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How old were you when you got married( if you are married )?

(93 Posts)
Witzend Fri 14-Jun-24 08:32:37

I was 25, dh was 26 - in 1974.
First baby at 28 - I was an ‘elderly’ primigravida and certainly rather older than the other new mothers on the ward.

NotSpaghetti Fri 14-Jun-24 08:30:00

19 and at university.
1st baby due during my finals. Just made it as she waited till I was done!

BlueSapphire Fri 14-Jun-24 08:21:55

I was married three weeks before my 27th birthday, DH was 28. Both my younger sisters were married before me at 20, so I was considered positively ancient!

Had first baby at 33, second at 37, so I too fell into the elderly mother classification!

We were married almost 47 very happy years before DH sadly died 6 years ago.

Imarocker Fri 14-Jun-24 08:17:34

I was 17 when I met my husband. He was at uni and we got a flat together while I was doing my A levels. I sort of moved out without my parents really noticing! We married a year later. Everyone at work thought I was pregnant as we only decided three weeks before we did it and had only 6 people there (no parents). We waited four years to have our first baby and have been together for 57 years. I look at my GD who is 19 and very young and wonder how I ever did it! I was a teenager in the 60s and my DC think I was quite wild. I wasn’t really, but they were very quiet.

Redcar Fri 14-Jun-24 08:16:16

I was 24, my husband was 28. I was the oldest of my group of friends to get married. I had my first baby at 28, the second at 32 and was definitely considered to be elderly! I wonder what those doctors and nurses would call my two daughters, who both had their first baby at 39 and their second at 43!

Clawdy Fri 14-Jun-24 08:09:26

I was 20. 21 a month later, and DH was 21 the week before we married! When my daughter was 14 and heard that, she said "Weirdos! "

M0nica Fri 14-Jun-24 08:06:27

I got married in the late 1960s, when the average age for a first marriage was around 20/21. I was 24, as was DH.

On several occasions before this, remarks were made to me - and the friend I shared a flat with - that suggested that we were 2 old maids who were now too old to get a husband -and of course, as both of us were graduates - are chances of marrying were small because men did not like clever women!

I did not have my first child until I was 28 - and again, got in the neck for leaving it so late! - I was classified as an elderly prima gravida, and was kept in hospital for a week, instead of three days, after the birth.

We lived in a new town, where most women seemed to have their first child before they were 20. When the midwife at the surgery commented on my age I replied that I thought it best to make sure I was fully adult myself before taking responsibility for a baby. She then looked significantly towards the waiting room, full of pregnant teenagers and said that she thought that was not a bad idea.

Chocolatelovinggran Fri 14-Jun-24 07:54:34

It's interesting, isn't it, to see how views change? My own adult children married later- the youngest at twenty eight and the oldest at forty five.
They would be ringing Childline if they heard some of the ages here, listed by people who have managed to have long and happy marriages !

Georgesgran Fri 14-Jun-24 07:53:39

We were both 21 in ‘72.
DD1 was born in ‘79 - we waited to be more financially secure. DD2 in ‘83, when I was 32.

ginny Fri 14-Jun-24 07:51:12

I was 21 he was 24. 1976 so 48 years next month.
3 children born ‘78. ‘80 & ‘84

Bumface Fri 14-Jun-24 07:49:16

I was 24, my husband was 23. Of my friends, only one was older than I was, 26. The others including two of my cousins, were 19 or 20.

I had my first and only child 13 years after marrying as we had 'problems'. A lot of people assumed we were child free from choice and muttered about 'being too selfish'. I could never understand what they meant.

Marydoll Fri 14-Jun-24 07:44:02

I was married at 22, after I completed my degree. DH was twenty seven. We have been married for forty seven years.
By the time I was twenty nine, I had three children.

GrannyIvy Fri 14-Jun-24 07:39:42

We married in 1977, aged 21 & 22. We are about to celebrate 47 years of marriage. Babies born 1979 & 1984.

harrigran Fri 14-Jun-24 07:37:49

I was twenty one we waited until I had completed my training as a nurse.

Grandma70s Fri 14-Jun-24 07:37:33

I was 28, as was my husband. I was in full time education until I was 24 + two degrees. My mother was also 28 when she married. It seemed the normal age to me.

HowVeryDareYou2 Fri 14-Jun-24 07:30:43

21, my husband was 22. Our first baby was born 14 months later

Ladyleftfieldlover Fri 14-Jun-24 07:29:22

I was 23 and OH was 24 when we married in 1976. Some of my friends had married straight from school! For various reasons it was five years before we had our first baby and people were suggesting from about a year after the wedding that it was about time! Fortunately, when we decided it was the right time, I became pregnant straight away. Then of course, when the baby was a few months old, the conversation was about not leaving it too long to have a second baby! We didn’t - baby number two arrived on baby number one’s second birthday.

nanna8 Fri 14-Jun-24 07:21:52

I was the ripe old age of 19 which was not unusual at the time but now couples seem to wait and wait if they bother at all. A lot of ‘older mums’ around now, too. It was very unusual for someone to become a first time mum in their 40 s in those days. I remember being described as an ‘elderly multipara’ when I had my 4 th at the ancient age of 31. I was quite hurt by the description at the time. What on earth do they call people now ?