Older Bride, Younger Groom

Thank you to everyone for your words of wisdom. I must admit I was worried at first, as from an aesthetic POV (not talking about sexual attraction here, as I had never felt that in my life but TMI right now) the "look" of the younger man was not something to which my eye was ever drawn. Since I was in my 20s, men who looked young, no matter their age, simply did not register on a scale of physical beauty, whereas men who appeared to be at least 10 years older than I, again, no matter their age, drew my eye. So my attraction to FH was purely intellectual, then emotional, as I did not see a pic of him for some time. He happens to aesthetically "fit" the "look" I like, but that is coincidental.

I am 10 years younger than my FH (10 years/10 days to be exact)...Anywho...It's not a problem to me or my family.

If we like it, they love it.

@ Rev Ann - I believe you are correct about the patriarchal / beauty-conscious culture we have. The older woman is seen to be less attractive than the younger one, and we are supposed to admire women who remain, or do things to look, young. I work with a 22 year old girl who is so worried about ageing that she chugs diet pills (yes, even at work), and talks about saving for liposuction, face lifts and breast implants before she turns 30 as looking older than that age means men won't find her attractive any more. That makes me so very sad for her...

I am 6 years older then my FH.. he lied about his age a tiny bit when we first met lol he says he really liked me haha.. the only person who seemed to have a hard time with it in the begininng was ME lol.. i dont know why i struggled with it but im glad i stayed!!! ;-)

I am 3 months older than my fiancé. Not much of an age difference at all but my previous relationships have been with men who are older than I am.

My fiancé likes to say he is dating a cougar. Lol he is a dork.

I am 10 years older than FH and we met online. My family has age differences both ways so it didn't really matter to anyone but my adult daughter is a bit put off by it. FH loves to tease about it but it doesn't matter to us at all. I get the cougar stuff too.

I am 10 years older than FH and we met online. My family has age differences both ways so it didn't really matter to anyone but my adult daughter is a bit put off by it. FH loves to tease about it but it doesn't matter to us at all. I get the cougar stuff too.

I am 10 yes older than FH. When we met I was 33 with an 8 yr old daughter and he was 23. Now I am 40 and he is 30. I also was the only one who had a problem with the age difference. My friends all liked him and told me to go for it. I am glad I listened to them he is amazing. Neither one of us has a problem with the age gap and our families don't either. We have a 4yr old daughter together. When I tell people they don't have anything negative to say because they all tell me I look younger than my age. He was the first guy I had ever dated you was younger than me. I look at it this way who cares what the age difference is as long as you are both happy.

I'm only 6 months older than FH, but even that gets me side-eyed from some people... Like it's basically a law or something for the man to be older!

It's a new century... people need to get over it!

I'm just over a year older than FH. He teases me about using me for my life insurance money lol.

I am 3 years older that FH. He just turned 40 in April and I laughed and said I think you're the first 40 year old I have ever been with.

Anywho, good for you and poo poo on people.

I am almost 7 years older then the FH, the only person that had a problem with it was my dad but now that they know each other they are great buddies. He does get some funny looks when he starts talking to people about his granddaughter though lol!

I'm 13 years older than my FH. My family teases more than his in the beginning. We also met online. Through an online game. Perfect World and were together a year before meeting in person. Another year later and we're engaged.

There are members of his family who aren't thrilled but most have welcoming.

@ Fiona your story reminds me alot of me and my FH. We are well right now 17yrs apart. We also met online. Its funny cause i havent met his family yet but I'm working on that this summer. My FH is very mature for his age as well. More so than some men I dated older than me. Alot of people say that I seem younger than my age and he acts more mature for his so it works out.

I wouldnt worry about the age difference as long as you two are happy. The only time we talk about the age difference is when one of us is picking on the other. He calls me his Cougar and I pick on him about not remembering the 80s. LOL It works out and we are happy.

FI is 5 years older than me. Its not an issue at all. Its just funny to think about.. When we think about the summer he turned 18 and I turned 13. Oh and my 28th bday just passed. All his friends are the same age.. 33ish and they finally asked me how old I was turning and I said 28 I think they were a little surprised. Lol.

I like to tease FH about the fact I was finishing high school the year he turned one, and that when I married ex-H, he (FH) was 14...

Ooooh, doesn't bear thinking about, really, but it's a funny thing and we both chuckle over it.

I am 7 years older than my FH, but he is more on my level emotionally, mentally, educationally, and financially than any older man I've date. We do always joke about him buying me depends and my buying him similac lol

I'm loving this thread. I was never attracted to younger men either. In fact, I was kind of repelled. I dated a guy 3 years younger when I was very young and was completely irritated by how immature he was. Totally put me off younger guys. After that I only dated older guys and my ex husband was older than me. When I met my FH I knew he was younger, and he knew I was older --but we didn't realize by how much. We were both so shocked we nearly broke up. He has kind of a baby face, so everyone, and himself, always said that he was older than he looked. Not as old as I thought though! I look younger as well, so we were off by about 10 years when we first started dating and guesstimated each others ages.

We do all jokes--he calls me a cougar and a MILF. I get to taunt him about not getting to see Star Wars in the theater.

I love reading this thread. I also kid around with my FH about things like remembering the 80s, being a junior in High school when he was born, or the fact he was almost 10 when my son was born.

I like that we can kid around about it yet hes so much more mature than even my exH.

My almost BIL and his wife are 35 years apart. I'll admit I did a bit of a double take when I found out. But that's partly cuz she's older than his mother and treats him like one of her kids (who are his age).

That said, I have another friend who's 12 years apart from her hubby and they are an adorable couple. Age hasn't mattered one bit!