Modern Day Love and Marriage

On June 8, 2016

Categories: Wedding Tips

It’s no secret that marriage today is significantly different from the days our parents and parents, parents were wed, but most of use don’t realize the extent.

UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1950s:  Engaged couple admiring ring.  (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – CIRCA 1950s: Engaged couple admiring ring. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)

Todd Schneider creator of Wedding crunchers, a search engine for the express purpose of analyzing NYT wedding announcements, collected and published “yuppie nuptials”published an exploration of trends across 35 years. The following data was comprised from Schneider’s article “How love and marriage are changing, according to 63,000 NYT wedding announcements.”

According to Schneider The latest data shows that:

  • The modern announcements focus less on debutante culture and more on people of diverse religious backgrounds.
  • The average age of the people in wedding announcements is increasing.
  • Technology plays a more prominent role: Many couples now meet online, and tech companies account for an increasing percentage of employers.

Although somethings are constant. According to Schneider, the omnipresence of the Ivy League, lawyers, and Wall Street, to name a few.

Schools account for more introductions than any other category, with colleges outnumbering graduate programs by about a 2-to-1 ratio. The somewhat vague “met via mutual friends” comes in a close second, followed by online dating and what I labeled “happenstance,” which applies to announcements that say something like “they met at a bar”

There are clearly some universities that dominate the wedding listings. Of the 188 couples who met at school, 15 met at Harvard, more than any other institution.

It’s interesting, if not surprising, to see how the frequencies change based on age group. Almost half of 20-somethings in the NYT weddings section met in school, compared with only 2 percent of the 40-plus demographic. As people get older, it’s more likely they met via mutual friends or online.

People in the NYT Weddings Section have been getting older over time. Wedding announcements started including ages in 1989, when the median age was 27 for women and 29 for men. As of 2016, the median ages have increased to 30 for women and 32 for men. In 1989 you were twice as likely to see a 20-something in the weddings section as you were a 30-something, but as of 2016 the 30-somethings have taken over the majority.

Same sex marriage:

Since 2011, when New York state recognized same-sex marriage, same-sex couples account for about 10 percent of all announcements. Interestingly, men outnumber women by about 3 to 1 in same-sex announcements.

Wedding cake topper and flowers
Wedding cake topper and flowers

 

Source:  How love and marriage are changing, according to 63,000 New York Times wedding announcements

by Todd Schneider

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/31/11796170/new-york-times-weddings