Marriage Customs

Hobbits
Hobbits were allowed to marry when they were out of their Tweens, although it was common to wait two or three years afer formal engagement.Hobbit Marriages were great feasts of the entire family clans, there were no formal priests or religious ceremonies other than mundane blessings and speeches held by the clan heads or elders, but usually Hobbit marriages were accompanied by an amount of beurocratic efforts, as professional Lawyers were paid by the clans to stllte the official matrimonial agreements as well as testaments and inheritance and succession formalities.

Númenóreans or Dúnedain
Númenórean Nobles married late,often Bride and Bridegroom were already beyond their 100th year of life.Marriages were held as public ceremonies of the entire home and neighbourhood, often the entire town and for the upper classes even the entire city.There were no official Priests but witnesses and a blessing by the bride's father were customary.

In later Ages the Elendili and Aruwanai descendants of the Númenóreans eased the old tradition, as their lifespans reduced, but it was still uncommon for a young woman to marry at an age younger than 30, while the husband often was 20-30 years older than his wife.

Northmen
Northmen married early in their youth, although the Bridegrooms often were drastically younger than their youthful brides.The Rohirrim however, and other Northron Groups influenced by the Dúnedain, grew accustomed to the marriage customs of their gondorian and arnorian allies and often married their daughters at an older age, often in their mid-twenties, their bridegrooms often being already in their early thirties.Marriages usually were ceremonies of the household presided over by the male head of the brides clan, there was no official priestly caste to perform the rites but Elders or Seeresses were often asked to speak blessings or bring sacrifices.