From a Times Insider column by Katie Van Syckle headlined “A New Feel for the Wedding Section”:

In 1851, the debut issue of The New York Times, then known as The New-York Daily Times, announced the marriage of John Grant and Sarah Mullett, who was from a prominent family in Fredonia, N.Y. At the time, high society marriages were cultural and social news. The tradition of reporting on the nuptials of the elite evolved into The Times Weddings section.