According to author Carl Weisman, people who have serious doubts about getting married should follow their gut instincts and not walk down the aisle. For his book Serious Doubts: Why People Marry When They Know It Won't Last, Weisman surveyed 1,036 people across the country who had been through a divorce. Nearly 8 in 10 said that before the wedding they felt "somewhat" or "extremely certain" the marriage would end in divorce. The rest of those surveyed identified themselves as "slightly certain."

In an interview with USA Today about his research, Weisman said that they all had one thing in common: "They all ignored their inner voice. They knew it wasn't going to last." So why did they go through with it? A separate survey highlighted in the same USA Today article featuring Weisman's thoughts on the matter listed the three top reasons as "[I] figured I could make it work," "It seemed the next logical step," and "[I] thought I could change some aspect of my partner."

Another reason many people get married despite ominous feelings about the marriage's likelihood of success? They have been living together. Scott Stanley, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver, says that his research on couples who live together before marriage has found that some of those couples wouldn't have gotten married if they hadn't been living together. "People have committed themselves before talking about the commitment to the future, and that can get you walking down the aisle not being sure that's the right thing, or what you want to do," Stanley says.