College sweethearts, married at 24 and 26 after almost 5 years as a couple. First kid at 30, second at 34. Married 11 years. So far, so good!

My mom and aunt told me growing up to get a college degree and be at least 25 before marriage. I thought it was kind of silly at the time but I agree with it now. Met my husband at 22, engaged at 23, married at 25 with a graduate degree and a couple of years of work experience in hand. First kid 28. Married over 16 years now.

Anonymous wrote:Married at 18, H was 24. First kid a year later, 2nd kid 5 years later. Married 25 years, have now been divorced for 20 years. Knew each other 3 months before we got married. Oldest kid got married at 20 and divorced 20 years later. I have absolutely no regrets. Loved being a young mom, also loved being single starting mid 40s. H and I are good friends still.

I'm glad it worked out but this is crazy! Ha.

I was 22 and husband 26. Married one month after I graduated college. We worked, traveled, grew up, I went to graduate school, then we had our first child when I was 33 and second when I was 37. Currently in our 18th year of marriage. I’d absolutely do it all over again exactly the same way. He’s great and we’ve been lucky to be really compatible and grow together rather than apart. We had dated 6 years prior to marriage (met when I was 16) so we knew each other well. The love was very deep from the start and it has only grown deeper.

My advice at any age would be to get to know someone well, get to know their family well, and most importantly PICK SOMEONE GOOD. If you find someone decent, smart, kind, hard working who loves you, and you have a plan to support yourselves, go for it.

Anonymous wrote:If you got married young, how did things work out long term for you/your marriage?

Would you have waited longer, dated more, done things differently? What would your advice be if your son/daughter wanted to get married young too?

When we started dating, I was 19 and DH was 25. When we married four years later, I was 23 and DH was 29.

After 32 years (28 years of marriage), we're very happy. We're best friends and business partners with 4 grown children. I wouldn't have done anything differently because things worked out so well for us. Clearly there was an element of luck, but I think it was beneficial to our relationship that we grew up together, so to speak.

If my kids were in the same place, I'd be happy for them to marry young. As it turns out, my grown kids are disinterested in marriage thus far! But my niece (sister's daughter) started dating her boyfriend at age 19, and she'll be marrying young (likely ~21). FWIW, all of us are college-educated professionals in my family, if that matters during your data gathering.

I think a factor for me is that my mom married when she was 20, and my parents were married nearly 60 years before my dad passed away; my sister married when she was 19, and she's been happily married now for 40 years. We seem to marry young and mate for life. That colors my perspective.

I’m going to tell my daughter not to marry until she’s in her 30s. I want her to travel, make her career, in her 20s. Maybe I’m just jaded. I just really don’t think you know what you want until you’re in your 30s. Plus, most couples I know that married young (I grew up here in the DC area where most don’t marry young), are very religious, and imo stay together more for their religious beliefs.

Married at 24, my husband 27.
Had my first kid at 32, it made all the difference.
We had time for ourselves, we traveled a lot, went to grad school, bought our first home and then had kids.
31 years of marriage now and counting.
We both feel lucky and grateful to be together.

We met in college and got married the summer after graduation when I was almost 22 and he was barely 23.

We have 3 kids, born when I was almost 24, 26, and 29 I was in grad school when the older 2 were born.

We just celebrated our 25th anniversary. There have been ups and dkwns, of course, but mostly up.

I wouldn't recommend marrying so young to everyone, but I also don't think it's always a bad thing.

Married at 24. We started dating at 19. I’m 39 now and he’s still my best friend and favorite person. Three kids.

He’s the love of my life.

Married at 24 and it’s been 26 amazing years. We had two kids about 10 years into our marriage, so I agree with other posters that having space to define your relationship before children is wonderful if you have time to do so. I encourage my kids (currently late HS) to marry someone they meet in college or grad school, if they can, because nothing looks harder than online dating. Not at all religious, if that matters...

We were friends for a few years then dated and married at 25 but we didn’t have children for five years. It was a great five years to truly become best friends. We have done so much over 34 years and I believe grounding our marriage for the first five years gave us a huge head start.

Married at 18, H was 24. First kid a year later, 2nd kid 5 years later. Married 25 years, have now been divorced for 20 years. Knew each other 3 months before we got married. Oldest kid got married at 20 and divorced 20 years later. I have absolutely no regrets. Loved being a young mom, also loved being single starting mid 40s. H and I are good friends still.

Met husband at 22, married at 25, kid at 29. I’m 33 now with another on the way. He truly is my best friend. We both work really hard and have done everything together. Had parent losses, changed jobs, made money, bought a house, started a company, etc

Married at 23, now married 25 years. No regrets, but we have had growing pains as we changed and grew together. The solid love at the core and commitment got us through those times. No one knows me better. We had no external pressure to get married but had known one another since high school and dated throughout college so it wasn’t impulsive.

Married at 25, right out of grad school. We've grown together as a couple, and individually within our marriage. It's been great! And at times terrible and hard! The quarantine has given us loads of time to consider our choices, and I would do it all again. We just celebrated 13 years in June.