Single ladies, how do you respond to "why aren't you married yet?"

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by ADqtPiMel

Same here -- we were both 23 when we married. I get a lot of people asking me why we got married so young. I'm like, "Uh...because we felt like it?"

Do you think it's regional? Where I grew up, most people do get married at that age. I think it's coastal California and the Bos-Wash corridor where younger marriages are looked askance--the assumption is that either you did it because you were pregnant, or your parents didn't want you to live together before marriage. Not that I think either of those are valid reasons to get married, but it seems to make more sense to people here than the usual reason--that you get married because you love someone and you want to.

[KSUViolet06]

In terms of regional differences: I find that 23-25ish is the common age for peeps to get married where I live now (NE Ohio). Most marry within a year or so of graduating college.

However, I grew up in So Cal, and I find that none of my longtime friends from that area (SD/LA/etc) were engaged or married before 28 or so. I had a friend ask me if my engaged 23 year old sorority sister was "super religious or something."

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

In terms of regional differences: I find that 23-25ish is the common age for peeps to get married where I live now (NE Ohio). Most marry within a year or so of graduating college.

However, I grew up in So Cal, and I find that none of my longtime friends from that area (SD/LA/etc) were engaged or married before 28 or so. I had a friend ask me if my engaged 23 year old sorority sister was "super religious or something."

That was pretty much the crux of what I was getting at. I even mentioned coastal California!

[christiangirl]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

However, I grew up in So Cal, and I find that none of my longtime friends from that area (SD/LA/etc) were engaged or married before 28 or so.

See, I grew up in the Bay Area and a HUGE number of people I knew from HS are married or engaged already. I wouldn't expect that from that area, but there ya go. Actually....now that I think about it, a lot of my hs friends are married/engaged but most of the people I knew but didn't hang out with are still single. Hmmm...

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Do you think it's regional? Where I grew up, most people do get married at that age. I think it's coastal California and the Bos-Wash corridor where younger marriages are looked askance--the assumption is that either you did it because you were pregnant, or your parents didn't want you to live together before marriage. Not that I think either of those are valid reasons to get married, but it seems to make more sense to people here than the usual reason--that you get married because you love someone and you want to.

I'd buy that explanation.

[WCsweet<3]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I realize this is a thread for "single ladies," but just wanted to jump in and say that my wife and I heard the same thing. We got married when I was 24 (she was 23), and we hear "Oh my gosh, you guys were too young!" quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

Do you think it's regional? Where I grew up, most people do get married at that age. I think it's coastal California and the Bos-Wash corridor where younger marriages are looked askance--the assumption is that either you did it because you were pregnant, or your parents didn't want you to live together before marriage. Not that I think either of those are valid reasons to get married, but it seems to make more sense to people here than the usual reason--that you get married because you love someone and you want to.

You know it's interesting. I have been dating the boyfriend for three years and half the time I get "so you are engaged?" The other half is "don't get to serious!" The pattern has been that the people who are wanting a wedding are not from here (the West Coast) while the waiting people are from the area.