Sitting side-by-side on the Parade Ground, Kayla Robicheaux and her fiance Brandon Boughrara are just like any happy college couple – except there’s a diamond on her ring finger. They hold hands and smile, unconcerned about their age, when talking about plans for their upcoming wedding. They talk about living together and their “kids” – a dog and a cat – as comfortably as an old married couple, even though Robicheaux is only 21. “It’s weird sitting in the first day of class with a bunch of 18-year-olds when I’m planning a wedding,” Robicheaux said. Many students want to wait until after college to settle down, but not Robicheaux, a psychology senior who got engaged at the end of her junior year. Robicheaux isn’t the only one. Facebook notifications about peers’ engagements populate the pages of students like Leah Romero, a landscape architecture senior, who noticed a trend as graduation nears and people start popping the question. Romero said nearly every day means another notification about a friend or classmate getting married. “It’s like that bulletin at the top of the [Facebook] page never stays the same for more than a week,” Romero said. Trish Shaffett, a hair stylist at On the Boulevard Salon & Spa on Sherwood Forest Boulevard, said about half of the brides she has styled lately were between the ages of 18 and 22. “They’re always happy to be in love and looking forward to the future,” Shaffett says of her college-aged clients. “Everyone talks about how often divorce happens and [that] they aren’t going to be a victim of it.” Robicheaux is just as optimistic. She and Boughrara, a recent University graduate, said marriage felt like a natural progression in their relationship. The two met through Boughrara’s younger brother while Robicheaux was still in high school, and they began dating when Robicheaux started college. “We’ve been acting like we were married forever,” Boughrara said. “I would have asked her sooner if I could have.” Boughrara and Robicheaux have already set a date for next fall and booked a venue, and they are excited about starting the rest of their lives together. Though neither has experienced any cold feet, Robicheaux said the reality still hits her sometimes. “When we were registering for china it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m registering for fine china. I’m getting married.’ That was crazy,” Robicheaux said. Boughrara’s age may have been a factor in the couple’s decision to start planning their wedding before Robicheaux’s graduation. Six years her senior, Boughrara made it clear from the beginning that he was serious about their relationship. For other students who are tying the knot, an engagement ring may be more like a promise than a definite plan. Stephen Peltier, creative writing senior, proposed to his girlfriend of three years when they both began looking into post-graduate opportunities in different cities. “I wasn’t thinking about the future in terms of if we should get married right now. I just wanted to be with her, and we would figure it out on the way,” Peltier said. “It was a promise that we would be together in the end.” Peltier’s fiance, 20-year-old psychology senior Camille LaBauve, sees their engagement as the next logical step, but she said they will let their academic and professional lives determine how it unfolds. “There are a couple of possible dates we have in mind, but it all depends on where we get into school and where we get jobs,” LaBauve said. “We’re still figuring it out.” Some, like Shaffett, think college students should tread carefully down the aisle. “As young adults, we can be naive,” Shaffett said. LaBauve and Robicheaux have both had their share of skeptics, but both insist they are confident in their decisions. “Some of our family was like, ‘Oh, you’re going to do that now?'” LaBauve said. “I do think that some younger people rush into it, but this fits into our plan. I’m not taking my time through college.” Robicheaux agreed. “A lot of people my age say they couldn’t imagine getting married right now,” she said. “I’m sure some people think I’m too young, but that’s OK. They don’t know us or our relationship.” ____ Contact Kaci Yoder at [email protected]