First comes love, then comes ... baby? If the behavior of famous couples is any indication, the order in which life's biggest milestones are carried out is no longer a given. Cosmo explores why.(COSMO NEWS)(weddings)(Brief article)

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In Tinseltown, sending out a birth announcement e a wedding invitation has become de rigueur. Such stars as Nicole Richie, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Salma Hayek have all popped out babies before making wedding plans. In fact, plenty of couples seem content to skip the nuptials altogether--consider Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, and Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry. Matthew McConaughey, whose girlfriend, Canaila Alves, is pregnant, recently said: "I don't feel you have to marry--a kid just needs a room and a dad."

So why is marriage sliding down on the priority scale for celebs and civilians alike? "Today's young people were brought up by the first generation for whom divorce was common, so they may not see marriage as a necessity," says sociologist David Popenoe, PhD, founder of the National Marriage Project, a ...