THE MARRIAGE YEAR

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6804, 7 January 1929, Page 11

THE MARRIAGE YEAR

•. ages a little higher. NIGHT 'WEDDINGS POPULAR. AUCKLAND, Jan. 4. Last year saw a busy time in the marriage market. While by no means a record year- for Auckland there were 68 more marriages than m 1927, t total being 2076. . , A featuc of the statistics is a dinun- ' ution In' the number of boy and gin I niarrihgcs. Whereas two or three years ago young people under the [ oL 20 were going to the altar and registry office in considerable numbers, such marriages last year were ra_ e v the exception than the rule. Auckland clergymen to whom this phase was referred see in it the exercise of desirable caution on the part of young peo pie in love, the inference being that they are inclining to the words of the sage when he said, ‘‘Marry in ias e, repent at leisure.” Hi have observed the tendency ioi .some time,” remarked the vicar of a city, church. ‘‘Undoubtedly, theic are fewer marriages between young people in their teens than there iised to be: lam very thankful to sec it, too, for- a young uiah of 20 is not usually' in a stable enough- economic position to provide a proper home such as every * newly-married couple should have. My expericnco lias shown inc that when ' people marry too young they go 1 straight into rooms, sometimes of the most inadequate description. Such i makeshifts for a proper home cannot " be'condemned too strongly. They are the . source of continual matrimonial trouble.” More Marriages in Church. Another interesting aspect of last ' year’s marriages was the increased pop ularity of the solemnised marriage by the Church. While 68 more licences were issued than the previous year the marriages performed by the registrar only claimed two of them, the remaining 66 going to the Church. _ The decline in the number of marriages performed by the registrar has, indeed, been a regular feature of the returns during the last three years. The fjg--1 . urcs arc as follows: — 1925, 590; 19*0, 535; 1927, 494; 1928, 496. The pomp and solemnity of t.he clutch wedding, its frocking, its flowers, and its music, arc evidently cxercis-

ing greater sway over the imagination .thin hitherto, apart from the obvious religious motives that prompt the great majority of church weddings. The at; traction of the ‘marriage by registrar has always been its crispness and ultrasimplicity. All the parties are required to say is: “I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, cannot be joined in matrimony to —.” Then they add: “I call upon these persons here present to witness that Ido take thee, , to. be my lawful wodded wife (or husband, as the case may be).” Then follows the signing of the register. Simplicity Favoured. But while more people are willing to .sacrifice brevity for the sake of religious or spectacular, considerations, it is°evident .that simplicity is still a powerful factor with many people. Nignt weddings arc on the increase and now constitute the great number of weddings. Here, .it would appear, the appeal is utilitarian rather than aesthetic An evening wedding requires less planning, it is comparatively economical in , dress, it is over more quickly and does not entail a long, tiring and expensive round of entertaining: “For every morning or afternoon wedding I get ten night weddings,” a popular wedding clergyman s~id. “You might say that night weddings are now ‘the thing’; they are no longer the exception. As far as the clergyman’s convenience is concerned it is a movement that is to be vastly regretted, but I can appreciate the point of view of the parties, particularly the parents, who are thereby saved a great amount of trouble and expense.”