Same here. Except in my parents’ case, she thought he was younger than he was (about 28) and he thought she was older than she was (about 18 - she’d graduated from high school at nearly 18 then right off to work), and by the time they learned the truth, they didn’t really care any longer. They were married nearly 25 years, until he died unexpectedly.
My natural parents (I’m adopted) apparently met in college (that’s what the caseworker said anyway.)
My adoptive (real) parents met in Junior Achievement in High School.
They worked on the same newspaper.
My dad was at Yale, my mom was at Connecticut College. It was late 1969, and my dad’s best friend was dating a friend of my mom’s. My dad’s friend met her, was impressed, and decided to set her up to my dad (he later admitted that he he hadn’t been seeing her friend, he would have gone after her himself). I don’t know what they did on that first blind date - movie, dance, anti-war protest, LSD - but they hit it off right away.
Six weeks later, my dad decided to accompany her to her hometown of Atlantic City for a wedding of a high school friend, only to find out that he wasn’t invited and couldn’t come. After spending an uncomfortable evening alone at my grandparents’ house (the start of four decades of polite loathing), he said, as casually, as he could, “You know, if we were married, they’d HAVE to invite me to these sorts of things.” My mom agreed, and six months later they were married.
As an aside, the friend of my dad’s who set them up was Brandon Tartikoff, who went on to become probably the most important television executive of the 1980’s. My parents were his first major project, and while they never had the ratings of, say, the Cosby Show or Cheers, they certainly have had a longer run.
As far as I know, my parents met as early as kindergarten. They lived about a mile away from each other their whole lives, and definitely started dating in high school. I know there were many ups and downs and breakups–some just due to the fickleness of teenagers, and some due to the fact that my paternal grandmother was not okay with the possibility of a non-Jewish potential daughter-in-law. They got married a week after Mom graduated college (I discovered years later that Dad still had one semester to go because he totally whiffed some classes in his senior year). As of last week, they’ve been married 44 years. Grandma has learned to cope with the shiksa. 
At a funeral. Classy, Dad. :rolleyes:
To make matters slightly more Jerry Springer, it was the funeral of his uncle, who was married to her aunt, so they’re cousins (but only by marriage.) To make it even weirder, my father’s mother had dated my mother’s father before each eventually married their spouse. But they weren’t long term friends - my folks never met until that funeral when they were in their early 20’s.
Viewing it from my grandparents’ perspective, that must have been uncomfortable. The woman your son marries is your ex’s daughter? The wedding where you’re mother-of-the-bride you sit across the aisle from the ex-boyfriend you didn’t speak to for more than 2 decades? It all just feels so incestuous, but none if it actually is.
They met in high school, introduced by a mutual friend.
It’s kind of depressing, though, because they’re currently breaking up.
I love that show. 
My parents were in the same class at school.
Dad thought Mum was wonderful, but was too shy to ask her out. Mum thought Dad was decent and reliable, but got engaged to a sailor instead (more ‘exciting’.)
When the sailor let her down, she decided to marry Dad.
Typical bloke - at this time he thought he was making the running!
They were happily married for 60 years. 
Let’s hear it. Now that Mad Men is over, I have a slot open on Sunday evenings.
And do you know who was driving that motorcycle? (the Doctor)
They met at a mixer in the Catskills, played tennis the next day, and started dating when they got home from the weekend (Dad is from Jersey, Mom from Brooklyn).
Arranged marriage.
(I am always the outlier in these discussions.)
Pen Pals during WW II.
In the late 1950’s, my dad was a globetrotting pilot in the US Navy. He flew a multi-engine plane that ferried VIP’s around the world (VR-1 squadron, for anyone who’s heard of it).
Around the same time, my mom and one of her sisters, as 19- and 20-year-old English women, decided to come to America. Bit of adventure I guess, get a secretarial job and live abroad for a few years, ya know? And then she met this hot young Navy pilot at a party in Washingon, DC, and - change of plans - she married him a few years later.
A year after that, my sister was born. 18 months later, my brother. And 7 years after that - as a complete fucking surprise - I showed up.
They celebrated their 50th wedding aniversary a couple of years ago.
My mom was working for his mother as a house cleaner. My step-dad was staying with her while recovering from an injury. One day granny took mom down to meet him and said "this is my son and he needs a wife.’ Turned to dad and said ‘this is (moms name) and she needs a husband.’ Six months later they were married.
I would like to hear more about this. Seriously. Details, please.
Were there other suitors/bfs/gfs?
Did they like each other at first?
Would they have had veto power if they really didn’t like each other?
Is there physical chemistry?
Are they a good match?
Stuff like that.
This subject fascinates people from cultures where this is not done.
My parents never would have met if it hadn’t been for a little war in Southeast Asia.
My dad was born in San Diego but was adopted by a family in Galveston, Tx at the age of 8. Dad had trouble with high school so he quit and went into the Army. He was stationed in various places, including Germany and Viet Nam. While there, his unit got a bag of mail from a “Send a Letter to a Soldier” project.
