Be careful of the 'marriage pact'. Turns out they can come true.

The year was 1997. I’d just scored my first full-time job and was having the time of my life.

A work colleague and I became really good friends. I liked him and he seemed to like me. But we were just friends, and work colleagues. Dating just didn’t seem like a good idea.

Plus we were both young and had a lot of living and dating to do.

So we made a marriage pact.

“By the time we turn 30, if neither of us is married, we’ll marry each other.”

The moment you knew you’d met the one. Post continues after video…

Pretty dramatic, I know, but it was the year the movie My Best Friend’s Wedding was released and for those who haven’t seen the movie *SPOILER ALERT* Jules is devastated when her best friend Michael announces he is engaged to a girl named Kim, rendering their own “marriage pact” redundant.

It seems My Best Friend’s Wedding kicked off a spate of “marriage pacts” between friends and a Reddit thread has revealed how some of those pacts that actually resulted in marriage turned out.

Reddit asked: Has anyone married as a result of a “if we’re still single by (age)” pact? How did it work out?

There were some success stories:

We left our spouses around the same time (not for each other) and decided to share a house. We got to taking one night and decided we each had all the things the other was looking for, plus we got along really well. We were in our mid-thirties by then and sick of the dating scene, so we just laid it out like a business arrangement. What started off as an "arrangement" eventually evolved into something extremely serious and passionate. We've been together now for almost seven years and married for almost one. We are extremely in love and I have zero regrets. *Alex

I forget exactly how the conversation came to be, but at one point she brings up how we should totally get married if we're both still single by the time we're 30. We were together for three years long-distance, only ever seeing each other during holidays and long breaks, before I graduated college and moved across the country to be with her. We're getting married in October, five full years before the pact would've happened. *Peter

We were both never single at the same time, but always best friends. Made a pact in high school that, if at 30 we're both single, we'd get married. We stayed friends after graduation, and at 25 we started hanging out more and more. We fell deeply in love, and on our 30th birthday (yes we have the same birthday) we were married. Life couldn't be better! *Jacinta

My best friend of 10 years said to me one day in a group conversation that if we weren't with anyone by the time she was 30 (she was 25 at the time) that we would have to be together. As beautiful as she was/is I never made a move because I used to date her female best friend, so I thought the "girl code" would halt my advance. Sure enough, once she said that, I was like "hold up, she's possibly into me?!" I made the move! Six months after that conversation, we got married. It was a fairly easy transition. Currently married for 3 years with 2 children. *Mel

Then, some cautionary tales:

My aunt did. Lasted for a few years until they split, and since then she has been married seven other times. I'd say her life didn't go too well after that. *Kim

Me and a friend decided if neither of us could find a good lay in six months we may as well just hook up. It was amazing sex trashed the friendship and I spent the best part of a week enjoying the company of a bottle of whiskey. *Derek

I had one of these! He got married the year before our pact to get married was to happen - turns out he's into dudes. I'm super happy he married one of his best friends and have zero reason to be bitter about this. *Rita

Not yet. 11 more years. I love the girl and all but we'd only be doing for tax purposes. I really need to find her someone. I really need find me someone. *Jess

Eventually my friend and work colleague and I moved on from our job and eventually lost touch. The marriage pact was forgotten as each of us fell in love with others and now we are Facebook friends, as it was always meant to be.

When I think back on why my friend and I bothered to make a marriage pact I realise it had a lot to do with the fact that we liked each other, but weren't ready to commit. Also I was young and insecure. Who knew if I'd ever meet someone I wanted to marry who wanted to marry me.

By making a marriage pact, I was covering all the bases.

* Names have been changed. 

Read more responses from this Reddit thread here.