Feir and Wit: Entering the Age of Wedding Bells

January 21, 2013

I have entered the age of wedding bells and save-the-dates. I’m not exaggerating when I say a new engagement comes to my attention almost daily.

I think the main reason this stuns me is because of the recently outdated trend of the majority of the population waiting until they’re nearly 30 to get hitched. That’s not old, by any means, but it’s years later in life than when most couples started their lives together in previous generations.

The fear of divorce pulled the excitement of tying the knot away from the firstborns of the baby boomers. Parents told their eldest children to not be hasty; to not make the same mistakes they did; to wait until after college; to wait until they secured a career; to wait until they could support a family; to wait.

And, wait they did. For years, marriages between the young weren’t popular in the least, and people were pretty vocal about it – especially to the youthful couples themselves.

“You’re making a mistake.”

“Don’t you want to wait a few years?”

“You’re a little young, aren’t you? You have so much of your life ahead of you.”

Maybe my take on marital trends is off, but not from what I’ve witnessed throughout life.

Flash forward to recent times. The job market still sucks, and us “kids” start our life in “the real world,” as aged adults like to call it, with a heap of debt from getting an education so we can pay off our debts from getting that education.

Yet, amidst the trials of trying to take flight in a world that, for awhile, seems leagues ahead of our knowledge and experience, marriages are taking place (in this part of the country, at least), reverting back to an era of numerous nuptials at younger ages.

Here comes the bride, groom and less fear of commitment than we’ve seen in quite awhile. Should I start throwing rice now or later? Oh, wait. Bubbles are much safer for the birds.

Feir is a senior at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Her column appears Mondays.