No, I'm not saying it's the only way - just one of the ways. And there are many people who don't want to get married at all, or simply don't believe in marriage. And that's fine. My article was about people who do want it, and who have also been together for a while - the couple I talked about were together for 4 years. At this point, it's been 9, they have a kid, the girl has been talking about marriage for 7 years, but the guy doesn't want to propose. Yet, he believes in marriage... I suspect he just doesn't want to marry HER. That was the main point of the article: if you find someone who doesn't want to commit and spend their life with you, but wants a marriage - leave. They should look for someone they will ACTUALLY LOVE.

I'm not sure what "cannot afford to marry" means. If you're talking about weddings, that's the worst excuse ever.