When I met my wife, I knew what I had pretty quickly-- the right woman.  I told her it would be a short courtship (months) and a long engagement (years).  With my first wife it was the opposite, a long courtship (years) and short engagement (months)-- the second and final time around I knew better.

Why should you think short courtship and long engagement?

This is not to say that going out to dinner ends and your fiancee never gets another gift-- it just means that you both think twice and the gifts may be more practical in nature.  I remember a female coworker telling people that her husband Joe used to shower her with gifts and take her to fancy dinners all the time, but that she was surprised that he came into their marriage with a boatload of debt . . . see what I mean?
   
I knew who I was marrying the second time, because we operated as a team before we married and combined households (Also see my post, Be Careful in Choosing Your Life Partner . . . ).