Irish brides and grooms are getting married later in life than ever before, according to the latest statistics.
The figures, released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that Irish people are most likely to get married in their mid-30s, with brides at an average age of 34.4 and grooms aged 36.4 on average.
For same-sex couples, the average age at which they tied the knot was even higher (40.1 for men and 38.7 for women).
The CSO’s ‘Marriages 2018 data’ report revealed there were 21,053 marriage last year, 664 of which involved same sex couples.
The most popular institution to conduct a ceremony for opposite sex couples was the Roman Catholic Church, which held 10,027 wedding services.
Two thirds of same-sex couples opted for a Civil marriage ceremony.
The summer months of June, July and August were the most popular time of year to get wed, while January and February were the months couples were most likely to avoid.
Friday and Saturday were the most popular days to get married for opposite-sex couples. Same-sex couples were most likely to get married on Friday.
Sunday and Monday were the least popular days of the week for a wedding.
There was an increase in the number of couples opting for Humanist and Spiritualist ceremonies. There were 1,766 Humanist weddings between opposite-sex couples and 121 for same-sex couples.
Last year saw 1,341 opposite-sex couples and 89 same-sex couples opt for a Spiritualist wedding.
For more information visit the CSO website
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
