What is the Legal Age for Marrying in the UK?

 

In England and Wales people cannot marry if they are aged 16 or 17 and do not have parental consent. (In the UK, the age of sexual consent for women is 16).

In Scotland both parties must be at least 16 years of age (parental consent is not required).

A marriage can take place in:

· Register Office;

· church and any other religious building;

· home of one of the partners if the partner is housebound, for example, has serious disabilities or is agoraphobic;

· hospital, if one of the partners is unable to leave or is detained there as a psychiatric inpatient;

· prison, if one partner is a prisoner.

Weddings

Over half the weddings in the UK take place in local register offices and the rest are religious ceremonies. A few years ago changes in the law allowed couples to get married in all sorts of places (known as a civil Wedding Ceremony).

Most weddings take place on Saturday afternoons; this is the "peak period" in any week for getting married. Before the Wedding brides have "Hen" nights and bridegrooms have "Stag" parties. For couples getting married in a church, "banns" announcing and read aloud in the church three Sundays before the wedding.

The groom chooses a Best Man who will look after the couple rings during the wedding ceremony.

The Wedding Day

It is unlucky for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day before the service.

Traditionally the bride wears a white dress and the groom wears a suit (top hat and ties), the bride may be attended by bridesmaids and pageboys. The groom and the bride say their vows. They give each other rings. They sign a wedding register. After the wedding ceremony guests are invited to attend a meal and further celebrations. This is known as the Wedding Reception. Guests leave presents for the bride and groom on a table in the room where the reception in taken place. It is traditional for the Best Man, Brides Father and the Groom to give a speech at the wedding reception. Traditionally there is a special wedding cake at the reception, often it has two or more tiers – each tier may be made of a different type of cake to satisfy the tastes of all your wedding guests.

The Honeymoon

It is traditional for the bride and groom to go away on a holiday, called a Honeymoon, after the wedding has taken place.

Family Size

On average 2 or 4 people live as a family in one home Britain. This is smaller than most other European countries. Most British children live with their parents at least until they finish school at the age of 17 or 18. Then many go away to college, leaving some parents sad and lonely and enjoying their release from parental responsibilities. But many adults stay with their parents during their college years or return home after graduation. Today's parents cannot even be sure that their married children have moved out forever. After a divorce they may return to the parental home temporarily or even for a long-term.

Older people take pride in their independence, enjoy their freedom and don't want to be a burden to their children. The telephone, the car and the airplane keep them in close contact even when they live in different parts of the country. Members of family — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins-keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from home town to work and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions.

Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together. Family parties may be very joyous (радостный) when they bring together relatives who haven't seen each other for a while.

 

Place of Living

Most people in GB live in urban areas. Towns and cities are spreading into surrounding environment to cope with the increase populations. In England, an average of 7,000 hectares of farmland, countryside and green space were converted to urban use every year. This is almost the equivalent size of 9,600 international football pitches!

Who owns houses in Great Britain?

Now people are buying their own homes more than in the past. About two thirds of the people have their own homes or are in the process of buying it. Most others live in houses or flats that they rent from a private landlord the local council, or housing association. People buying their property almost always pay for it with a special loan called a mortgage, which they must repay, over a long period of time, usually 25 years.

What are houses in Great Britain like?

Most houses in England are made of stone or brick from the local area where the houses are built. The colors of the stones and bricks may vary across the country. Great Britain has many types of homes. In the large cities, people often live in apartments, which are called flats. In most towns, there are streets of houses joined together in long rows. They are called terraced houses (таунхауз).

The main types of houses in Great Britain are:

· Detached (особняк) (a house not joined to another house);

· Semi-detached (двухквартирный) (two houses joined together);

· Terrace (дом ленточной застройки) (several houses joined together);

· Flats (apartments).

The most popular type of home in England is semi-detached (more than 27% of all homes). Almost half of London's households are flats, maisonettes or apartments.

Cost of Houses

A big problem in England is the rising cost of houses. In 1990 first-time buyers paid an average of around £40,000, in 2001 this had more than doubled to £85,000 and in 2015 to £196,565. The cost of housing in England has increased much faster than people's wages.

Average wage per year: £23,244.

Average house price: £196,924.

 

Task 3. Answer the questions:

1. What is the typical British family?

2. What was the problem about British family between 1971 and 2012?

3. What can you tell about institute of marriage in GB nowadays?

4. What is the legal age for marrying in the UK?

5. Where can marriage take place?

6. What kinds of wedding traditions in UK do you know?

7. What is the usual family size in UK?

8. Where do the most British people live?

9. What kinds of houses in UK do you know?