Miley Cyrus has been putting her “Hannah Montana” days far behind her, sporting daring new looks and planning her wedding to hunky actor Liam Hemsworth. In the new issue of Marie Claire, the 19-year-old revealed her feelings about young love.

While some have criticized the engagement, saying that the two have gotten too serious too soon, Cyrus disagrees. She told the magazine, “Life is too short not to be with the person you want to be with. I don’t really care about the wedding or the piece of paper as much as I do the promise we’ve made to each other. And we want to have a long engagement.”

The two have been dating for three years, since meeting during the shooting of the film, “The Last Song.”

While she claims that Hemsworth’s proposal was a “complete surprise,” Cyrus seems happy with the relationship, and the ring that came with it—a 3.5-carat vintage diamond ring by Neil Lane. “I had no input…We’d been kind of talking about (getting engaged), and I saw something like it online at one point and thought it was really pretty, but I usually wear rose gold.

“I just love that it’s old and has a story. And I’m happy because it doesn’t look like anything else I wear.”

You can see Miley’s mature new look in the September issue of Marie Claire, on sale August 14.