When my wife and I were doing our marriage preparation course to get married in the catholic church (a fact ironic in itself as I am staunchly atheist and my wife agnostic), one of the surveys we had to fill out independently in order to compare our results had the question "how do you feel about premarital sex?" To this question we both separately replied "awesome!" When we compared answers we laughed so hard together that half the people in the room were giving us strange looks.
Seriously though, sex is a natural part of living. Some people will take the high road cop-out and say that 'sex is okay only as long as it's with someone you love.' That's bull. Loving the person you have sexual relations with certainly makes the experience more meaningful, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it otherwise. As long as the experience is agreed upon by two consenting people (who actually understand what that consent means), there's no reason it can't and shouldn't be enjoyed.
As for virginity, while it would be nice if everyone's first time could be as meaningful as it would be with someone they truly love and cherish, I would think that that is not often the case. Fact is, for the majority of people their first time is probably kind of awkward and most likely not with their soulmate. But you gotta start somewhere. I think the best way to view losing your virginity is as a natural step in your self fulfillment as a person. It's a part of the natural human experience and, like many other such experiences (especially 'first' experiences), it's bound to be a little awkward, even uncomfortable. The point is you live and learn. The sex gets better with time and the relationships become more meaningful as you grow.
As for the whole issue of sex before marriage, as you may have inferred from my opening anecdote and subsequent arguments, I'm all about it. There's no reason why two consenting individuals can't have sex and enjoy it. The whole 'wait for marriage' ideal is antiquated religious propaganda designed to socially control behavior through 'dogma' that is, in actuality, little more than superstition. Sex, while certainly not the be-all and end-all of a relationship, is still a significant aspect of any relationship between two people, and if those two people are going to be committing the rest of their lives together they should be aware of their sexual chemistry. As has already been stated in this thread, sex is a means of relieving stress and a meaningful connection between two people, both of which are pivotal to a successful marriage. What happens if two people wait until their wedding night and then discover that they don't find the act of sex with one another remotely appealing? As a firsthand example, a couple my wife and I know were together for 10 years before getting married, but, being devout Catholics, never had sex or even lived together before getting married. Within 6 months they were divorced. The reason? In spite of being together so long they never had any conception of the level of intimacy sex and living together bring with them. They finally really saw one another and realized that it couldn't work out.
This is, of course, not to say that sex before marriage is for everyone. I respect anyone's informed decision not to have sex before they're married, though I question the wisdom of their choice. It seems to me that denying yourself such a natural and beautiful component of the human experience for the sake of what is really a formality (I think marriage really occurs through the small daily acts of living, loving, and negotiating together, not in the one single grand gesture of a marriage ceremony; marriages are built, not created) is completely counterintuitive, especially when you consider that the sexual chemistry between the people getting married is a significant aspect of their life together.
