I’ve often wondered why couples feel the need to announce their wedding in the New York Times. The people who care are at the wedding or wish they had been invited. There may be ex-lovers who wonder what he or she has that they don’t.
Then there are people like me, who track the pages for anecdotal evidence that people choose mates who look like them.
The three pages of wedding announcements in the Sunday Times are Exhibit A of couples who are uncanny in their resemblance to each other, not after 30 years of marriage, but from the beginning. The Times’ submission guidelines require a photo that shows couples “with their eyebrows on exactly the same level and with their heads fairly close together.”
Good for the Times graphic layout. Even better for investigators looking for a biological connection between appearance and personality and speculating why this is so. They theorize that eyes and smiles are particularly useful in assessing personality, disclosing whether or not someone is friendly. For example, someone who smiles a lot may develop lines and muscles that are suggestive of someone who is happy.
Studies have shown that partners who are genetically similar to each other tend to have happier marriages. Similarities in personalities and physical features might be one way to gauge genetic similarity. (www.alittlelab.com.)
It would be interesting to know how many of these couples are still married 25 years downstream. If they actually make it beyond that , researchers say they will look even more like each other. Perhaps the Times could run a section showing who made it to the silver anniversary so we could compare images.
Consider this: If we stay married to the same man, we won't have to obsess about aging. He’ll love us even more as we get to look more like him. Scary…
What do you think?
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