USA Today‘s Olivia Barker notes the increasing length of engagements (excerpt):
The average American engagement has stretched to a leisurely 16 months, up from 11 months in 1990, according to a recent survey by the Condé Nast Bridal Infobank. (In Canada, the trip down the aisle takes 14 months, according to WeddingBells magazine.) The New Milford, Conn.-based Association of Bridal Consultants puts the number at 15 or 16 months; National Jeweler, a trade publication, says 16. The Condé Nast study also says that 19% of engagements occur in December, far more than in any other month, as ring boxes get opened on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
White says requests to officiate at weddings in 2005 already are common.
The rise seems surprising, considering other marriage trends, namely that newlyweds are older and ostensibly more secure: The groom’s median age is 26.9; the bride’s is 25.3, according to 2002 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Longer engagements made sense when a groom popped the question at age 18 or 20 to his first serious girlfriend. They also made sense when couples intended to marry right out of college, when finding jobs was paramount to planning a wedding.
Instead, the increasing length of today’s engagements reflects the increasing personalization of weddings. Couples, especially urban sophisticates, want a particular venue during a particular season (popular sites can get booked more than a year in advance), a particular band, a particular photographer — all, of course, at a particularly good price.