A new study has shown that more couples are choosing to live together -- and even have children together -- rather than marry. In fact, for close to half of women, choosing to live together was their "first union" and only 23 percent of women can say the same about marriage. It's startling on paper, but in real life, it's not surprising at all. 

I know very few couples who didn't start out living together. The reality is, in this day and age, it's the smart way to go. Of course, it's only as smart as you make it. Very few of the people I know who cohabited moved in together because they were pregnant. There is usually a trajectory to it:

Move in together, get engaged a year later, marry, have kids. Now, it seems many people are diverting from that path. They are choosing to skip the whole marriage part. This can actually be a big mistake.

Kate Hudson found out she was pregnant TWO MONTHS after she met Muse rocker Matthew Bellamy. Three years later, they're still together, and Hudson says that while the pregnancy was a shocker, it made her relationship even better.

After Hudson and Bellamy met at Coachella, she tells Elle U.K.'s May issue, "It was all very old-fashioned and proper and we went on lovely dates, but two months later I was pregnant." Hmm, some people might disagree with Kate's idea of "old-fashioned" -- but I can relate to what she says about the pregnancy and how it was going to seal the couple's fate ...

My wedding day: Daddy, mommy, daughterAccording to the National Marriage Project, 58 percent of first births in lower-middle-class households and 40 percent of all U.S. births are to unwed mothers. A recent article in the Atlantic looks beyond those statistics; the author makes the case that no one is asking women how they feel about being unwed mothers -- a good question, and one that I can answer on my own behalf.

For the first three years of my daughter’s life, I was an unwed mother, and I didn’t like it, AT ALL. Ten years later, it turns out I was merely ahead of the celebrity trend (first baby, then engagement!), but at the time, not having that “piece of paper” made me feel vulnerable and not quite rooted.

Would you stay with your partner under any circumstances? I think that's a question all of us in relationships ask ourselves. What would make us leave? What wouldn't? And yet we don't know how we'll truly react until it happens. One thing I've always asked myself is what would I do if someone I had just begun dating had a horrible accident and became paralyzed or lost his speech or eyesight or something? Okay, maybe that's just torturing myself -- and thank god I've never been tested in that particular regard. But I know others who have. And one man, who wrote into an advice columnist, is wrestling with this very dilemma. He had met a woman he considered his "soul mate," got engaged within six months, and then boom! she had a stroke that left her paralyzed and disabled.

The labeling moment. You know. That pinnacle moment in the world of dating where you and that special someone discuss whether or not you should "make it official." Sure, calling some lucky guy your boyfriend can make things a little more PC when it comes to introducing him to your friends and family. Much easier saying, "This is my boyfriend John" than, "This is the man I'm sleeping with."

But has a label ever complicated things for you instead of making it easier? For me, the moment someone becomes my "boyfriend" is the second I really start investing myself in a relationship. In my mind, this man, this is the man that's supposed to take care of me. The man I want to make happy by doing silly little things like showing up at his apartment unexpectedly on a Sunday morning with his favorite breakfast sandwich.

But is putting a title on things setting yourself up for disappointment? It's a question I've been battling a lot lately. 

Two of my really good friends are in the very early stages of a relationship. They work in the same industry and have been friends for years, but finally felt the romantic connection when they found themselves single at the same time. The catch is that they live over a thousand miles apart.

Long distance relationships are more common than ever, as travel has become cheaper and ways to communicate plentiful. Dating sites like eHarmony and Match.com make it possible to even begin a new relationship without having met in person.

I'm a relationship person. Yeah, the freedoms that come with being single like being able to choose what dive bar to go to on Friday night and not having to report back to anyone, those are great. I guess, though, that I'm more in love with love. I adore the feeling of being loved and I especially love to do little things knowing that it makes someone else happy. Not just anyone. Someone who loves me, too.

More and more lately, I'm learning that when I get into a relationship, I often forget about the relationship I have with myself. I get caught up in the things that make them smile because seeing them happy makes me happy, but then put off the things that make ME happy.

And it happens every single time. Which is why today I make a proclamation: I need to be more selfish. We all do. Because unless you're selfish in your relationship, you'll never be truly happy.

When you first get engaged, people start telling you that this is "the happiest, most special and exciting" time of your life. They tell you they envy your wedding planning or say, "You must be having so much fun!" Sometimes, all of the above is true. Sometimes, you can't believe how lucky you are that you're about to marry the love of your life and planning the ultimate party to celebrate with the people you both love ...

But other times, you find yourself thinking the purported joy associated with wedding planning must be a total joke. Because as much as friends who are recent former brides, sisters-in-law-to-be, and even your mother might warn you about what to expect around corner, there are certain wedding planning nightmares no one can prepare you for. Here, 14 horror stories real brides (including yours truly) were completely blindsided by ...