This weekend I had the privilege of attending a beautiful wedding of a very dear friend whom I shared a house with when we both lived in Cyprus.

The wedding was a wonderful testimony of two people celebrating their love for each other. It was a very special day. So what made it so special? It was the Bride and Bridegroom’s first wedding both aged 58 and 65 respectively. It hadn’t been a whirlwind romance as they have in fact been together for almost 20 years.   They weren’t marrying due to peer or parental pressure. They were getting married because they wanted to and as confirmation of their love for each other. In the UK, the traditional reason to get married is LOVE.

According to national statistics we are leaving it much later to “tie the knot” with the average age for women being 27 and 29 for men.   Although being 58 & 65 years for a first marriage is still much later than the national average.

So why marry later?

The reasons for people getting married in their later years obviously differ to those who marry much younger, the main one is there isn’t a driving force to have children. However, I believe the same hopes and joys exist whatever age one gets married.

Careers have been established, financial security has been achieved and generally people are satisfied and comfortable with their lives and comfortable in their own skin. As we grow older, we know who we are. We are also more tolerant, a very important factor for a successful marriage.

Hopefully when we marry late we’ve had the opportunity to learn from failed relationships or previous marriages.

There are also health benefits and statistics report that married people live longer than their divorced counter-parts. I also believe the vows “in sickness and in health and until death do us part” are more meaningful and heartfelt.

We are also living longer and expect more from life, especially during our retirement and what better way to spend it than with your soul mate. The happiest couples are friends who share lives and have and share common interests.

So if you are single and dream of your wedding day, remember, it’s never too late, whatever your age. Or maybe like me, you are currently happily single but remember whether you are male or female that wedding day maybe closer than you think.

Some celebrities who have also chosen to marry later in life:-

– George Clooney 53 / Amal Alamuddin –a date set for September.

– Harrison Ford was 61 when he married Calista Flockhart.

– Paul McCartney was 68 when he married Nancy Shevell.

– Robert Redford was 72 when he wed Sibylle Szaggars.

Love life, be happy, love will find you.