Nevertheless, most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, and some also allow adolescents to marry if the female is pregnant. The age of marriage is most commonly 18 years old, but there are variations, some higher and some lower.
The Average Age to Get Married By Region
Not-so-surprising is that the average age of couples varies according to region. Among 2022 couples, the average age of marriage was highest in the Northeast (32), Mid-Atlantic (32) and Midwest (32) and lowest in the South/Southeast at 30.
In 18th-century America, the typical age of marriage for middle-to-upper class white women was 22 and 26 for men. Women began courting as early as 15 or 16, but most delayed marriage until their early twenties. The years of courtship were a time when 18th-century women could enjoy some freedom and power.
Median age of U.S. Americans at their first wedding 1998-2021, by sex. In 2021, the median age for the first wedding among women in the United States stood at 28.6 years. For men, the median age was 30.6 years.
The concept of age of consent was introduced through the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. As per Section 5 (iii) of the Act, the boy should have completed 21 years, while the bride should have completed the age of 18 years at the time of marriage.
The oldest ever groom is Harry Stevens, who was 103 when he got married in Wisconsin in 1984. The oldest recorded bride is Minnie Munro (Australia), aged 102, according to the Guinness World Records.
Usually, flower girls and ring bearers range from ages three to eight years old. But don't let that stop you from giving those roles to someone younger or older, or even to adults, especially if you're not too keen on the idea of including children in your wedding.
From the mid-1970s until 2018 there was a steady and ongoing increase in the median age of men and women at first marriage. This upward trend halted between 2018 and 2020 but continued again in 2021. In 2021 the median age of men was 30.8 years, and women 29.4 years.
A woman's peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline happens faster once you reach your mid-30s. By 45, fertility has declined so much that getting pregnant naturally is unlikely.
As a marriage celebrant, I often hear guests talking about the anticipated arrival of the bride and invariably someone says, "Oh it's tradition. The bride is always late." There is no such tradition.
Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (age 12), was betrothed in a wedding contract at age 8-days-old, she was officially married at the age of twelve in 1476, to her cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans (aged 14).
Islamic tradition states that Aisha was either six or seven years old when she married Muhammad. Aisha bint Abi Bakr is believed to have married the prophet in 619, when Muhammad would have been around 49 years old. The marriage was not consummated until several years later, when the girl was 10.
In the middle ages, girls were typically in their teens when they married, and boys were in their early twenties. The arrangement of the marriage was based on monetary worth. The family of the girl who was to be married would give a dowry, or donation, to the boy she was to marry.
In reality, most high society Victorian brides in England and America fell somewhere between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, with the marriage age gradually growing later as the century progressed.
You could get married as soon as you hit puberty – and parental consent was not required. Marriage was the only acceptable place for sex in the medieval period, and as a result Christians were allowed to marry from puberty onwards, generally seen at the time as age 12 for women and 14 for men.
However, early marriages were rather rare—the average age of the newlyweds was about 25 years. Interestingly, the basic requirement for a legally valid marriage was not a formal consecration in a church, but the completion of a marriage contract, commonly called 'spousals'.
Peak male fertility is around 25-29 years old. Sperm quality begins to decline at 30. At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume. Older men can also take longer to conceive a child.
Women can reproduce for about half of their lifetime and can only give birth about once every year or so. So it makes sense that women can only have a fraction as many children as men. One study estimated a woman can have around 15 pregnancies in a lifetime.
The average age of mothers has been rising over time, from 30.0 in 2010 to 30.9 in 2020. Average maternal age has risen for both first-time mothers (from 28.3 years in 2010 to 29.6 in 2020) and those who have given birth previously (from 31.3 years in 2010 to 32.0 in 2020).
The upward trend in the median age of divorce has stalled since 2018. In 2021 the median age at divorce was 45.9 for males and 43.0 for females, similar to the median ages in 2018 and 2019 (45.9 for males and 43.1 for females for both the years).
Divorce Rates in Australia
The most recent divorce rates stand at 2.2 divorces per 1,000 Australian residents. 56,244 divorces were granted in 2021, with 48,432 involving children. New South Wales had the highest proportion of weddings administered by a minister of religion (25%), rather than a civil celebrant.
In Australia, the average age gap between opposite-sex couples is 1.8 years. This statistic is a telling indication of the reality of age difference between couples in Australia.
But not to worry, there is no hard and fast rule that says a wedding party can't have more than one flower girl. In fact, having two or three flower girls often makes it easier for the children involved.
It's all about her age.
If she's from four to eight, she's a flower girl, If she's between nine and fifteen, she falls into the junior bridesmaid category; older than that, you can go ahead and call her a bridesmaid.
Likewise, these roles are generally assigned by gender. But it's absolutely okay to have a girl step in as ring bearer, and a boy can just as easily throw flower petals. Or they don't even have to be human! If you have a well-loved (and well-behaved) family dog, they could even step in and have a role in your ceremony!