weddingsonline, the country’s most popular wedding website have just announced the findings of their latest Irish wedding survey. It was based on 1,200 participants and took place in January 2023.
For the first time, fewer than half of Irish wedding ceremonies are religious! 43% of couples chose a religious ceremony (down from 55% in 2022) with civil ceremonies (23%) and humanist ceremonies (18%) gaining popularity.
While couples love planning their wedding, 23% are enlisting the help of a wedding planner (up from last year’s 5%). When it comes to choosing their supplier dream team and venues, couples say reviews and recommendations are the biggest deciding factor. Only 10% based their decisions on price.
This year’s findings from the weddingsonline survey capture the current attitudes towards weddings in Ireland.
- The average budget for a wedding is €29,550 (not including honeymoon).
- Friday and Saturday are still the most popular days for weddings (68%), with midweek (28%) and Sunday (4%) weddings becoming more popular.
- The busiest month for weddings is June (13%), followed by August (12%) and May and July (both 11%), with 44% of our participants getting married in 2023 and 32% getting married in 2024.
- The most popular month to pop the question is December (29%). Engagements in other months range between 5% and 9%.
- Couples are having longer engagements with a massive 57% of engaged couples waiting more than 18 months to get married and just 18% of engagements shorter than 12 months.
- 23% of couples are enlisting the help of a wedding planner (up from last year’s 5%).
- 43% of ceremonies are religious (down from 55% in 2022), 23% are civil and 18% are humanist.
- 6% of weddings have fewer than 50 guests, 39% have more than 150 guests, with the average number of guests being 142.
- 27% of couples had their parents help pay for their wedding and 31% got a loan.
- 56% of couples surveyed went over budget with 30% spending over to 5K more than they had intended to.
- The average age for couples tying the knot is 34 for men and 32 for women.
- 63% of couples chose between 4 and 8 people in their wedding party.
- The hotel venue remains the most popular choice at 57%, followed by the country house at 21% and then castles at 14%.
- 65% of couples surveyed have their speeches before or during the meal, with 7% not having speeches at all.
- The Top 5 wedding counties are Meath, Cork, Cavan, Kildare and Dublin.
- 7% of couples choose destination weddings, with Spain, Italy, USA and Portugal as the popular wedding destinations.
- The average honeymoon budget was €5962.
- 88% of couples honeymoon abroad with 61% waiting a few months after the wedding before they head off on their honeymoon.
- 63% of couples will take a mini-moon in Ireland straight after the wedding.
- The most popular honeymoon destinations are USA, Maldives, Italy, Greece and Mexico.
- The decided factor for which suppliers to book was reviews and recommendations (56%), favourite choice (34%), with only 10% stating that price was their deciding factor.
- 62% of the couples surveyed paid for accommodation for parents, and 44% paid for accommodation for the wedding party.
- 95% used either weddingsonline or weddingsonline’s Help I’m Getting Married Facebook group to plan their wedding. 96% would recommend weddingsonline to their friends.
- The top 4 other resources used to help plan weddings were Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Wedding Fairs.
What would you do differently?
- “Be as sustainable as possible.”
- “Don’t stress so much about the small things and enjoy it.”
- “I might have organised a day two celebration.”
- “Invested in a wedding planner.”
- “Make more decisions to suit us, not everyone else.”
- “Not a thing, the day was perfect.”
The average spend in each category was as follows:
Engagement Rings: €3118
Wedding Rings: €1552
Band: €2247
DJ: €687
Photographer: €1856
Videographer: €1592
Wedding Dress: €1807
Ceremony Music: €567
Drinks Reception Entertainment: €647
Evening Entertainment: €966
Celebrant or other Officiant: €501
Makeup (bride only): €104
Makeup (per bridesmaid): €73
Hairstyling (per bride): €91
Hairstyling (per bridesmaid): €68
Wedding Planner: €1899
Bridesmaid Dresses (per bridesmaid): €270
Beauty Treatments (teeth, botox, tanning): €423
Accessories: €392
Price per suit: €287
Average number of suits bought: 4.6
Photobooth / Selfie mirror: €546
Wedding Car: €638
Wedding Cake: €444
Décor (Ceremony): €542
Décor (Venue): €906
Flowers: €751
Invites: €282
Foodie Treats: €399
Hen & Stag (per person): €202
Honeymoon: €5962
For further information please contact:
Jonathan Bryans
01 963 0432
