In writing a research paper I wanted to address the most important aspect of my life, my family. I thought about writing on children and the changes they undertake as they grow from infancy to young adulthood, but then I realized if I had not married their mother I would not know anything about how they grow or change. Today, the view of marriage is a negative one. This attitude is revealed by a young woman who said, “When I got married I was looking for an ideal, but I married an ordeal and now I want a new deal!” (Sam Kathy). But the problem is not the institution of marriage. The problem lies with the individuals within that structure and their attitudes towards marriage in general. In thinking about writing a research paper on a specific aspect of marriage I could not find just one I wanted to address. I began to research different marriage materials and quickly found myself among the many different stages of marriage, even before the I do. I begin by summarizing, first, how a single person should view marriage, then the characteristics one should possess when choosing a person to marry, leading to the questions that should be asked even before the engagement, to finally the union of man and wife and their roles once married.