WHAT SHE WANTS IS ...A HOUSE

Women appear to be falling out of love with getting married, with just 4% saying they would choose to pay for a wedding rather than put down a house deposit.

According to a study by specialist lender Together, 70% of adults would prefer to use the £17,674 it costs for the average wedding to bag the keys to a new home instead.

Women are more keen to ditch the celebration and get a foot on or move up the property ladder than men – 74% compared to 64%.

Meanwhile, 14% of people surveyed said a wedding and a deposit for a home were of equal importance, and 11% said neither were a priority.

Richard Tugwell, a director at Together, says: “Home ownership clearly remains a huge priority for people. With the costs of weddings and property rising in comparison to wages over the last few decades, sacrifices inevitably have to be made.”

The rate at which couples are getting married fell from 33.6 in every 1,000 people for men and 28.5 for women in 1996, to 21.9 for men and 20.1 for women in 2016.

OLDER

And latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that while the average age for tying the knot was 37.9 for men and 35.5 for women in 2016, it was 33.6 for men and 31.1 for women in 1996 – showing an age increase of more than four years for each sex over the past two decades.

Many couples who do decide to get hitched look for more cost-effective weddings.

Weekday weddings are becoming more popular because venue, catering and entertainment costs are typically cheaper.