I never thought the day would come where the people I knew from childhood would start getting married and having kids. At any moment I can log onto my various social media profiles and see an engagement, wedding, or baby announcement plastered across my screen. Then again, it is engagement season.

Yes, engagement season is a real thing. From Thanksgiving until Valentine's Day ‘the question’ is being popped more than usual to lucky-in-love couples all over. A study from WedInsights.com revealed almost 40% of engagements happen during these months, the majority in December and on Christmas Day. Scrolling through Instagram and Facebook the past few weeks I’ve seen almost ten engagements, TEN! Many of which happened either on or within a few days of Christmas. If I didn't feel the pressure to get engaged then, I definitely do now. My whole life I envisioned my wedding to be in my late twenties, if at all. I never dreamt of my wedding day like most girls do, to be honest. I think growing up with a single mother had a lot to do with that.

This had me thinking, what do people actually think about proposals and weddings? Do people pick out the ring beforehand? Who pays for the wedding? What do people spend on wedding gifts? Since I’m new to this world and haven’t been to many weddings, I was curious to find answers to my questions.

A recent survey from Brilliant Earth revealed that 30% of people said you didn’t need a ring for the proposal. What shocks me about this is that to me, rings are to proposals as peanut butter is to jelly, you can’t have one without the other. I guess I’m wrong about that. One result I wasn’t surprised about was who pays for the weddings.

The survey reveals that 50% of men and 62% of women said that they'd be paying for their wedding. When talking with friends and coworkers about this, most of them said they’d be footing most of the bill as opposed to their parents.

Last but not least, one thing I don’t understand is bringing an uninvited guest to a wedding. Let’s just say I wouldn’t want my cousin Sally bringing her uninvited Tinder date that she’s known for all of 72 hours to my wedding.

Being an outsider to the wedding and engagement world, I learned so many things I didn’t know before. Unlike the 68% of people who don’t think it’s okay, I’m guilty of posting photos of a wedding on social media before the bride and groom, oops.