This paper has the main objective of investigating metaphors which conceptualize marriage. For this, we reviewed aspects of contemporary marriage, especially gender questions discussed in researches about couples. We also presented the main theoretical findings and studies about this conceptual metaphor, according to Cognitive Linguistics. There was a field study, with a semi-structured interview, aimed at questioning about important issues related to the marital relationship of the participants. The convenience sample was composed by three men and three women, among 35-50 years old, who belonged to the urban middle class. They were heterosexual, cohabitants, and they describe themselves as being married for at least ten years. For the analysis of the results, we used the content analysis method proposed by Bardin (1997) and the discourse analysis method used by Quinn (1987). Our findings point to gender differences in the conceptualization and marriage experience. We could also notice that the participants live the metaphors present in their discourse, which highlights the relevance of the cognitive perspective of this construct.