Very similar story here but I was a 20 year old youth leader (not a trained minister or pastor). Met a beautiful girl when she was 14. Kept my eye on her and when she was 16 we started dating. I proposed to her when she was 17 and we married a week after she turned 18 (she picked the date). In many ways, she was much more mature than I. Happily married for 47 1/2 years. Cancer. I miss her more than anything. Our only regret was not marrying sooner. She had a girlfriend that married at 16 and they are still happily married today. Have people changed that much?
My father was 23, and my mom was 15, when her brother (his best friend) introduced them. They dated, married, and he became a decorated police officer and police detective for 37 years. Their 3 kids turned out to be pretty successful and productive members of society, and the first of their great-grandchildren was born last year. Today, he would have served 2-10 years in prison, and would have spent a lifetime on registries, and he likely would still be working today in his 80s as a liquor store assistance manager or something. I’m not sure that things are better today than they were back then.