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Questions aimed to collect dates in questionnaire surveys often result in incomplete or delayed responses. This aspect is very seldom studied in quantitative studies, the primary goal of which is to produce standardized data. Drawing on the process of collecting wedding or civil union celebration dates for the “ Étude des parcours individuels et conjugaux” survey (Ined-Insee 2013-2014), which included an experimental indicator of response spontaneity, we investigated the hypothesis that different ways of answering this question are significant. The article shows that stating the date quickly, after a delay, or incompletely is related to the meaning individuals give to these moments and the staging of them. In return, information on response spontaneity on life event dates can improve our understanding of the social meaning of those events.