What would a boomer say about dating and marriage?
Boomers met at the dance hall and were married by their mid-twenties. Here's the Boomer on modern dating, followed by the real numbers on marriage then and now.
Ask a Boomer: dating and marriage Comedy, not advice
Liked your story? What story? Did you lend them a library book?
In my day, if you fancied someone, you asked them to the pictures in person and then waited by the telephone for three days like a gentleman. Stop staring at that glowing slab, splash on some Old Spice and knock on their door.
Anyway, I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised! She didn't laugh either.
A dating app? You mean the computer picks your spouse for you, like the football pools?
I met my wife at a Tuesday night dance at the Co-op hall. I trod on her feet twice and she married me anyway. That's romance: sore feet and commitment.
Anyway, what do you call a deer with no eyes? No idea! No eye-deer! Brilliant.
Live together before the wedding?! My mother-in-law would have come round with a rolling pin!
We got engaged after four months, married at the register office after nine and had the reception in the back room of the Red Lion. Buy a ring, book a buffet and stop dithering.
Anyway, why did the picture go to jail? Because it was framed! Ho ho!
The real numbers
- In 1983, half of men marrying for the first time in England and Wales were 24.5 or younger, and half of women 22.3 or younger. In 2023 the median ages were 32.7 for men and 31.2 for women.
Source: ONS, Marriages in England and Wales: 2023, Table 6a (England and Wales, 1983 and 2023, opposite-sex couples) - There were 344,334 marriages in England and Wales in 1983, compared with 224,402 in 2023.
Source: ONS, Marriages in England and Wales: 2023, Table 1a (England and Wales, 1983 and 2023) - In 1983, 177,007 of 344,334 weddings in England and Wales were religious ceremonies, about half. In 2023 it was 32,473 of 216,901 opposite-sex weddings, about 15%.
Source: ONS, Marriages in England and Wales: 2023, Table 1b (England and Wales, 1983 and 2023)