New data reveals what age couples get married and the most popular day for weddings

Roman Catholic wedding ceremonies remained the overall most popular type of ceremony, with four in 10 ceremonies (9,376) taking place in Catholic churches.

Couples who tie the knot are typically in their mid-to-late 30s and Friday is the now most popular day for weddings.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released its latest figures on marriages that took place across Ireland last year. 

The number of marriages celebrated in 2022 rose by 35% compared with 2021https://t.co/0yrXcYv5Ei#CSOIreland #Ireland #VitalStatistics #VitalStats #Marriages pic.twitter.com/5flYQGTFnN

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) April 28, 2023

After some declines in recent years, mainly due to covid-19 restrictions, the overall number of marriages exceeded the pre-pandemic 2019 figures by 14%.

The number of couples who wed last year rose to 23,173, an increase of 35% compared with 2021, and included 618 same-sex marriages.

The average age for brides and grooms remained unchanged in 2022 from 2021. The average age for brides was 35.4 years, while for grooms it is closer to 38. 

In 1972, the average age of a groom stood at just over 27 years old, while brides on average were just under 25. 

The average age of men in same-sex marriages was 39.4 years, while the average age of women in same-sex marriages was 38.2.

The most popular month for marriages was July, a change from 2021 when it was August. 

Friday and Saturday were the most popular days of the week to get married. 

The least popular day was Sunday when 864 (3.8%) marriages took place. 

There were 4.5 marriages per 1,000 population in 2022, up from 3.4 in 2021. Almost three in every 100 marriages (2.7%) were same-sex couples in 2022.

Roman Catholic wedding ceremonies remained the overall most popular type of ceremony, with four in 10 ceremonies (9,376) taking place in Catholic churches. 

Overall, religious ceremonies accounted for almost two-thirds of all opposite-sex marriages in 2022. 

There were also 284 (1.2%) Church of Ireland ceremonies, the Spiritualist Union of Ireland performed 2,299 (9.9%) ceremonies, and 2,986 (13%) couples opted for other religious ceremonies.

The majority of non-religious ceremonies were civil marriages, which accounted for 26% (6,071) of all marriages; the remaining 2,157 (9.3%) couples had humanist ceremonies.

Education reform

The latest CSO figures point to the urgency of education reform, according to Education Equality, a group campaigning to separate religion and education in State-funded schools.

In 1980, Roman Catholic ceremonies accounted for more than 96% of marriage ceremonies. In a statement, the group said it believes the annual marriage figures act as an indicator of religious belief and practice in Ireland today. 

Communications officer David Graham said: "Non-religious marriage ceremonies have outnumbered Catholic marriage ceremonies twice in the last three years.

"These figures provide firm evidence of a changing population with respect to religious belief and practice. Yet our education system remains stuck in the past. What will it take before the Government finally responds to the calls for change from parents across the country?"

"The only effort that has been made to address this issue is school divestment, now called schools reconfiguration for diversity. This initiative has been a spectacular 12-year failure and has almost nothing to show for it.”

Education Equality is calling on the Government to compel schools to confine religious instruction and worship to the end of the school day, outside core school hours.