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You’re not the only one spending fewer summer weekends watching other people get married—but don’t worry, the weddings you’re still invited to might feel a little more special these days.
Fewer Americans are getting married, and the ones who still are have scaled back their weddings. Their nuptials are becoming smaller, though not necessarily cheaper, affairs.
Many couples are waiting longer and longer to schedule their weddings. In 2015, the median first-time American bride was almost 28 years old and the median groom almost 30, according to the most recent data available from the Census Bureau. (Ten years earlier, the typical bride was 25.5, the typical groom 27.)
The U.S. marriage rate—the number of new marriages per 1,000 people—has been falling for decades. It fell especially fast during the recession, in 2008 and 2009, but there’s little evidence that people started getting married again even as the economy recovered. And research firm IbisWorld predicts the marriage rate will keep falling over the next five years.
From a global perspective, that wouldn’t be a surprise. The U.S. marriage rate would need to fall by about a third to reach the marriage rates in other developed countries. The most recent data show a U.S. marriage rate of 6.9, compared with an average rate of 4.6 for countries in the European Union.
Are weaker economics the cause, or has marriage gone out of fashion?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday July 30 2017, @07:25PM (2 children)
For my daughter and son-in-law (not 'officially married', but legally married (common-law)) it is all about money: they are both paying off school debt while trying to save for a house (he's hoping to find a place they can flip... in Canada (or only Ontario?) you have to live in the place for a year before you can resell without taking a capital gains tax hit (or something like that: not a legal/realty/tax expert).
They'd have gotten married by now if it wasn't for the school debt.
They've been living with us for the past (3-4) years in order to save money: and we've been scrimping and saving in order to help them with money so they COULD move out, lol.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @07:36PM
Funny how you try to spin as your son-in-law the man who is shacking up with your daughter while she is still living in your basement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 30 2017, @08:15PM
He's not going to buy a cow if he gets the milk for free.
You can at least give them a deadline, say in 4 weeks, to get hitched. Toss him out if he won't.
Ontario lets you get married via a banns form that you get from a church. This could be free. If you really hate church, then you'll need to pay for a licence which costs about $125. (Just how broke are they???) Church can be free; do that.
Well, that's it. $0 to get married. It is totally free.
Be sure to get her last name corrected.