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I think it's less about an obligation and more about timing and what you want to test out. Living together before marriage is like test-driving a car before you buy it - you're gonna discover the annoying stuff you don't see on a test drive. How your guy organizes things, whether he leaves his stuff lying around everywhere, if you have the same sleep schedules, how you manage finances together... it's totally different when you're sleeping at someone's place one night a week versus every single day.
That said, there are people who get married without living together first and it works out perfectly fine. It really depends on your ability to adapt and communicate when surprises come up. But personally, I'd say if you have the chance and neither of you is against it, it's smart to test it out for at least a few months before committing for life. You don't have to get an apartment together for two years - even three or six months is enough to see if your rhythms complement each other or if you're gonna kill each other after a week.
It's not some universal obligation, it really depends on what you both are looking for. Some couples discover a ton of stuff when living together that they wouldn't have noticed before, others make their marriage work without testing it out first.
After spending some time together, you're inevitably going to discover things about the other person - their weird habits, how they handle stress, whether you're on the same wavelength - and that's hard to see when you're just seeing each other a few times a week. That said, there are plenty of people who get married without living together and it works out great too, so the main thing is being honest with yourself about what you need to know before committing for the long haul.
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