Some Wedding Stats from Irish Wedding Survey 2011

Hot off the press, it’s the results from Irish Wedding Survey 2011, a joint survey that we carried out in conjunction with Aislinn Events.

With more than 1,200 responses, it is Ireland’s largest wedding survey carried out to date.

So what did we find out?

• September is the most popular month for getting married, followed by July, June and August. January is the least popular month for tying the knot.

• Average age of the bride is 30 and average age of the groom is 32.

• For just over 1 in 20 weddings (5.2%), at least one partner has been married previously.

• 7 out of 10 people were affected by the recession in terms of having to take a reduction in salary or being made redundant. Surprisingly, only one third of respondents claim that they made changes to their wedding plans by way of either changing their wedding date or cancelling wedding suppliers.

• Engaged brides and grooms to be have indicated that the total budget for their wedding (including honeymoon) will cost an average of €26,000. For newlyweds in 2010 and 2011, the average cost of their wedding (including the honeymoon) was just under €29,000. Here is a detailed breakdown of this cost:

• Although few say they have changed their wedding plans due to the recession, 10% of engaged couples are putting more weight on suppliers’ prices than the quality of their products or services compared to the newlyweds who were more concerned with quality.

• We’re seeing long periods of engagement with 2 or more years being the most common

• December is by far the most popular month to get engaged. Just under 1 in 4 of all engagements happen in this single month. February is the second most popular month, but it is closely followed by October. So another while to wait ladies, if you’re still waiting to be asked!

• Pink was the colour of the year for newlyweds followed by purple with the reverse order for engaged couples. Mixing with silver and taking more than two colours in combination appears to be the trend so the future of wedding colours looks bright.

• Purple is the colour. Whether in tonal combinations or with silver or white, Purple is on trend for 2011 and future brides with pinks of all shades coming in second.

• Couples are sourcing their suppliers online. A large number, 74%, of newlyweds and even more engaged couples, 78%, sourced or are sourcing their suppliers online with wedding websites like mrs2be.ie as opposed to glossy bridal magazines.

• Brides past and present are talking to each other, virtually. 80% are getting recommendations and doing research on online wedding forums.

• Average guest numbers to the full sit down meal range from 100 to 150 guests but a surprisingly high number of engaged respondents (more than 1 in 5) indicated that they would be inviting more than 200 guests to the full day.

• Spend priorities see reception venues continually coming at the top of the list with 74% saying it is an absolute spend priority followed by the dress, the band and the photographer.

• Top of the DIY projects were invitations with 45% of couples choosing to do it themselves with favours coming in a close second at 43%. Surprisingly more brides would rather have a professional makeup artist than a professional florist.

• Although the church is still the main location for a wedding ceremony, future brides are slowly moving away from the church with a 3% drop from our polled newlyweds in favour of civil ceremonies either in an approved venue or doing a blessing.

• Locations for the wedding reception is also seeing some diversity away from the traditional hotel to more alternate venues including marquees and restaurants.

• Almost half of newlyweds sourced some items and accessories from abroad.

• Wedding costs are being taken on by the couples themselves with over 50% paying the full cost and less than 1% of future brides having their families foot the bill for the whole event.

• Cash and gift vouchers are the definite gifts of choice. Almost half of engaged brides and grooms have indicated that they would like to receive cash and gift vouchers as wedding presents instead of purchased gifts.

• Facebook is also featuring as a resource for sourcing suppliers. 30% of future brides are currently using it as a resource where only 10% of newlyweds had.  Twitter also gets a mention for a small percentage for future brides where no newlyweds claimed to have used it.

• Following on in the digital age for the wedding industry an increasing number of couples have personal wedding websites for providing their guests information, sending digital invitations and taking RSVPs by email or directly on their own websites.

Thanks to everyone who took part in our survey.

mrs2be.ie - Wedding Inspiration for Ireland's Engaged Community