My mother is from a small town in Western PA. The furthest she had traveled was to West Virginia for a summer of picking tobacco. Her high school newspaper staff came up with the idea to send letters to soldiers.
Mom sent a letter, dad read it and liked what he saw. He later told me that my mom was the only person who had put a return address on her letter. He came home on leave in '66 and visited my mom at college. They were married in July of '67.
My grandparents (dad’s adoptive parents) met at a sanitarium in Galveston while both were recovering from the Spanish Flu. It was quite the scandal when they got married: Nonna was a year older than her husband!
My parents knew each other in high school, but never dated. My mother went to nursing school in Boston, and my father went into the navy. His ship was leaving Norfolk harbor when it collided with another ship, and had to be drydocked for repairs, so he got some unexpected leave. He knew my mom was in Boston, so he decided to look her up. They were walking to a famous Boston nightclub on a cold and rainy night, and ducked into the Tremont Hotel to warm up. There was a swing orchestra playing, so they decided to stay there. Later that night, an announcement was made that the Cocoanut Grove nightclub had burned, and hundreds were dead. That was where they were originally planning to go; but for the cold rainy night and the band at the Tremont, I might never have been born.
This starts out depressing, but the outcome was great. My dad had a massive heart attack at 36 years old, when I was 6 years old. One of his nurses was very nice and took good care of him in CCU. Mom and dad were happy together and the nurse was very professional, everything on the up and up.
Fast forward 5 years later. Now mom is dying of breast cancer. One of her visiting nurses turned out to be the same nice nurse that took care of dad in the hospital. They all remembered each other and again everything was proper and good. Unfortunately, mom died after about a year.
A year later, dad goes to get his flu shot, and guess who the nurse was to give it to him? You got it, same nice nurse! Dad asked her out and they eventually married. They were together until dad died about 10 years ago. She is still my “second mom” and I love her very much!
ThelmaLou, of course! I’ll tell you what I know:
My maternal grandparents were both dead, so my uncle arranged the marriage. This automatically put my mother at a disadvantage, since my mom didn’t have the elder generation to vouch for her, so my mother, who had been educated as a nurse and emigrated to the States, married someone rather beneath her in educational level. My dad only finished the tenth standard - which basically counts as high school. Dad’s family had some money, though, and mom’s family was dirt poor, so that was considered enough to make up for it.
- Were there other suitors/bfs/gfs? *
They went through a marriage broker, so if there were, only my uncle met with them. Mom and Dad would have never met them before they were Ok’ed by Uncle. Dad says he had some girls chasing him in high school, but claims to not have been interested (I am positive this has been edited for my hearing). He was a handsome devil, as evidenced by pictures. But that is common for boys and when you get married it is expected you put these young loves aside.
*Did they like each other at first? *
I doubt they got to know each other very well before marriage, since Mom was here in the States and Dad in India. Maybe a couple of meetings, in front of the family, at most. But their first couple of years of marriage by all accounts seem to have been happy. In pictures of them they are smiling and much more affectionate than I ever remember them. They came back to the States right away.
*Would they have had veto power if they really didn’t like each other? *
Ye-es…but it would have been serious bad mojo. You don’t turn down a marriage proposal unless there is some major serious reason, and for a woman in my mother’s position, with no parents to speak for her, it would have been a very bad idea. They would have had to change marriage brokers, and word would have gotten around.
Of course if you find some horrible flaw that’s different but back in 1970s India you didn’t just say “Nope”. Nowadays it’s different in the upper and middle classes at least.
*Is there physical chemistry? *
Maybe there was in the beginning but I don’t remember any later. I mean, my parents always slept with the door open. They never held hands or even kissed on the cheek or even hugged, for that matter. As I grew older I became aware that other people’s parents had sex. I never had that light bulb realization, I just assumed when I was old enough they didn’t have sex. There are a few other things that evidence this that I’d rather not go into. Affection was a little bit lacking in my house.
*Are they a good match? *
No, they are not. My mom complained because Dad could never get a decent job, and for that matter, spent many years not working. When he did work, it was at a gas station - yes we fulfilled the stereotype. My mom busted her ass as a nurse for many many years.
All that being said, everything seems to show that when Mom got sick from cancer - she died in 2010 - Dad went above and beyond in taking care of her. He was completely devoted to her, spending every moment with her, cooking anything she wanted, taking her to all of her doctor’s appointments, hand-feeding her, changing her, cleaning up after her. So in the end, my mom was truly happy she’d gotten him. Maybe he wasn’t intelligent like her or well-educated or even a hard worker but he was completely devoted.
In the end I guess you take what you can, and she never had to be alone.
So when I came of age, the idea of arranged marriage was raised, and hard. Now I’ve been in this country since I was four. I am American, I think pretty American. I am still pretty true to my culture in many ways, but I was not ready to have an arranged marriage. If I could have found a modern young Hindu man, with my ways of thinking, that might have been one thing…but the boys my parents brought home were not like that. They expected I would subjugate my career and my thoughts to him - I could succeed, but my primary responsibility was to make babies and run the house, and of course his mother would be living with us.