The average age at which people in England and Wales get married has been rising since the 1970s, with the average age of men marrying women increasing from **** in 1972 to **** by 2019, with the average age for women marrying men going up from **** to **** in the same time period. Since 2014 and the legalization of same-sex marriage in England and Wales, the average age for men marrying men has fluctuated between **** and ****, while the average age for females marrying females has fluctuated between **** and ****. Strong support for same-sex marriage in UK Over ten years after same-sex marriage was legalized in most of the UK, polls have shown consistent support for the legislation. As of May 2025, ** percent of Britons supported same-sex marriage, compared with ** percent who opposed it, and ***** percent who did not know. England and Wales was the first jurisdiction to allow same-sex marriages, with the first marriages taking place in March 2014, followed by Scotland in December of that year. Legislation allowing same-sex marriage was not passed in Northern Ireland until 2019, with the first marriages not taking place in 2020. Most popular wedding dates In 2022, the most popular wedding date across the entire year in England and Wales was July 30, with ***** weddings taking place that day. The next most popular wedding date was August 20, which had ***** weddings, followed by May 28, at *****. All three of these dates were Saturday's, which, at over ** percent of all weddings, was by far the most popular day of the week for weddings to be held the week. As for the most popular month, August had the most weddings held in 2022, at ******, with ****** being held in July, and ****** in June, the second, and third-most popular months for weddings, respectively.

In 2021, the divorce rate in England and Wales was *** divorces per thousand married couples, which was significantly higher than the rate in 2018, which was ***. The Divorce rate in England and Wales has been falling steadily since a rate of **** was recorded in 2003 and 2004. In the last available data for Scotland in 2008, the divorce rate was ****.

In 2022, approximately 207,004 marriages took place via a civil ceremony in England and Wales, compared with 41,915 religious ceremonies. Since 1992, there have been more civil ceremonies in every year than religious ones. There were far fewer ceremonies taking place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdowns at the time.

This statistic illustrates the findings of a survey on the duration of current relationship or being single in the United Kingdom (UK) in June 2017, by sexual orientation. During the survey period, it was found that ** percent of responding homosexual individuals stated that they had been single or married for ten years and longer. Furthermore, it could be seen that the majority of respondents had been either single or in a relationship for longer than *** year.

August was the most popular month for weddings in England and Wales in 2022, with 33,676 marriages taking place in this month. Unsurprisingly, the other Summer months of June and July were also popular choices, as well as September. With just 6,367 weddings occurring in January, this was the least popular month for weddings. When is the most popular day for a wedding? In 2022, Saturday was the most popular day of the week for weddings, with Friday a distant second. In fact, during that year, the top 31 dates for weddings were all Saturdays, with 3,500 weddings taking place on Saturday July 30, the most popular date for holding a wedding in that year. Monday was the least popular day of the week for a wedding in 2022, while Christmas Day (Sunday 25, December) had just three weddings taking place, the fewest of any date in that year. Cost of weddings on the rise The average cost of a wedding has increased from around 17,300 British pounds in 2021 to approximately 23,250 by 2024. Following the COVID-19 Pandemic, the cost of a wedding fell to 9,100 pounds in 2020, before recovering slightly to around by 2021. Wedding venues were the largest expense, costing around 6,286 pounds, with catering also setting people back by around 4,419 pounds. When compared with other countries, UK weddings cost less than those in the United States, Spain, Italy and Canada, but more than France, Portugal and Mexico, among other countries.

Saturday was the most popular day of the week for weddings in England and Wales in 2022, with 107,543 of 246,897 weddings in this year taking place on that day. Friday was the second-most popular day, with 44,813 weddings taking place on this day.

In 2023, the European country with the highest divorce rate per 100 marriages was Finland, with more than 55 divorces. At the bottom of the list was Ireland with only 15.5 divorces per 100 marriages.