Relationships, Marriage, & Family Life in Peru
Most young men and women live with their parents until they marry in Peru, at which time they usually move into a new home with their spouse. In some areas, primarily the Andes, there is a growing trend of young people moving out of their parents' house prior to marriage in order to find a job in a large city like Lima.
Most Peruvians have both a church wedding as well as a civil ceremony, because the government only recognizes the civil marriage, but culturally only the religious ceremony truly matters (but to have a church wedding you must be legally married first). Most couples marry in their early- to mid-20s. Weddings in Peru are similar to weddings in many other countries, but there are no groomsmen or bridesmaids and they have a few interesting and unusual traditions. The most common of these traditions is that all the single girls will pull a ribbon out of the cake and the one with a ring attached to it symbolizes the girl who is supposed to get married next. Likewise, at many weddings the single girls are supposed to try to steal the groom's boutonniere, as his job is to give it to the girl he thinks is going to be the next to marry.