Usually I use "fiancee". Or to be simple, I'll often say "girlfriend" (I've been dealing with a lot of people who's first language isn't either French or English). My fiancee perfers the term "bride". She want's to be the "bride" forever since it sounds younger than "wife".
Originally posted by: Polish3d
Would you mind elaborating a bit more? I'm still curious about the benefits / disad's of marriage from a guy's POV
This will be my second attempt at marriage. The first was great while dating (we were best friends and she was very good looking), but she changed 100% the day we got married. It was like Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. She instantly turned into all of the stereotypes: didn't work, spent a lot of money, was quite selfish, and intimacy was completely gone (well except for all her boyfriends that I eventually found out about). Basically a trophy wife. She was a money drain, but in really it barely made a dent in the graph of my overall net worth graph. In the end, I'll have to work a few months longer to break even with the case if I hadn't married.
My second wife is great. But she'll be much different. I've changed my criteria. Sure, I'm also best friends with my fiancee and she is beautiful. But instead, those weren't my main focus in finding a partner. This time I found someone who treats me very well and someone who is career focussed. I make good money, but I suspect that my fiancee will be the bread winner shortly. While I'm not marrying for money, she'll be a tremendous ASSET to my financial life. She really treats me well and respects what I do.
Basically what I'm saying is that from the same guy you can get two different POVs.