that about a quarter of unmarried Americans (23 million) say they are in unmarried committed romantic relationships. A slice of this population is what I dub "a little bit married": They live together, go on each other's family vacations and own pets together, but aren't yet engaged. In my new book, A Little Bit Married: How to Know When It's Time to Walk Down The Aisle or Out the Door, I conclude that "a little bit married" (ALBM) is a recent cultural phenomenon, taking place especially among college-educated, upwardly mobile, twenty- and … Read More