Succesfully dating/marrying from your past, present, or future? (spouse, couple, relations)

When two people couple up successfully, is it more the case that they knew each from the past and rekindled what was lost, or they met each other in the immediate environment in which they were in and decided to go for it, or that they purposefully and individually built a future so as to include the (type of or specific) spouse they want? In a typical sample of 100 successful relationships, what would the distribution be along these three paradigms?

Past, present, or future? Which is best?