No Married Persons

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Alcidas

Merry and Pippin choose to follow Frodo only because they have no wives. If they had not been single, it is likely that they would have chosen to stay back, like Fatty Bolger. In the case of Sam, it is again a question of being chosen, not by Elrond but by Gandalf.

That makes me think that the reason that "gang" formed was because it started from a sort of "bachelors' club". If Merry and/or Pippin were married, they probably wouldn't have hung out with Frodo as much.