In brief: getting married after 60, what to know
There is no age at which it’s too late to marry: at 60, 70 or 80, the formalities are the same as they are for a couple of 30. Three subjects do deserve proper attention before the day, though: how marriage affects your estate and your existing will (particularly where there are children from an earlier relationship), the possible impact of remarrying on a survivor’s pension or certain benefits, and the shape of the celebration itself, which is often more intimate.
- Age: no upper limit, and the same conditions and paperwork as at any age — your local register office will confirm the details.
- Money and property: a conversation with a solicitor is strongly advised (wills, estate planning, children from a first marriage).
- Pensions: remarrying can affect rights inherited from a late spouse, including a survivor’s pension — check with your pension provider and, where relevant, the benefits office before you commit.
- The celebration: later-life weddings often favour an intimate format centred on the people closest to you. A wedding planner can handle the lot (737 working professionals are listed on Planners, August 2026).
The later-life wedding is a stage of life that captures something true: love has no age limit.
Unlike the weddings of younger couples, these marriages bring a depth and a richness of experience that is entirely their own. They celebrate not just love, but resilience, reinvention and the possibility of a fresh start, even after many decades of life.
In this article, Planners looks at the later-life wedding and shares our best advice for getting it right.
Why say yes after 60?
Wondering about that? The answer seems obvious enough.
For love, of course.
Marriage is generally taken to be the symbol of unconditional love between two people. But when we’re talking about marriage later in life, it takes on a different meaning.
By this stage, a great many goals and milestones have already been reached. Children have been raised (for those who had them), homes established, big decisions taken, successes enjoyed and disappointments survived. Most of the boxes have been ticked, at home and at work.
Past 60, there’s no longer any need to promise to start a family or to guarantee financial stability, because all of that is already written into the story. The pressures and the challenges become less urgent, and less oppressive.
Which makes everything a good deal lighter. What’s left is chiefly a promise of love and happiness, without agonising over the future.
That love can take you by surprise: it’s often deeper and more intense than expected, and the happiness that comes with it is all the more precious for it.
It seems that people over 60 use marriage as an occasion to celebrate their love and share it with the people they care about — whether that means renewing their vows or marrying for a second time.
At this age, marriage becomes the step that makes a happy relationship official. After all, there aren’t usually other major events left — the birth of a child, buying a first home — to formalise a union. So marriage becomes the way to show how serious and how deep the relationship is, and to share that with everyone around you.
It’s a beautiful promise, and proof of love.
What kind of invitations should you choose?
Part of the older and wiser generation, about to get married, and not entirely sure what invitations to choose?
Planners has a few pointers to help you send out those cards inviting people to one of the most important days of your life.
The style of your invitation
The best style is the one that reflects who you really are, as individuals and as a couple.
If you’ve settled on a particular theme for the day, your invitations should follow the same thread.
These days the possibilities are endless, whether you want something classic, vintage, retro, contemporary or funny, or you’d rather draw on your interests, your heritage, or colours that tie in with the day itself.
There are more unusual options too, such as plantable seed-paper invitations.
Give the invitations a touch of your own personality.
The wording of your invitation
The wording should represent you too. Your guests ought to recognise you as they read it.
As a general rule, keep it simple. There’s no point cramming in information: better to get to the point and not go off on tangents.
As for the layout, give it plenty of breathing room so that whoever opens it isn’t left scratching their head. Everything should be clear.
The same goes for the typeface. Choose one everybody can read rather than reaching for something wildly original. And do think about the size. You don’t want guests hunting for a magnifying glass, do you?
Here’s the essential information your invitations need to carry:
- The couple’s first names (there’s no obligation to include surnames)
- The date and place of the wedding
- The time of the ceremony (civil, humanist or religious)
- The venue for the reception (with as much detail as possible)
- Your address, on the back of the envelope or on the invitation itself
- The date by which you’d like replies
If you aren’t inviting everyone to the meal, remember to produce two separate invitations.
Why a later-life wedding can be pure happiness
Married life after 60 might well be the envy of anyone under 35. These couples live with far more calm, they have more experience in every sense, and certain big life stages are already behind them.
Much freer to live as they please, they can flourish away from the churn of daily obligations and enjoy things day by day. Isn’t that every couple’s dream?
Rather like carefree young lovers, they don’t have to worry about the future. Which leaves them freer to make plans that bring them still closer together.
Put like that, you quickly see that a later-life wedding really can mean happiness. Everything can work in its favour: work, family, finances.
What’s more, at this age these couples have decades of relationship experience behind them. In other words, they have a deep understanding of what they want and what they no longer want. They’re also better equipped to handle disagreements, and sometimes to head them off. Patience, wisdom, understanding, communication: those tools are usually already in the box.
It’s worth saying, though, that a later-life marriage isn’t always welcomed by everyone. We’re thinking in particular of certain family members — children above all — who can be reluctant to see a parent commit to a new relationship. And it’s true that behind the symbolism of marriage there also sits a contract with consequences for property and inheritance.
Even where a couple chooses to keep their finances entirely separate, that arrangement can occasionally cause friction within the family, especially where there’s a wide gap between the two partners’ means. Children tend to think not only of a parent’s wellbeing but also (let’s be honest) of their inheritance.
The answer is to talk, and to put everything on the table. Do that and it will be fine.
Planners’ advice for a happy later-life wedding
Here are a few pieces of advice from Planners for getting your wedding right.
1. Live your love on your own terms
Attitudes are shifting, but it’s true that marriage later in life is sometimes frowned upon — by society, by acquaintances, by family.
The best advice we can give you is to live your love exactly as you see fit.
Enjoy your life and your happiness.
Don’t worry about other people, and throw yourself into this lovely chapter.
Follow your instincts, and marry in joy.
2. Plan the wedding to your own taste
When it comes to the planning, trust your gut.
And if you feel a little lost, you can always call on a wedding planner, who will manage everything to your brief and offer valuable advice along the way.
3. Put communication first
This one applies not only to later-life weddings but to every wedding there is.
In truth it’s advice worth following in daily life. Communicating means not staying locked inside your own head. Not brooding. Not making a mountain of something that started out perfectly manageable.
Talk to your partner about your worries, your feelings, your joys and your sorrows.
Communication within a couple, and within a family, is essential to a happy marriage.
4. Listen to your heart
Our final piece of advice is simply to listen to your heart.
You’ve already been through a great many stages in life.
You’ll certainly have made compromises so that everything ran as smoothly as possible.
And you’ll inevitably have set yourself aside from time to time, to put other people’s happiness first.
Think of yourself. Now is the moment to enjoy being happy.
Live your wedding to the full, without worrying what anyone else thinks.
Savour every moment of closeness and joy, without thinking about what comes next.
Are you ready to take the plunge?