Statistics

I came across all of the material below while searching for stats on the average age of first marriage for Christians. Alas, after two hours it was not to be found. Anecdotally, I'd put the number around 22/23, right around college graduation--I'm convinced that Christians here must be younger than the population at large (27 for men and 25-26 for women, depending on the source).

On Christians and divorce, from George Barna (2004):

Among married born again Christians, 35% have experienced a divorce. That figure is identical to the outcome among married adults who are not born again: 35%.

George Barna noted that one reason why the divorce statistic among non-Born again adults is not higher is that a larger proportion of that group cohabits, effectively side-stepping marriage - and divorce - altogether. "Among born again adults, 80% have been married, compared to just 69% among the non-born again segment. If the non-born again population were to marry at the same rate as the born again group, it is likely that their divorce statistic would be roughly 38% - marginally higher than that among the born again group, but still surprisingly similar in magnitude."

Barna also noted that he analyzed the data according to the ages at which survey respondents were divorced and the age at which those who were Christian accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. "The data suggest that relatively few divorced Christians experienced their divorce before accepting Christ as their savior," he explained. "If we eliminate those who became Christians after their divorce, the divorce figure among born again adults drops to 34% - statistically identical to the figure among non-Christians." The researcher also indicated that a surprising number of Christians experienced divorces both before and after their conversion.
Multiple divorces are also unexpectedly common among born again Christians. Barna’s figures show that nearly one-quarter of the married born agains (23%) get divorced two or more times.

The survey showed that divorce varied somewhat by a person’s denominational affiliation. Catholics were substantially less likely than Protestants to get divorced (25% versus 39%, respectively). Among the largest Protestant groups, those most likely to get divorced were Pentecostals (44%) while Presbyterians had the fewest divorces (28%).

On the UK:

More and more couples are choosing to cohabit and in June 1999 the Guardian reported that more than 70% of couples in their first serious relationship choose to live together.

... The average age for first marriages in England and Wales in 2003 was 31 for men and 29 for women. This compares with 26 and 23 for men and women respectively 40 years earlier.

On weddings, from Forbes:

The average wedding in the U.S. today costs over $23,000 and includes an average of168 guests, 100 of whom actually give wedding gifts that average $85 each. But the costs of attending a wedding are not limited to the gift—amazingly the typical guest spends on average $500 to attend the event when new attire, travel, gas, parking and hairstyling are factored in.

And because all of this isn't exactly encouraging:

... The wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas cost between $1.5 and $2 million dollars but was offset by the sale of exclusive photos to a British magazine for $1.6 million and a $24,000 settlement again another British magazine for publishing unauthorized photos. With all that dough on the table, you may wonder if a pre-nuptial agreement was part of the deal? You bet. With Hollywood marriages
breaking up faster than you can say “Brad and Jen”, pre-nups are almost as common as marriage vows. In Zeta-Jones case, if the marriage breaks up, she gets $2.8 million for each year that the marriage lasts.