Irish Wedding Survey 2013

{ Photo credit: Leanne Keaney Photography }

Today we publish the results of Irish Wedding Survey 2013, a survey conducted by Mrs2Be in conjunction with Aislinn Events.

2,136 brides and grooms were surveyed in detail which makes this Ireland’s largest and most comprehensive wedding survey to date. 

Presenting Ireland’s largest wedding survey

Thanks to Alan McCarthy for creating this beautiful infographic that highlights our main findings.

What couples spent on their wedding

* In both years under review, a very small percentage of couples indicated that they hired a planner. Due to this low number of couples that reportedly hired a planner, it made it difficult to draw reasonable conclusions as to the average spend in this area. The average spend reported for those getting married in 2012 was €2,465 (€1,100 in 2011). All other items received a large number of responses thus giving more assurance as to the reasonableness of those calculated average spends.

Key findings arising from Irish Wedding Survey 2013

• Couples are spending less on their weddings and waiting longer to tie the knot.
• As in previous years December was the most popular month to pop the question say our respondents with twice as many proposals as the next most popular month, February.
• Engagements are getting longer. In this year’s survey nearly half of all couples are waiting almost 2 years before they tie the knot compared to just over a third last year waiting for the same amount of time.
• Perhaps the longer engagements are because couples are still feeling the effects of the recession. Only 16% felt completely unaffected by the economic downturn
• Couples are turning to the internet for their wedding planning. 8 out of 10 use online searches for information and services and more than 7 out of 10 regularly checking in to Wedding websites and blogs where in previous years family and friends advice carried more weight.
• In a turn from last year, when shopping for wedding suppliers, price has become more of a consideration than quality and 38% are happy to look for their suppliers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
• Couples consider their choice of venue the highest spend priority with many noting the quality of food a big consideration in their venue choice. After the venue the dress was most important followed closely by photographer and band.
• Wedding invitations and favours were most likely to be DIY projects and it seems Irish brides are keen bakers with wedding cake a popular DIY project also.
• Most couples have 100 to 150 guests attending their wedding however the trend seems to be moving slowly upwards in numbers.
• In this electronic age, 5% of couples are starting to send e-invitations which is an increase on 2012 and more than half are accepting RSVPs via email which is again more than previous years.
• 8 out of 10 couples do web searches as their first resource in wedding planning which is up from last year where family and friends opinions carried much more weight.
• When booking suppliers, price was the first consideration for couples before they considered quality of the product or service.
• The trend for hotel weddings, while still the most popular, are slipping out of favour with couples who seem to be turning towards exclusive use and manor house venues.
• Civil ceremonies and non-denominational blessings are accounting for 21% of all weddings.
• When it comes to paying the bill, couples getting married in 2013 are more likely to pay the full wedding bill with just slightly fewer having some family contributions help. Only 1% of our respondents had their families pay for the full wedding.

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