I'll be honest enough to say that over twenty years ago I was "engaged" in option two. A couple of friends of mine had gotten married and getting engaged seemed to be the foolish thing to do at the time (not that I saw it as foolish at the time). Looking back I'm grateful that the wedding never took place because I would have been miserable til death did us part (or until she divorced me). At that time in life I was far from "walking the walk" and I think part of my subconscious train of though may have been that "being engaged" would make the fact that I was co-habitating a bit more palatable to my parents.
I accepted an engagement ring at 17. I was crazy about the guy, but it sure wasn't love. You usually don't know that at 17. Fortunately, my parents did, so they kept on at me and I finally broke things off with the guy (who was in college.....yeah...I know...I was an idiot). I hurt him very badly. He was ready for marriage and took it very seriously. I feel horrible about it to this day.
