Civil weddings catching up on Catholic services

THE number of people choosing to have a traditional Catholic wedding in Ireland is falling steadily, official figures show.

Catholic services remain the most popular wedding choice among couples here, but at 35% they are only just ahead of the 32% of couples who choose civil ceremonies.

Back in 2018, a total of 10,027 Catholic weddings were held,

‘21,159 marriages in Ireland in 2023’

which fell to 8,863 in 2019. The next three of years saw a dramatic slump as Covid put the brakes on couples’ plans to tie the knot, and this was followed by a rise due to pent-up demand.

But last year there were just 7,256 Catholic weddings, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported.

In total, there were 21,159 marriages registered in Ireland last year, which included 646 same-sex marriages. The overall number of marriages in 2023 exceeded the 2019 pre-pandemic figure by 4.2%.

The average ages for brides and grooms were 35.8 and 37.7 years respectively, which is on a par with the ages in 2022.

In 2023, the average age of men in same-sex marriages was 40.8 years, while the average age of women in same-sex marriages was 38.

Friday was the most popular day to get married, the CSO found, and August was the most popular month to wed for opposite sex couples, while July was the preferred choice for same-sex couples.

January was the least favoured month to tie the knot for opposite-sex marriages, while February was the least appealing month to couples in same-sex relationships.

The data published yesterday was compiled from the marriage registration forms of all marriages registered in Ireland in 2023.

Seán O’Connor, statistician, said: ‘There were 21,159 marriages in Ireland in 2023 including 646 same-sex marriages. This equates to a crude (unadjusted) marriage rate of 4.0 per 1,000 population. The most popular form of ceremony for opposite-sex couples was a Catholic ceremony (35% or 7,256), followed by a civil ceremony at 6,474, or 32%. The popularity of these two forms of ceremonies for opposite-sex couples has been in decline since 2014, when they accounted for 87% of all marriage ceremonies.

‘A civil ceremony was the choice of 334 same-sex couples (52%). Humanist ceremonies accounted for 7.9% or 1,614 of all oppositesex marriages and 15% or 97 of all same-sex marriages in 2023.’

The percentage of civil ceremonies increased from 26.2% in 2022 to 31.6% in 2023.

Over 1,710 ceremonies last year were humanist, and the Spiritualist Union of Ireland performed 1,674 (7.9%) ceremonies.

There were 242 Church of Ireland weddings in 2023, making up just 1.1% of total marriages.

Nearly 3,470 couples (16%)

‘Most unusual and fantastic places’

opted for other religious marriage ceremonies.

One wedding celebrant in Bray, Co. Wicklow, said she has noticed that ‘year-on-year there are more enquiries and more bookings’ for non-religious ceremonies.

Barbara Ryan said that one of the main reasons was convenience of location – to allow the ceremony and the celebration to be held in the same venue.

She added that couples also want a ceremony that is ‘focused on them, the reasons why they love each other and perhaps they have children and want to have them included in the ceremony.

‘It gives couples the chance to have ceremonies in the most unusual and fantastic places around Ireland,’ she told RTÉ.