Marriage in the 18th century was basically a women giving her rights away and being owned by their husband they had the legal right to kill a man if he was raping the wife, It was considered a justifiable homicide by the Law of England. The average age of being people being married for 22.63 years for women and 26.33 years for Males. In the 18th century couples married more out of love than their parents wishes but the groom had to give the bride a Dowry(sum of money).Marriages were heavily taxed and women had little rights, the husband and wife were one person in law , the legal existence of the women is suspended in the marriage and many husband and wife were distant and rarely interacted with each other, The women interacted with other women and the men with other men and are often isolated from each other.
Links
http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/make_your_way/stay.htm
http://umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/bonifield/rape2.html