<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (April 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (April 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> An engagement, betrothal, or fiancer is a promise to wed, and also the period of time between a marriage proposal and a marriage . During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, intended, affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged . Future brides and grooms may be called the betrothed, a wife - to - be or husband - to - be, fiancée or fiancé (from the French word of the same form), respectively . The duration of the courtship varies vastly, and is largely dependent on cultural norms or upon the agreement of the parties involved . </P> <P> Long engagements were once common in formal arranged marriages, and it was not uncommon for parents betrothing children to arrange marriages many years before the engaged couple were old enough . This is still common in some countries . </P>

The person you are going to marry is called